To Thee, Great Source of Light in Tonic Solfa
To Thee, Great Source of Light in Tonic Solfa to ST. JOHN (PARISH CHOIR), doh is D: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 2 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dTo- | mthee,-mgreat-sSource-sof- | d'light!-----d'My- |
| tthank--lful-svoice-feI'll- | sraise;-----sAnd- |
| lall-tmy-d'powers-lu-- | snite-----sTo- |
| fcel--me--rbrate-rthy- | dpraise;-----dAnd,- |
| dtill-rmy-mvoice-dis- | mlost-fin-sdeath,-sMay- |
| lpraise-tem--d'ploy-d'my- | r'ev----tery--- |
| d'breath.------- |
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- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (D)
- Range
- d to r' (D to E, a ninth)
- Tune
- ST. JOHN (PARISH CHOIR)
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Parish Choir
Tune ST. JOHN (PARISH CHOIR) (Parish Choir); 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 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
To thee, great Source of light!
My thankful voice I'll raise;
And all my powers unite
To celebrate thy praise;
And, till my voice is lost in death,
May praise employ my every breath.
And when this feeble tongue
Lies silent in the dust,
My soul shall dwell among
The spirits of the just;
Then, with the shining hosts above,
In nobler strains I'll sing thy love.
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), on the word “To”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- 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
These words were printed without an author's name in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 156 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “Perpetual Praise”, where the book credits them to the Sacred Lyrics.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Hallelujah Metre (6.6.6.6.8.8), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to ST. JOHN (PARISH CHOIR); any other Hallelujah Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Melody (1851): Parish Choir
Tune ST. JOHN (PARISH CHOIR) (Parish Choir); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: Arise, My Soul, Arise, Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow, Borne on the Wings of Light, By Whom Was David Taught, Come to the Christ in Tears, Death Moves with Victor's Tread, In Loud, Exalted Strains, Lord, We Thy Will Obey, O Light That Knew No Dawn, Supported by the Word, Th’ Atoning Work Is Done, The Church a Garden Is, The Wealth of High Estate, Thou, Infinite in Love, Thy Works, Not Mine, O Christ, What Contradictions Meet, When at Thy Feet, Oppressed.
Questions about To Thee, Great Source of Light
What is the doh of To Thee, Great Source of Light?
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 To Thee, Great Source of Light start on?
It starts on d (D in D major), a pickup on the word “To” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is To Thee, Great Source of Light in the public domain?
Yes. the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1851. 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.