I Want to Be a Christian: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
I Want to Be a Christian, the hymn tune, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Eb): the solfa, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (E♭)
- Range
- l, to d' (C to E♭, a tenth)
- Metre
- 8.3.3.8.3 +.3.3.8.3
- Music
- Negro Spiritual, John W. Work, Jr., Frederick J. Work
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN by John W. Work, Jr. (1871–1925) and Frederick J. Work (died 1942). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| d-d- | m--ms-m- | r-d-ddd- |
| m---ssl- | s-m-d-d- |
| m--ms-m- | r-d-l,l,d- |
| d------- | d---d'd'd'- |
| l------- | d'---d'd'l- |
| s------- | l---d-d- |
| m--ms-m- | r-d-l,l,d- |
| 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.
Doh is Eb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Eb major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Melody: Negro Spiritual
- Music (1907): John W. Work, Jr. (1871–1925)
- Music (1907): Frederick J. Work (died 1942)
Metre: 8.3.3.8.3 +.3.3.8.3.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN by John W. Work, Jr. (1871–1925) and Frederick J. Work (died 1942). 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 I Want to Be a Christian
What is the doh of I Want to Be a Christian?
In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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 I Want to Be a Christian start on?
It starts on d (E♭ in Eb major), a pickup before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
What words can be sung to I Want to Be a Christian?
I Want to Be a Christian is in the metre 8.3.3.8.3 +.3.3.8.3: lines of 8, 3, 3, 8, 3,, then, 3, 3, 8, 3 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is I Want to Be a Christian in the public domain?
Yes. John W. Work, Jr. died in 1925, Frederick J. Work died in 1942; the tune was first published in 1907. 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.