Free Hymn Sheet Music,
Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling
Free hymn sheet music "Softly and Tenderly" with several new arrangements!
- A duet for voice or instruments
- A beginner piano Middle C arrangement
- Easier-to-read guitar tabs
- Late elementary/early intermediate piano arrangement
- Intermediate/advanced piano arrangement in 2 keys
- A lead sheet
If you want contemplative music that will touch hearts, this free hymn sheet music is what you are looking for.
The duet, for voices or instruments
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
The duet is a nice key for violin and guitar, as well as being set in a comfortable range for most singers.
Though the graphic shows verses 2-4 as if they are verses 1-3, the PDF is correct! Scroll down the page for that free PDF.
For beginning piano
To my surprise, some of my very young students love older hymns. I've decided to widen my repertoire of beginner hymns for them:
This melody fits very nicely in the Middle C range, using notes quite familiar to most beginners.
The fingering will surely be pretty straightforward and should cause no heartache!
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
An intermediate arrangement
* Listen to an audio recording of this piano arrangement *
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
An amazing rendition of Softly and Tenderly, from 0:08 - 1:40:
This beautiful hymn sets the tone in the movie "The Trip to Bountiful", a sad but sweet story about an old woman living with her childless son and hard-hearted daughter-in-law.
Her dream is to take a trip back home to Bountiful, Texas, a place filled with wonderful memories for her, but since no one will take her there, one day she sneaks out and runs away on the bus.
It is a thoughtful story about the small doings of family, of the daily living of life.
A lead sheet in the key of G
A more complicated piano arrangement
* Hear the fancy piano arrangement of Softly and Tenderly *
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Sentimental, but appropriate
Its sweetness and sentimentality, frequently seen as drawbacks in music, poetry, and art, make it very appropriate for those sad occasions when funeral hymns are needed.
For "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling" is about going home -- the final home.
One of the things I love about this hymn is that it calls to those who, apparently, have no right to expect a welcome..."O sinner, come home." It speaks to the undeserving, to the stranger.
Hospitality is necessary for life
I live in Alaska. In the interior of Alaska and Canada, where there may be no towns for a hundred or more miles, a code of hospitality encouraged folks to leave cabins unlocked, and stocked with canned goods and heating fuel for the next traveller on the road.
It could mean life instead of death, to come upon such a refuge in the wilderness.
Hospitality to "the stranger" was the law
In ancient Israel, hospitality to "the stranger" was part of the Law of Moses. "You shall love him as yourself... for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
These words are found in the book of the Bible called Leviticus (19:33).
And speaking in the portion of the Bible written after the death of Jesus, a Jew named Paul tells a group of NON-Jews that though they were strangers to the "covenant of promise, and far off," they have been brought near, and now are even "members of the household." (Letter to the Ephesians, 2:11-19.)
Choose either the key of G or F for piano
When you have a string of songs planned to play before a church service, it can be a huge disappointment to realize they are all in the same key! The hymns all start to sound the same... or stuck in a rut.
To prevent that happening with this hymn, I decided to make the very same arrangement, but in the key of F. The ear needs the refreshment of a key change!
Guitar tabs for Softly & Tenderly
Guitar chords for hymns frequently require a capo, but not with this hymn. Softly and Tenderly is in one of my favorite keys for guitar, the key of G. Easy chords G, C, and D7.
Secondary chords breathe fresh air into old hymns
Secondary chords are a necessity in the chorus of this free hymn sheet music.
In other words, just the I, IV, and V chords aren't enough (in this song, that would be the G, C and D or D7 chords). Em isn't necessary, but it's nice, so I use it.
Then the hymn's guitar chords sneak briefly into the key of A, and so the A7 and E7 chords -- not ordinarily a part of the key of G! -- show up, and the D to D7 chords act as a bridge to lead you back into the key of G again.
The D7 is prettier if you hold off on it, as the music shows at the ends of lines 3 and 4, above.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
Each of us is a wanderer, says the Bible
"Come home...come home...ye who are weary, come home..."
The Bible is itself a story of hospitality, but on epic proportions. Each soul is seen by God as a Wanderer, a "stranger in a strange land," struggling through a wilderness, this brief life we have.
At the climax of the story, God himself, the strong Warrior, comes down and enters into the battle for the souls of those lost ones. Then he throws open heaven's doors to all who choose to come.
Sometimes sweetness is necessary
Like many funeral hymns, this simple song is sentimental, but comforting.
Death's night is coming for each one of us... but as the book of Genesis claims, God commanded light to shine in the darkness.
"Let there be light."
Matthew says of Jesus (quoting Isaiah 42:7) "...the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
The link to the late elementary easy piano version:
Download "Softly and Tenderly" for easy piano (late elementary)
The link to the beginner piano sheet:
Download Middle C arrangement of the hymn
The link to the lead sheet:
Free hymn sheet music Softly and Tenderly Lead Sheet
The duet link:
Download vocal/instrumental duet Softly & Tenderly
The links to the more advanced piano sheet music:
Download free sheet music Softly and Tenderly with piano accompaniment in key of G
Download hymn piano arrangement in the key of F
The link to the guitar tab sheet:
Guitar tablature and guitar chords for hymn Softly and Tenderly
Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!
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Comments
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About the Author
Hi, I'm Dana! (Say that like "Anna".) I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.
Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.
You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.
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