Holiness: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Holiness, the hymn tune by George C. Stebbins, 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
- 6/8
- Starts on
- m (A)
- Range
- t, to l (E to D, a seventh)
- Metre
- 6.5.6.5
- Music
- George C. Stebbins
- Also called
- Longstaff
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune HOLINESS by George C. Stebbins (1846–1945). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| m--mrm | f--m-- | d--rdt, | d----- |
| m--mrm | f--m-- | r--rrr | r----- |
| f--fmr | m--s-- | f--fmr | m----- |
| s--sfm | l--f-- | m--rdt, | d----- |
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is F · 6/8
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Music (1890): George C. Stebbins (1846–1945)
Metre: 6.5.6.5. Hymns on this site in the same metre: Bethlehem Rejoices, Yea, I Will Extol Thee.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune HOLINESS by George C. Stebbins (1846–1945). 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 Holiness
What is the doh of Holiness?
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 Holiness start on?
It starts on m (A in F major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
What words can be sung to Holiness?
Holiness is in the metre 6.5.6.5: lines of 6, 5, 6, 5 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Bethlehem Rejoices, Yea, I Will Extol Thee; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is Holiness in the public domain?
Yes. George C. Stebbins died in 1945; the tune was first published in 1890. Everyone named died before 1955 and it was published before 1929, so the tune is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements of it can still be under copyright.