Equip Me for the War in Tonic Solfa
Equip Me for the War in Tonic Solfa to DIADEMATA, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dE--dquipdmemfor-mthe- | lwar,-----lAnd- |
| steach-dmy-fhands-mto- | rfight,-----rMy- |
| msim--sple,-lup--sright- | feheart-mpre-r_spare,-d'And- |
| tguide-d'my-lwords-la-- | sright;-----sCon-- |
| strol-mmy-rev--dery- | lthought,-----lMy- |
| lwhole-feof-msin-rre-- | tmove;-----tLet- |
| d'all--tmylworks-sin- | fthee-rbe-mwrought,-sLet- |
| fall-mbe-rwrought-rin- | dlove.------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to d' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- DIADEMATA
- Words
- Charles Wesley, John Wesley
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788) or John Wesley (1703–1791). Sources and licences.
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is D · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in D major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Equip me for the war,
And teach my hands to fight,
My simple, upright heart prepare,
And guide my words aright;
Control my every thought,
My whole of sin remove;
Let all my works in thee be wrought,
Let all be wrought in love.
O arm me with the mind,
Meek Lamb! which was in thee,
And let my knowing zeal be joined
With perfect charity;
With calm and tempered zeal
Let me enforce thy call,
And vindicate thy gracious will
Which offers life to all.
O do not let me trust
In any arm but thine!
Humble, O humble to the dust
This stubborn soul of mine
A feeble thing of nought,
With lowly shame I own,
The help which upon earth is wrought,
Thou dost it all alone.
O may I love like thee!
In all thy footsteps tread,
Thou hatest all iniquity,
But nothing thou hast made.
O may I learn the art
With meekness to reprove;
To hate the sin with all my heart,
But still the sinner love.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum D and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on d (D).
- Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t and the chromatic fe. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
John Wesley printed these words in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780), hymn 270. They first appeared in a book he and his brother Charles published together, and the Collection's own index cannot say which of the two wrote them.
The book printed the words without tunes. They are in Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6.6.6.8.6), and this page sets them to DIADEMATA; any other Short Metre Double tune fits them as well.
- Words: Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
- Words: John Wesley (1703–1791)
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Charles Wesley (1707–1788) or John Wesley (1703–1791).
Sung to the same tune: Ah Whither Should I Go, Ah, When Shall I Awake, And Am I Born to Die, Crown Him with Many Crowns, Father of Boundless Grace, Gracious Redeemer, Shake, Great Source of Life and Light, Hark! Hark! with Harps of Gold, I Want a Sober Mind, I Was a Wandering Sheep, I Will Not Yield My Sword, In Fellowship, Alone, It Is the Hour of Prayer, Jesu, We Look to Thee, Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, Lord, When at Thy Command, My God, My Strength, My Hope, My Sin Was Very Great, O God, in Mercy Hear, O That I Could Repent, O Thou Who Wouldst Not Have, O Unexhausted Grace, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, Sow in the Morn Thy Seed, Sweet Is the Time of Spring, The Thing My God Doth Hate, We Mourn for Those Who Toil.
Questions about Equip Me for the War
What is the doh of Equip Me for the War?
In this version, in D major, doh is D. If your choir sings it in another key, doh moves to the new key note and every solfa syllable stays the same — that is what movable doh means.
What note does Equip Me for the War start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Equip Me for the War in the public domain?
Yes. Charles Wesley died in 1788, John Wesley died in 1791, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1780 and the music in 1868. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.