Blairgowrie: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Blairgowrie, the hymn tune by John Bacchus Dykes, in Tonic Solfa (doh is D): the solfa line by line, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.

Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir

Key
D major
Doh
D
Time
4/4
Starts on
m (F♯)
Range
d to d' (D to D, an octave)
Metre
7.6.7.6
Music
John Bacchus Dykes

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune BLAIRGOWRIE by John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is D4/4
m-r-m-f-l-s---m-m-
s--md-r-m-----m-
r-m-f-l-s---m-s-
d'--tl-t-s-----s-
s--rr-m-r---d-d'-
d'--ss-m-s---f-m-
m-r-m-f-s-l-t-d'-
m--fr-smd-----

The solfa line by line

The same solfa as plain text, easy to copy into your own notes or a WhatsApp message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.

Doh is D · 4/4

| m - | r - m - f - l - | s - - - m - m - |
| s - - m d - r - | m - - - - - m - |
| r - m - f - l - | s - - - m - s - |
| d' - - t l - t - | s - - - - - s - |
| s - - r r - m - | r - - - d - d' - |
| d' - - s s - m - | s - - - f - m - |
| m - r - m - f - | s - l - t - d' - |
| m - - f r - s m | d - - - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in D major.

About the tune

Metre: 7.6.7.6. Hymns on this site in the same metre: Abide, O Dearest Jesus, O Lord, I Am Not Worthy.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune BLAIRGOWRIE by John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876). The CCEH gives its tunes as four-part scores; this page has the melody only, read from its MIDI file and checked against its incipit, and NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from the notes. It has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.

New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.

Questions about Blairgowrie

What is the doh of Blairgowrie?

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 Blairgowrie start on?

It starts on m (F♯ in D major), a pickup before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.

What words can be sung to Blairgowrie?

Blairgowrie is in the metre 7.6.7.6: lines of 7, 6, 7, 6 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Abide, O Dearest Jesus, O Lord, I Am Not Worthy; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Blairgowrie in the public domain?

Yes. John Bacchus Dykes died in 1876; the tune was first published in 1872. Everyone named died before 1955 and it was published before 1929, so the tune is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements of it can still be under copyright.

More by John Bacchus Dykes

Everything by John Bacchus Dykes (6 hymns and 8 hymn tunes)