Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here in Tonic Solfa

Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.

Key: E major
Doh: E
Time: 2/4
Starts on: d (E)
Range: d to d' (E to E, an octave)
Tune: POTSDAM
Words: Joseph Armitage Robinson
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

The solfa with the words

Doh is E2/4

d'Tis-

rgood,-fLord,-

mto-rbe-

dhere,-sThy-

lglo--d'ry-

tfills-lthe-

snight;-mThy-

fface-land-

sgar--fments,-

mlike-fethe-

ssun,-dShine-

rwith-fun--

mbor--rrowed-

dlight.-

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 E · 2/4

| d - |light.

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in E major, with the first verse under the notes.

The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.

The words

'Tis good, Lord, to be here,
Thy glory fills the night;
Thy face and garments, like the sun,
Shine with unborrowed light.

'Tis good, Lord, to be here,
Thy beauty to behold
Where Moses and Elijah stand,
Thy messengers of old.

Fulfiller of the past,
Promise of things to be,
We hail Thy body glorified
And our redemption see.

Before we taste of death,
We see Thy Kingdom come;
We fain would hold the vision bright
And make this hill our home.

'Tis good, Lord, to be here.
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.

How to sing it from the solfa

Find doh first. Play or hum E 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 “'Tis”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
Count the time. 2/4 means two 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 Joseph Armitage Robinson, first published in 1888. The tune, POTSDAM, is by Johann Sebastian Bach (1750). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.

Words (1888): Joseph Armitage Robinson (1858–1933)
Music (1750): Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune POTSDAM by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750); words by Joseph Armitage Robinson (1858–1933). 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 Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here

What is the doh of Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here?

In this version, in E major, doh is E. 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 Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here start on?

It starts on d (E in E major), a pickup on the word “'Tis” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.

Is Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here in the public domain?

Yes. Joseph Armitage Robinson died in 1933, Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750; the words were first published in 1888 and the music in 1750. 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.