O Worship the King in Tonic Solfa
O Worship the King in Tonic Solfa to LYONS: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the six verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| s,Oh- | dwor--dship-rthe- | mKing,---dall-- | fglo--frious-ma-- | rbove;---s,Oh- |
| dgrate--dful--rly- | msing---fhis- | spow’r-,f_mand-rhis- | dlove;---s,Our- |
| s,Shield-s,and-l,De-- | t,fen--t,der,-dthe- | rAn--rcient-mof- | fdays,---s,Pa-- |
| dvil--dioned-rin- | msplen--mdour,-fand- | sgird--,f_med-rwith- | dpraise.--- |
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- Key
- Ab major
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 3/4
- Starts on
- s, (E♭)
- Range
- s, to s (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- LYONS
- Words
- Robert Grant
Tune LYONS by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and William Gardiner (1770–1853); words by Robert Grant (1779–1838). 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 Ab · 3/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Ab major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Oh worship the King, all-glorious above;
Oh gratefully sing his power and his love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.
Oh tell of his might, oh sing of his grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, thy power hath founded of old,
Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
O measureless Might, ineffable Love,
While angels delight to hymn thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
With true adoration shall lisp to thy praise.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Ab 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, (E♭), on the word “Oh”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- 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. A cell split by a comma holds two quarter beats: d -,r is a dotted quaver and a semiquaver, d,r two semiquavers. That comma sits between two syllables; an octave mark sits small and low against its own letter (s,).
- 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
Robert Grant’s words, on Psalm 104, were published in Edward Henry Bickersteth’s Christian Psalmody in 1833. The tune here is LYONS, after Johann Michael Haydn, from William Gardiner’s Sacred Melodies (1815); many British and Nigerian books set it to HANOVER instead.
- Words (1833): Robert Grant (1779–1838)
- Music: Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
- Music (Sacred Melodies, 1815): William Gardiner (1770–1853)
Tune LYONS by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and William Gardiner (1770–1853); words by Robert Grant (1779–1838).
Sung to the same tune: All Thanks to the Lamb, Who Gives Us to Meet, Appointed by Thee, We Meet in Thy Name, My Father, My God, I Long for Thy Love, O Heavenly King, Look Down from Above, Omnipotent Lord, My Saviour and King, Thy Faithfulness, Lord, Each Moment We Find, Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim.
Questions about O Worship the King
What is the doh of O Worship the King?
In this version, in Ab major, doh is Ab. 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 Worship the King start on?
It starts on s, (E♭ in Ab major), a pickup on the word “Oh” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s,.
Is O Worship the King in the public domain?
Yes. Robert Grant died in 1838, Johann Michael Haydn died in 1806, William Gardiner died in 1853; the words were first published in 1833 and the music in 1815. 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.