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Piano sheet music for kids · Hymn · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Old Hundredth
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 4/4, 13 bars. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
The psalm tune from Geneva, with William Kethe’s words “All people that on earth do dwell”. It is in C major and moves in crotchets and minims, with a semibreve for the last note, in the long-and-short rhythm of the first printing of 1551: each line starts and ends on long notes. Every line has eight notes for eight syllables. The tune spans an octave, from the G below middle C to the G above it: the first and third lines dip below middle C and the last line starts on the high G, so the hand moves. The left hand plays one chord on each note or two, C, F, G, A minor and D minor.
Practice tip: Sing it in your head as you play: it is slow and steady, two beats to every long note. Start with finger 4 on middle C so the thumb reaches the G below, then move the hand up for “earth do dwell”. Lift the hand slightly at the end of each line, as a choir breathes.
The words
All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice; Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell, Come ye before him and rejoice.
A short history
The tune was first printed in Geneva in 1551, in the second edition of the Genevan Psalter, the French book of psalms made for John Calvin’s church, where it was set to Psalm 134. It is usually credited to the French composer Louis Bourgeois, who edited the music.
It takes its English name from Psalm 100. William Kethe, a Scottish minister living in Geneva as a Protestant exile, wrote the English paraphrase “All people that on earth do dwell”, printed in the Anglo-Genevan psalter of 1561, and the two have been sung together ever since, so the tune became the Old Hundredth.
It is one of the best-known hymn tunes in the world. It is also sung to Thomas Ken’s doxology, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”, and Bach used it in a cantata.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Louis Bourgeois, 1551
- Words
- William Kethe, 1561
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Length
- 13 bars
- Tempo
- Steadily, crotchet = 88
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 28 of 201)
- Type
- Hymn
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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