This page contains score and parts for Shall We Gather at the River?. This is an arrangement of a hymn written by Robert Lowry in 1864. This was a very dark time in the history of the United States -- the North and the South were fighting the Civil War (1861-1865) and both sides suffered severe casualties and uncertainty.
PC users can see and hear Lowry's original hymn here and Mac users can listen to a MIDI sound file here. More information about Shall We Gather at the River? is here.
The links below are score files for the piece viewable and playable on Windows machines using the the Noteworth Composer Browser Plug-In as well as Midi files playable on just about any computer. As before, you can play the score on the computer, following (and playing) along with your part.
The following repeats eariler information about how to set up your computer to view these files:
You can see the full score or just your part on a home PC and you can practice your part along with the computer. You may also be able to print your own copy of the score, or print a lost part. (On a Mac you will be able only to play the Midi file.)
But first you will need to set up the player we use. If you are a student, get a parent to help you. If you are a parent, get your kid to help you.
If you run Windows you can use a "Browser Plug-In" that will view and play the same file format we use to prepare much of the music we use in orchestra. You'll need to visit the Noteworth Composer Browser Plug-In page to install the free Noteworthy player. (If you try to view these files without first installing the plug-in, then your browser might take you to a place that will offer to install the player, but it's simpler just to install the plug-in first.)
If you run a Mac or something else, or if the plug-in won't work on your machine, then you won't be able to view or print Noteworthy files. But you will be able to download and play the midi files. Most web browsers handle midi without any extra setup.
If your PC browser won't launch the Noteworthy files automatically, or seems confused about what to do with them, then you can also download a Noteworthy file to your PC and use the Noteworthy Player available here . It is similar to the browser plug-in but operates as a separate program. After you install the Noteworthy Player, you can use it to open Noteworthy score files that you download and save on your machine.
Browsers differ a little in how you tell them to save a file to your local machine, but typically you hold the Shift key while clicking on the link, or else click the right (instead of the left) mouse button on the link and chose "Save Link As" from the pop-up menu.
If you have problems with any of this, please send email to
Steve Haflich.