How Can I Keep from Singing? in Tonic Solfa
How Can I Keep from Singing? in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 3 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- G major
- Doh
- G
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- s, (D)
- Range
- s, to s (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING
- Words
- F. J. Hartley, Robert Lowry, Anonymous
- Music
- Robert Lowry
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING by Robert Lowry (1826–1899); words by F. J. Hartley (1845–1922), Robert Lowry (1826–1899) and Anonymous. Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| s,My- | dlife-rflows-mon-----din- | rend--dless-l,song;-----s,A-- |
| dbove-mearth's-sla------mmen-- | mta--rtion.-----__s,I- |
| dcatch-rthe-msweet,-----dthough- | rfar--doff-l,hymn-----l,that- |
| s,hails-da-mnew-----rcre-- | ra--dtion;-----__mThrough- |
| sall--sthestu------mmult- | rand-mthe-dstrife,-----rI- |
| mhear--mthatmmu------rsic- | mring--sing;-----__mIt- |
| sfinds--sanse------mcho- | din-l,my-s,soul...-----s,How- |
| dcan-rI-mkeep-----rfrom- | rsing--ding?------- |
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 WhatsApp message to the choir.
Doh is G · 3/2
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in G major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth's lamentation.
I catch the sweet, though faroff hymn
that hails a new creation;
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul...
How can I keep from singing?
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth;
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heav'n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smooths,
since first I learned to love it;
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing;
All things are mine since I am His...
How can I keep from singing?
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum G 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 s, (D), on the word “My”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/2 means three minim 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 s l — only 5 different notes, so it is a good one for a choir new to solfa. 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
The words are by F. J. Hartley and Robert Lowry, first published in 1869. The tune, HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING, is by Robert Lowry (1869). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1869): F. J. Hartley (1845–1922)
- Words (1869): Robert Lowry (1826–1899)
- Words (1869): Anonymous
- Music (1869): Robert Lowry (1826–1899)
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING by Robert Lowry (1826–1899); words by F. J. Hartley (1845–1922), Robert Lowry (1826–1899) and Anonymous. The Open Hymnal Project publishes this hymn as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Questions about How Can I Keep from Singing?
What is the doh of How Can I Keep from Singing??
In this version, in G major, doh is G. 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 How Can I Keep from Singing? start on?
It starts on s, (D in G major), a pickup on the word “My” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s,.
Is How Can I Keep from Singing? in the public domain?
Yes. F. J. Hartley died in 1922, Robert Lowry died in 1899, Robert Lowry died in 1899; the words were first published in 1869 and the music in 1869. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.