Lancashire: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Lancashire, the hymn tune by Henry Thomas Smart, in Tonic Solfa (doh is D): the solfa line by line, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- D major
- Doh
- D
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s (A)
- Range
- t, to r' (C♯ to E, a tenth)
- Metre
- 7.6.7.6
- Music
- Henry Thomas Smart
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune LANCASHIRE by Henry Thomas Smart (1813–1879). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| s- | s-m-f-l- | s---m-d'- |
| d'-f-s-l- | r-----s- |
| s-m-f-l- | s---m-m- |
| r-t-l-fe- | s-----s- |
| s-m-d-d'- | d'--lf-l- |
| l-fe-r-r'- | r'---t-s- |
| d'-d'-d'-d'- | d'---t-l- |
| s-m-r-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.
Doh is D · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in D major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Music (1835): Henry Thomas Smart (1813–1879)
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 LANCASHIRE by Henry Thomas Smart (1813–1879). 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 Lancashire
What is the doh of Lancashire?
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 Lancashire start on?
It starts on s (A in D major), a pickup before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
What words can be sung to Lancashire?
Lancashire 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 Lancashire in the public domain?
Yes. Henry Thomas Smart died in 1879; the tune was first published in 1835. 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.