Only Believe: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Only Believe, the hymn tune by Paul Rader, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Db): 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: Db major
Doh: Db
Time: 3/4
Starts on: s (A♭)
Range: d to d' (D♭ to D♭, an octave)
Metre: Irregular
Music: Paul Rader

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune ONLY BELIEVE by Paul Rader (1879–1938). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is Db3/4

s---fes

m---mm

m---rem

s---s-

l---tl

s---mm

m---rd

r---s-

s-sa-f-

m---mm

m-f-s-

l---l-

d'-t--l

s---ld'

m-m-r-

d-----

s--fes-

m-----

d'--td'-

l-----

s-s-l-

smm---

m-r-m-

r-----

s--fes-

m-----

d'--td'-

l-----

d'-t-l-

smm---

s-f--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 Db · 3/4

| s - | s - - - fe s | m - - - m m | m - - - re m | s - - - s - |

| l - - - t l | s - - - m m | m - - - r d | r - - - s - |

| s - sa - f - | m - - - m m | m - f - s - | l - - - l - |

| d' - t - - l | s - - - l d' | m - m - r - | d - - - - - |

| s - - fe s - | m - - - - - | d' - - t d' - | l - - - - - |

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

| s - - fe s - | m - - - - - | d' - - t d' - | l - - - - - |

| d' - t - l - | s m m - - - | s - f - - r | d - - - |

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in Db major.

The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.

About the tune

Music (1921): Paul Rader (1879–1938)

Metre: Irregular.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune ONLY BELIEVE by Paul Rader (1879–1938). 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 Only Believe

What is the doh of Only Believe?

In this version, in Db major, doh is Db. 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 Only Believe start on?

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

Is Only Believe in the public domain?

Yes. Paul Rader died in 1938; the tune was first published in 1921. 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.