Amazing Grace for French Hornhear it, slow it down, play along
- Tune: NEW BRITAIN
- Traditional American
- F horn
- D major
- 3/4
- 16 bars
On the french horn
It runs from A3 to A4 (written).
It is written in D major, a perfect fifth above how it sounds, so it sounds in G major, the same key as the concert-pitch versions. You can play it together with a violin or flute reading their own page.
How it goes
Four lines of four bars. Lines 1, 2 and 4 open the same way. Line 2 rises to the top note and holds it for five beats; line 4 ends the same way on the home note. Line 3 is the one with dotted rhythms.
A way to practise it
Count the held notes: five beats each at the end of lines 2 and 4. Loop line 3 at the slow tempo until the dotted rhythms are even, then play the whole hymn with the player.
- Slow ♩ = 60
- Practice ♩ = 76
- Goal ♩ = 92
About the hymn
John Newton's words were printed in 1779. The tune, NEW BRITAIN, is an anonymous American folk melody, first printed in Columbian Harmony in 1829. William Walker set Newton's words to it in his Southern Harmony in 1835.
This page has the melody as E. O. Excell's hymnals print it, the form most churches sing: 3/4, starting on a one-beat pickup.
Amazing Grace for other instruments
Each version is written in a key that suits the instrument, with its own page and player.
Reading a transposed part
F horn reads a different note from the one that sounds. How french horn transposition works, with a chart you can listen to.
More hymns
Questions
- Is there Amazing Grace sheet music for french horn?
- Yes. This page shows the melody written for F horn in D major, 16 bars in 3/4, and plays it. The notes are public domain.
- What notes does Amazing Grace use on french horn?
- In this version the melody runs from A3 to A4 (written). Press play and watch the cursor: it follows the notes as they sound.
- How fast should I play Amazing Grace?
- Hymnals don't fix one speed, and churches sing it at different tempos. Start around ♩ = 60, practise at 76, then match the speed your church sings it. The player's tempo buttons move in steps of 4.
- Is this the same key as my hymnal?
- Maybe not: hymnals print Amazing Grace in different keys. This page sounds in G major. Check the key signature in your hymnal before you play along with the organ or piano.
- Is this in concert pitch or written pitch for french horn?
- Written pitch. F horn sounds a perfect fifth lower than written, so the D major on this page sounds in G major. The player plays it at the pitch you would hear.
- Can I play it together with other instruments?
- Yes: the versions for Violin, Cello, Flute, B♭ clarinet, B♭ trumpet, E♭ alto sax sound in the same key, G major, so you can play them at the same time, each reading their own page.
Photograph your own part with ScoreLens.
This player is the one in the app. Photograph a printed melody or instrumental part, and ScoreLens plays it back, slower or in another key. It reads one line on one staff: a hymnal page with four voices on two staves is out of reach for now, and so is handwriting.
