Near the Cross: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Near the Cross, the hymn tune by William H. Doane, 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
- 6/4
- Starts on
- m (A)
- Range
- s, to l (C to D, a ninth)
- Metre
- 7.6.7.6 +.6.6.7.6
- Music
- William H. Doane
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune NEAR THE CROSS by William H. Doane (1832–1915). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| m---f-m---r- | d---l,-l,----- |
| s,---d-d---m- | m-----r----- |
| m---f-m---r- | d---l,-l,----- |
| s,---d-d---t,- | r-----d----- |
| m---s-s----- | f---l-l----- |
| s---l-s---m- | m-----r----- |
| m---f-m---r- | d---l,-l,----- |
| s,---d-d---t,- | 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 · 6/4
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 (1869): William H. Doane (1832–1915)
Metre: 7.6.7.6 +.6.6.7.6.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune NEAR THE CROSS by William H. Doane (1832–1915). 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 Near the Cross
What is the doh of Near the Cross?
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 Near the Cross 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 Near the Cross?
Near the Cross is in the metre 7.6.7.6 +.6.6.7.6: lines of 7, 6, 7, 6,, then, 6, 6, 7, 6 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is Near the Cross in the public domain?
Yes. William H. Doane died in 1915; the tune was first published in 1869. 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.