In Vain We Lavish Out Our Lives in Tonic Solfa

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.

Staff notation

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

The words

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 m (B).
• Count the time. 3/4 means three 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. 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

Isaac Watts wrote these words for his Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book I, collected from the Scriptures, hymn 9, headed “The promises of the covenant of grace, Isa. 55. 1 2. Zech. 13. 1. Mich. 7. 19. Ezek. 36. 25 &c”.

Watts' hymns were printed without tunes and sung to any tune of their metre, Common Metre (8.6.8.6). This page sets the words to ST. AGNES; any other Common Metre tune fits them as well.

• Words (1707): Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
• Music (1866): John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876)

Melody from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune ST. AGNES by John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876); words by Isaac Watts (1674–1748). 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 Garden Contemplation Suits, A Wondrous Star Our Pioneer, Afflictions Do Not Come Alone, Alas! by Nature How Depraved, Almighty Maker! Lord of All, And Art Thou with Us, Gracious Lord, And Can My Heart Aspire So High, And Now the Scales Have Left Mine Eyes, Awake, My Heart, Arise, My Tongue, Begin, My Tongue, Some Heavenly Theme, Behold, Amid His Little Flock, Beneath the Thick but Struggling Clouds, Bestow, Dear Lord, upon Our Youth, Bless'd Be the Everlasting God, Blest Are the Undefil'd in Heart, Blest Is the Man Who Shuns the Place, Come Let Us Join a Joyful Tune, Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, Courage, My Soul! Behold the Prize, Earth's Busy Sounds and Ceaseless Din, Eternal God, Our Humbled Souls, Eternal Wisdom, Thee We Praise, Father of Glory, to Thy Name, Father of Me and All Mankind, Father, I Know Thy Ways Are Just, Father, to Thee My Soul I Lift, Fierce Passions Discompose the Mind, Firm as the Earth Thy Gospel Stands, Give Me the Wings of Faith to Rise, Glory to God That Walks the Sky, God of All Consolation, Take, God Only Wise, Almighty, Good, Great God, How Infinite Art Thou, Great God! Where'er We Pitch Our Tent, How Sad Our State by Nature Is, I Love to Steal Awhile Away, I'll Bless the Lord from Day to Day, I'm Not Asham'd to Own My Lord, If God to Build the House Deny, If in the Cause of Right I Must, Jesus, in Thee Our Eyes Behold, Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee, Jesus! Delightful, Charming Name, Lamp of Our Feet, Let All the Heathen Writers Join, Let Pharisees of High Esteem, Let Them Neglect Thy Glory, Lord, Lo the Young Tribes of Adam Rise, Long Have I Sat Beneath the Sound, Lord, What Is Man, Poor Feeble Man, Lord, Who's the Happy Man, That May, My Drowsy Powers, Why Sleep Ye So, My God, Consider My Distress, My Saviour, My Almighty Friend, No Longer Now at Eden's Gate, No Strength of Nature Can Suffice, Not for the Pious Dead We Weep, Not to the Terrors of the Lord, O Destitute of All Defence, O How I Love Thy Holy Law, O Lord, My Best Desire Fulfil, O That I Could My Lord Receive, O That Thou Wouldst the Heavens Rent, O Thou, Who Hast Thy Servants Taught, O, for a Faith That Will Not Shrink, O, Heaven Is Where No Secret Dread, O, Help Us, Lord! Each Hour of Need, O, Here, If Ever, God of Love, O, Richly, Father, Have I Been, O, Say Not, Think Not, Heavenly Notes, O, Speak That Gracious Word Again, O, Touch My Heart, and Bring to Mind, O, What Amazing Words of Grace, O'er Mountain Tops, the Mount of God, On the First Christian Sabbath Eve, One Glance of Thine, Eternal Lord, One Prayer I Have, — All Prayers in One, Our Sins, Alas, How Strong They Be, Planted in Christ, the Living Vine, Prepare Us, Lord, to View Thy Cross, Remark, My Soul, the Narrow Bounds, Salt of the Earth! Ye Virtuous Few, Save Me, O Lord, from Every Foe, See, from on High, a Light Divine, Sing to the Lord Jehovah's Name, Songs of Immortal Praise Belong, The Christ of God to Sorrowing Hearts, The Christ on Olive's Mount in Prayer, The King of Heaven His Table Spreads, The Lord Will Come, and Not Be Slow, The Saints on Earth and Those Above, The Savior! What a Noble Flame, Thou Art My Portion, O My God, Thou Power Supreme, Whose Mighty Scheme, Though Faint and Sick, and Worn Away, Thy Glory, Holy Three in One, To Us a Child of Hope Is Born, Up, Up, My Soul, on Wings of Praise, Walk in the Light! So Shalt Thou Know, We Join to Pray, with Wishes Kind, Welcome, Thou Victor in the Strife, What Though No Flowers the Fig-tree Clothe, When Adam Heard the Voice of Sin, When Any Turn from Zion's Way, When Children Give Their Hearts to God, When God Revealed His Gracious Name, When Israel by Divine Command, When on the Mount the Lord Appeared, When the Disciples Crossed the Lake, When the First Parents of Our Race, When, Bending O'er the Brink of Life, While Thee I Seek, Protecting Power, Why Does Your Face, Ye Humble Souls, Why Should I Vex My Soul and Fret, Ye That Obey Th' Immortal King, Ye That Obey the Immortal King, Zeal Is That Pure and Heav'nly Flame.