Promises: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa
Promises, the hymn tune by R. Kelso Carter, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Bb): 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
- Bb major
- Doh
- Bb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- s, (F)
- Range
- m, to f (D to E♭, a ninth)
- Metre
- 11.11.11.9 + i
- Music
- R. Kelso Carter
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune PROMISES by R. Kelso Carter (1849–1928). Sources and licences.
The solfa
| s,-,s,s,-,l,s,-,f,m,-,f, | s,-d-d--- |
| l,-,l,l,-,t,d-,dt,-,l, | l,-s,-s,--- |
| s,-,s,s,-,l,s,-,f,m,-,f, | s,-d-d--- |
| m-,md-,dr-,rt,-,t, | d------- |
| m---,s,d--- | l,---,f,d--- |
| r-,rr-,rr-,rd-,r | m-d-l,-d- |
| m---,s,d--- | l,---,f,f--r |
| d-,dd-,rm-,mr-,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 Bb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Bb major.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
About the tune
- Music (1886): R. Kelso Carter (1849–1928)
Metre: 11.11.11.9 + i.
Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune PROMISES by R. Kelso Carter (1849–1928). 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 Promises
What is the doh of Promises?
In this version, in Bb major, doh is Bb. 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 Promises start on?
It starts on s, (F in Bb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s,.
What words can be sung to Promises?
Promises is in the metre 11.11.11.9 + i: lines of 11, 11, 11, 9,, then, i syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.
Is Promises in the public domain?
Yes. R. Kelso Carter died in 1928; the tune was first published in 1886. 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.