I Have No Tears to Shed in Tonic Solfa
I Have No Tears to Shed in Tonic Solfa to DARWALL, doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dI- | mhave-dno-stears-mto- | d'shed,-----tFor- |
| lgrief-smy-fsoul-mhath- | rnone;-----rMy- |
| mheart-dhath-lnev--ser- | febled,-rFor-r'ought-d'that- |
| tI---lhave--- | sdone;-----sI- |
| lweep---tnot--- | d'when-----dI- |
| rhear-mThee-fsay-sThat- | lsin-thath-d'car--r'ried- |
| d'me---ta---- | d'way.----- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to r' (D to E, a ninth)
- Tune
- DARWALL
- Words
- Traditional Greek, John Brownlie
- Music
- John Darwall
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune DARWALL by John Darwall (1731–1789); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925). 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
I have no tears to shed,
For grief my soul hath none;
My heart hath never bled,
For ought that I have done;
I weep not when I hear Thee say
That sin hath carried me away.
I have no tears to shed;
Wilt Thou not touch my heart,
And bid sin's wounds run red,
And throb with bitter smart? —
Then shall I lift my prayer and say,
"Lord, take my many sins away."
For Thou, O Lord, dost will
That all should seek Thy face,
That Thou mayest well fulfil
The promise of Thy grace.
Who ever sought Thy love in vain,
Or failed Thy pardon to obtain?
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), on the word “I”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- 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 Brownlie translated these words from the Greek service books for Hymns from the Greek Office Books (Paisley, 1904).
The book printed the words without tunes. They are in Hallelujah Metre (6.6.6.6.8.8), and this page sets them to DARWALL; any other Hallelujah Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: Traditional Greek
- Translated (1904): John Brownlie (1857–1925)
- Music (1770): John Darwall (1731–1789)
Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune DARWALL by John Darwall (1731–1789); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925). The Open Hymnal Project publishes this tune as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Sung to the same tune: A Worldling Spent Each Day, All, from the Sun's Uprise, Amazing, Beauteous Change, Before Elisha's Gate, Encouraged by Thy Word, Hark! What Celestial Notes, Israel in Ancient Days, Lord of the Worlds Above, On What Has Now Been Sown, Rejoice, the Lord Is King, Thou Fount of Love and Grace, To Thee, Our God, We Fly, Ye Realms Below the Skies, Young Men and Maidens, Raise.
Questions about I Have No Tears to Shed
What is the doh of I Have No Tears to Shed?
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 I Have No Tears to Shed start on?
It starts on d (D in D major), a pickup on the word “I” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is I Have No Tears to Shed in the public domain?
Yes. John Brownlie died in 1925, John Darwall died in 1789; the words were in print by 1904 and the music in 1770. 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.