Festal Song: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Festal Song, the hymn tune by William H. Walter, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Bb): 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
- Bb major
- Doh
- Bb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (F)
- Range
- m to f' (D to E♭, a ninth)
- Metre
- 6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.)
- Music
- William H. Walter
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune FESTAL SONG by William H. Walter (1825–1893). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| s-d'-s-m- | s-l----- |
| s-ltd'-t- | l-s----- |
| r'-m'-r'm'f'- | m'-r'-d'-t- |
| s-ltd'-d'- | t-d'----- |
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 Bb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Bb major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Music (1894): William H. Walter (1825–1893)
Metre: 6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.). Hymns on this site in the same metre: Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Boylston), Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Dennis), Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Lord Jesus Think on Me, The Advent of Our God, Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here, We Know Thee Who Thou Art, Within the Father's House.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune FESTAL SONG by William H. Walter (1825–1893). 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 Festal Song
What is the doh of Festal Song?
In this version, in Bb major, doh is Bb. 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 Festal Song start on?
It starts on s (F in Bb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
What words can be sung to Festal Song?
Festal Song is in the metre 6.6.8.6 — Short Metre (S.M.): lines of 6, 6, 8, 6 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Boylston), Blest Be the Tie That Binds (Dennis), Breathe on Me, Breath of God; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is Festal Song in the public domain?
Yes. William H. Walter died in 1893; the tune was first published in 1894. 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.