Split Psalter Melodies

Need help getting started singing the melodies (tunes) from the Scottish Psalmody (1650 version) split psalter?   This page gives you access to all of the melodies in the split Psalter (the companion to The Psalms of David “black book”).  You can listen online or download the tunes as desired, but you may benefit from first listening to the introductory “Listen to This First” audio file to gain an understanding of how the recordings can be best used, and also allow you to become familiar with the split Psalter. Most recordings have the melody first sung twice without words, followed by singing of the first two stanzas of the Psalm recommended in the Metrical Index of Tunes at the front of the psalter (“The Scottish Psalmody”, Staff edition). Melodies are listed in numerical order, per the Split Psalter numbering system.  You can find an alphabetical cross reference after the melody listings towards the bottom of this page. Select the “Group” files to hear an assembly of people singing.

Our congregation typically uses a subset of the available melodies available in the split Psalter.  These particular melodies are noted in the first list below.  Melodies, in some instances, vary from what is given in the split Psalter.

Minor melodies are noted in italics.

Melodies as sung in our congregation:

Melodies “by the book”:

Alphabetical Cross Reference

CM = Common Metre (8686) DCM = Double Common Metre (8686 + 8686) LM = Long Metre (8888) SM = Short Metre (6686)