How to sight-read hymns on piano
Two voices per stave, one chord per beat. Read soprano and bass first, add the inner voices, and never drop the tempo.
Key points
- Treble: soprano (stems up) and alto; bass: tenor and bass.
- Soprano + bass alone is a complete accompaniment.
- Read each beat as a chord.
Hymns are some of the best sight-reading material there is: short, steady, harmonically simple and endlessly available. They are also hard at first, because four-part writing puts two voices on each stave.
How a hymn is written
| Stave | Voices | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| Treble | Soprano (melody) and alto | Soprano stems up, alto stems down |
| Bass | Tenor and bass | Tenor stems up, bass stems down |
Most hymn tunes move in steady crotchets (quarter notes) with occasional minims, and the four voices usually move together, so each beat is one chord.
Build up in layers
- Soprano only. Read the tune. You probably know many already, which helps with rhythm.
- Soprano + bass. The outer voices make a complete, musical accompaniment on their own. This is the best hands-together drill there is (see hands together).
- Add the alto to the right hand: read it as the interval below the soprano (usually a 3rd to a 6th).
- Add the tenor last, to the left hand or, if the stretch is wide, to the right hand.
Read chords, not four notes
Because the parts move together, read each beat as a chord. Hymns use a small set of chords (I, IV, V and their relatives), so the shapes repeat. See reading chords at sight.
Playing for singers
- Tempo is sacred. Singers follow you. Choose a tempo you can keep for the hardest line.
- Breathe at line ends. A tiny lift at the end of each line of text lets people breathe.
- If you lose a part, keep the melody and bass. Nobody misses the tenor for a bar.
- Watch the text. Lines of verse sit between the staves; extra verses may have different rhythms in some hymnals.
Practise from a hymnal
Read one new hymn a day, soprano + bass first, then all four parts slowly. Many older hymnals are in the public domain and available free from online libraries. More on finding material in what to read.
