Happy Day: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Happy Day, the hymn tune, in Tonic Solfa (doh is F): 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: F major
Doh: F
Time: 3/2
Starts on: s, (C)
Range: s, to l (C to D, a ninth)
Metre: 8.8.8.8 +.6.8.8.8.6.8
Music: Wesleyan Sacred Harp (published by William McDonald)

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune HAPPY DAY (Wesleyan Sacred Harp (published by William McDonald)). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is F3/2

s,-d-r-

m-----s,-d-r-

m-----m-f-m-

r-----d-m-r-

d-----s,-d-r-

m-----s,-d-r-

m-----m-f-m-

r-----d-m-r-

d-----__m--f

s-------d--r

m-----m-f-m-

r-----d-m-r-

d-----s-s-s-

s-----s-l-s-

m-----s-s-s-

s-----s-l-s-

m-----__m--f

s-------d--r

m-----m-f-m-

r-----d-m-r-

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 F · 3/2

| s, - d - r - | m - - - - - s, - d - r - | m - - - - - m - f - m - |

| r - - - - - d - m - r - | d - - - - - s, - d - r - |

| m - - - - - s, - d - r - | m - - - - - m - f - m - |

| r - - - - - d - m - r - | d - - - - - _ _ m - - f |

| s - - - - - - - d - - r | m - - - - - m - f - m - |

| r - - - - - d - m - r - | d - - - - - s - s - s - |

| s - - - - - s - l - s - | m - - - - - s - s - s - |

| s - - - - - s - l - s - | m - - - - - _ _ m - - f |

| s - - - - - - - d - - r | m - - - - - m - f - m - |

| r - - - - - d - m - r - | d - - - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in F major.

The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.

About the tune

Melody (1854): Wesleyan Sacred Harp (published by William McDonald)

Metre: 8.8.8.8 +.6.8.8.8.6.8.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune HAPPY DAY (Wesleyan Sacred Harp (published by William McDonald)). 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 Happy Day

What is the doh of Happy Day?

In this version, in F major, doh is F. 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 Happy Day start on?

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

What words can be sung to Happy Day?

Happy Day is in the metre 8.8.8.8 +.6.8.8.8.6.8: lines of 8, 8, 8, 8,, then, 6, 8, 8, 8, 6, 8 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Happy Day in the public domain?

Yes. the tune was first published in 1854. 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.