My Country 'Tis of Thee in Tonic Solfa
My Country 'Tis of Thee in Tonic Solfa to DORT, doh is C: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dMy-mcoun--dtry- | s'tis--lofsthee,- | sSweet-tland-sof- | r'lib---m'er-r'ty,- |
| d'Of-tthee-lI- | ssing;----- | sLand-mwhere-fmy- | sfa---ltherssdied,- |
| sLand-mof-fthe- | spil---lgrim'sspride,- | sFrom-d'ev--r'ery- | m'moun---f'tainm'side- |
| r'Let-d'free--tdom- | d'ring.----- |
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- Key
- C major
- Doh
- C
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- d (C)
- Range
- d to f' (C to F)
- Tune
- DORT
- Words
- Samuel Francis Smith
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Tune DORT by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895). 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 C · 3/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in C major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee —
Land of the noble, free —
Thy name — I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song:
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe, partake;
Let rocks their silence break, —
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing:
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum C 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 (C).
- 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
Samuel Francis Smith wrote these words. They were printed in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 836 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “National Hymn”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sixes and Fours (6.6.4.6.6.6.4), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to DORT; any other Sixes and Fours tune fits them as well.
- Words: Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895)
- Music (1832): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Tune DORT by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895).
Sung to the same tune: Auspicious Morning, Hail, Loud Raise the Notes of Joy, Thou, Whose Almighty Word, Where, for a Thousand Miles, With Thy Pure Dews and Rains.
Questions about My Country 'Tis of Thee
What is the doh of My Country 'Tis of Thee?
In this version, in C major, doh is C. 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 My Country 'Tis of Thee start on?
It starts on d (C in C major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is My Country 'Tis of Thee in the public domain?
Yes. Samuel Francis Smith died in 1895, Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1832. 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.