Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule in Tonic Solfa
Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 2 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (B♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- EDEN (FEILDEN)
- Words
- Christopher Wordsworth
- Music
- Oswald Mosley Feilden
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune EDEN (FEILDEN) by Oswald Mosley Feilden (1837–1924); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| sLord,- | mbe-sThy-d'Word-tmy- | lrule,-----sIn- |
| mit-dmay-mI-fere-- | sjoice;-----sThy- |
| lglo--d'ry-tbe-lmy- | saim,-----fThy- |
| mho--sly-rwill-rmy- | dchoice;----- |
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
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
Lord, be Thy Word my rule,
In it may I rejoice;
Thy glory be my aim,
Thy holy will my choice;
Thy promises my hope;
Thy providence my guard;
Thine arm my strong support;
Thyself my great reward.
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 s (B♭), on the word “Lord”, 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
The words are by Christopher Wordsworth, first published in 1872. The tune, EDEN (FEILDEN), is by Oswald Mosley Feilden (1863). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1872): Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885)
- Music (1863): Oswald Mosley Feilden (1837–1924)
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune EDEN (FEILDEN) by Oswald Mosley Feilden (1837–1924); words by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885). 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 Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule
What is the doh of Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule?
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 Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule start on?
It starts on s (B♭ in Eb major), a pickup on the word “Lord” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Lord, Be Thy Word My Rule in the public domain?
Yes. Christopher Wordsworth died in 1885, Oswald Mosley Feilden died in 1924; the words were first published in 1872 and the music in 1863. 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.