I Will Not Yield My Sword in Tonic Solfa
I Will Not Yield My Sword 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
| dI-dwilldnotmyield-mmy- | lsword,-----lI- |
| swill-dnot-fbow-mthe- | rknee,-----rBut- |
| mI-swould-lhear-sthe- | febless--medr_sword-d'That- |
| tcalls-d'my-lsoul-lto- | sThee;-----sAnd- |
| sthrough-mthe-rdin-dof- | lwar,-----lAnd- |
| lin-fethe-mmidst-rof- | tstrife,-----tThat- |
| d'word--tshalllbe-sthe- | fgui--rding-mstar-sTo- |
| flead-mme-ron-rto- | dlife.------- |
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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
- Traditional Greek, John Brownlie
- Music
- George Job Elvey
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); 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 will not yield my sword,
I will not bow the knee,
But I would hear the blessed word
That calls my soul to Thee;
And through the din of war,
And in the midst of strife,
That word shall be the guiding star
To lead me on to life.
And in the midst of snares
Which subtle fingers lay,
I shall not stumble unawares
Upon the upward way;
But keep before my eyes
The goal before me set,
Lest I should miss the glorious prize
Which loyal victors get.
O Christ, Who art my King,
Thy cause I make mine own,
Till proud rebellious foes shall bring
Their homage to Thy throne;
Till then my heart revive
With courage brave and strong,
And steel my feeble arm to strive
Against the power of wrong.
When from the fateful field
I hail my rightful King,
To Him my trusty sword I'll yield,
And all my trophies bring;
And He shall crown my head
With honours richer far
Than trophies from the conquered dead,
And all the spoils of war.
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 Brownlie translated these words from the Greek service books for Hymns from the Morningland (Paisley, 1911), headed “Where gladness fills each heart, etc”.
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: Traditional Greek
- Translated (1911): John Brownlie (1857–1925)
- Melody (1868): George Job Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune DIADEMATA by George Job Elvey (1816–1893); words by Traditional Greek; translated by John Brownlie (1857–1925).
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, Equip Me for the War, 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, 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 I Will Not Yield My Sword
What is the doh of I Will Not Yield My Sword?
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 Will Not Yield My Sword start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is I Will Not Yield My Sword in the public domain?
Yes. John Brownlie died in 1925, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1911 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.