Be Thou My Vision for French Hornhear it, slow it down, play along
- Tune: SLANE
- Traditional Irish
- F horn
- B♭ major
- 3/4
- 16 bars
On the french horn
It runs from F3 to B♭4 (written).
It is written in B♭ major, a perfect fifth above how it sounds, so it sounds in E♭ 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 in 3/4. Lines 1 and 2 rise, line 3 reaches the highest notes, and line 4 comes back down to the home note. Most beats carry one note; a few carry two eighths.
A way to practise it
Loop line 3 at the slow tempo until the eighth notes in its first bar are even. The lowest note, a fourth below the home note, comes in lines 1 and 3: check that it speaks.
- Slow ♩ = 60
- Practice ♩ = 80
- Goal ♩ = 100
About the hymn
SLANE is an old Irish folk tune, printed in Patrick W. Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs in 1909 with the ballad “With My Love on the Road”. It became a hymn tune when David Evans arranged it for “Be Thou My Vision” in the Church Hymnary of 1927.
It is named after the Hill of Slane in County Meath, Ireland, where Saint Patrick is said to have lit an Easter fire.
Be Thou My Vision 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 Be Thou My Vision sheet music for french horn?
- Yes. This page shows the melody written for F horn in B♭ major, 16 bars in 3/4, and plays it. The notes are public domain.
- What notes does Be Thou My Vision use on french horn?
- In this version the melody runs from F3 to B♭4 (written). Press play and watch the cursor: it follows the notes as they sound.
- How fast should I play Be Thou My Vision?
- Hymnals don't fix one speed, and churches sing it at different tempos. Start around ♩ = 60, practise at 80, 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 Be Thou My Vision in different keys. This page sounds in E♭ 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 B♭ major on this page sounds in E♭ 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, E♭ 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.
