I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day in Tonic Solfa

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.

Key: Eb major
Doh: Eb
Time: 4/4
Starts on: d (E♭)
Range: t, to d' (D to E♭, a ninth)
Tune: WALTHAM (CALKIN)
Words: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Music: John Baptiste Calkin

The solfa with the words

Doh is Eb4/4

dI-

mheard--rethembells-mon-

fChrist---mmasfday-feTheir-

sold-d'fa--tmil--liar-

lcar---solssplay,-sAnd-

swild--fandmsweet-fthe-

mwords--rre-dpeat-rOf-

mpeace-fon-searth,-lgood-

t,will--rtodmen.-

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 Eb · 4/4

| d - I| m - - re m - m - heard the bells on| f - - m f - fe - |Christmas day Their

| s - d' - t - l - old familiar| l - - s s - s - |carols play, And

| s - - f m - f - wild and sweet the| m - - r d - r - |words repeat Of

| m - f - s - l - peace on earth, good| t, - - r d - |will to men.

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in Eb major, with the first verse under the notes.

The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.

The words

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th'unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men."

How to sing it from the solfa

Find doh first. Play or hum Eb 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 (E♭), 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 re 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

The words are by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1864. The tune, WALTHAM (CALKIN), is by John Baptiste Calkin (1872). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.

Words (1864): Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
Music (1872): John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905)

Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune WALTHAM (CALKIN) by John Baptiste Calkin (1827–1905); words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). 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 I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

What is the doh of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day?

In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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 Heard the Bells on Christmas Day start on?

It starts on d (E♭ in Eb major), a pickup on the word “I” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.

Is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day in the public domain?

Yes. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died in 1882, John Baptiste Calkin died in 1905; the words were first published in 1864 and the music in 1872. 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.