Hymn tunes in Tonic Solfa

Savannah: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Savannah, the hymn tune, 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
d to d' (D to D, an octave)
Metre
7.7.7.7
Music
Herrnhut Manuscript, Foundery Collection
Also called
Herrnhut

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune SAVANNAH (Herrnhut Manuscript, Foundery Collection). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is D4/4
s-sfm-r-drm-r---
s-sfm-r-drm-r---
s-s-l-sfm-fe-s---
l-t-d'-mrm-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.

Doh is D · 4/4

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

Staff notation

The melody on the treble staff in D major.

About the tune

  • Melody (1740): Herrnhut Manuscript
  • Melody (1742): Foundery Collection

Metre: 7.7.7.7. Hymns on this site in the same metre: Holy Ghost, with Light Divine, Now the Light Has Gone Away, Take My Life and Let It Be.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune SAVANNAH (Herrnhut Manuscript, Foundery Collection). 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 Savannah

What is the doh of Savannah?

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 Savannah start on?

It starts on s (A in D major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.

What words can be sung to Savannah?

Savannah is in the metre 7.7.7.7: lines of 7, 7, 7, 7 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it, such as Holy Ghost, with Light Divine, Now the Light Has Gone Away, Take My Life and Let It Be; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Savannah in the public domain?

Yes. the tune was first published in 1740. 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.