My Sin Was Very Great in Tonic Solfa
My Sin Was Very Great 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
| dMy-dsindwasmve--mry- | lgreat,-----lIts- |
| sbur--dden-fbore-mme- | rdown,-----rI- |
| mdared-snot-llift-smy- | feeyes-mtor_sGod,-d'So- |
| tmuch-d'I-lfeared-lhis- | sfrown.-----sAnd- |
| ssore-mmy-rcon--dscience- | lsmote,-----lAnd- |
| lall-fewas-msad-rwith-- | tin,-----tFor- |
| d'I--thadlturned-sa-- | fway-rfrom-mGod,-sWho- |
| floved-mme-rin-rmy- | dsin.------- |
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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
My sin was very great,
Its burden bore me down,
I dared not lift my eyes to God,
So much I feared his frown.
And sore my conscience smote,
And all was sad within,
For I had turned away from God,
Who loved me in my sin.
I said, "I'll tell it all,
The sin, the grief, the pain,
Mayhap He'll pardon my offence,
And take me back again."
And then my heart was glad,
To think it might be done,
If I but cast myself upon
The merits of His Son.
I said, "Ah God, receive
The sacrifice I bring —
A broken and a contrite heart,
That is my offering;
And for His sake Who came
To bear the Cross of pain,
Forgive the error of my life,
And take me back again."
'Twas then the heart of love
That I had wounded sore,
In loving accents spake to me,
And bade me grieve no more;
And spake the word of grace
That made my spirit whole;
And now the pain and grief are gone,
For gladness fills my soul.
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 Greek Office Books (Paisley, 1904).
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 (1904): 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, I Will Not Yield My Sword, 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, 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 My Sin Was Very Great
What is the doh of My Sin Was Very Great?
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 My Sin Was Very Great start on?
It starts on d (D in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is My Sin Was Very Great in the public domain?
Yes. John Brownlie died in 1925, George Job Elvey died in 1893; the words were in print by 1904 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.