O Lord! How Happy Should We Be in Tonic Solfa
O Lord! How Happy Should We Be in Tonic Solfa to MERIBAH, doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 3 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dO--- | mLord!--mhowmhap--rpy-mshould-fwe- | sbe,-------mIf--- |
| lwe--lcouldlleave-sour-fcares-mto- | rThee,-------sIf--- |
| twe-lfrom-sself---fecould--- | srest,-------sAnd--- |
| d'feel-sat-sheart-mthat-fOne-la-- | sbove,-------sIn--- |
| d'per--sfect-swis--mdom,-fper--lfect- | slove,-------dIs--- |
| rwork--fing-mfor---rthe--- | dbest.------- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- d (E♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- MERIBAH
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Tune MERIBAH by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Anonymous. 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 Eb · 3/2
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
O Lord! how happy should we be,
If we could leave our cares to Thee,
If we from self could rest,
And feel at heart that One above,
In perfect wisdom, perfect love,
Is working for the best.
For when we kneel and cast our care
Upon our God in humble prayer,
With strengthened souls we rise;
Sure that our Father, who is nigh
To hear the ravens when they cry,
Will hear His children's cries.
O, may these trustless hearts of ours
The lesson learn from birds and flowers,
And learn from self to cease, —
Leave all things to our Father's will,
And, on His mercy, leaning still,
Find, in each trial, peace!
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 d (E♭), on the word “O”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/2 means three minim 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
These words were printed without an author's name in A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1848), as hymn 230, “Self-Renunciation”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Common Particular Metre (8.8.6.8.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to MERIBAH; any other Common Particular Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Music (1839): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Tune MERIBAH by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: At Early Dawn, with Pious Thought, Be It My Only Wisdom Here, Blinded in Youth by Satan's Arts, But We from Such Assaults Are Freed, Except the Lord Conduct the Plan, How Happy, Gracious Lord! Are We, If Solid Happiness We Prize, Light of My Life, O Lord, Thou Art, Lord, Thou Hast Won, at Length I Yield, May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfil, O God of Life, in Whom We Live, O Love Divine, How Sweet Thou Art, O, Could We Speak the Matchless Worth, The Joyful Morn, My God, Is Come, Thou God of Glorious Majesty, When, Lord, to This Our Western Land.
Questions about O Lord! How Happy Should We Be
What is the doh of O Lord! How Happy Should We Be?
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 O Lord! How Happy Should We Be start on?
It starts on d (E♭ in Eb major), a pickup on the word “O” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is O Lord! How Happy Should We Be in the public domain?
Yes. Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1848 and the music in 1839. 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.