Tidings: hymn tune in Tonic Solfa

Tidings, the hymn tune by James Walch, in Tonic Solfa (doh is Bb): the solfa line by line, staff notation and a piano to sing along with.

Key: Bb major
Doh: Bb
Time: 4/4
Starts on: d' (B♭)
Range: m to f' (D to E♭, a ninth)
Metre: 11.10.11.10 +.9.11
Music: James Walch
Also called: Angelic Songs

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune TIDINGS by James Walch (1837–1901). Sources and licences.

The solfa

Doh is Bb4/4

d'---m-f-

s-----s-

s-d'-m'-r'-

r'---d'---

d'---t-l-

s-----s-

t-l-s-f-

m-------

m---f--f

s-----s-

se-l-d'-t-

t---l---

l---t-d'-

r'---s---

t-l-s-fe-

s-------

t---l-s-

d'---s---

t---l-s-

m'-------

m'---f'-m'-

m'-r'-d'-l-

s-d'-r'--d'

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 Bb · 4/4

| d' - - - m - f - | s - - - - - s - |

| s - d' - m' - r' - | r' - - - d' - - - |

| d' - - - t - l - | s - - - - - s - |

| t - l - s - f - | m - - - - - - - |

| m - - - f - - f | s - - - - - s - |

| se - l - d' - t - | t - - - l - - - |

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

| t - l - s - fe - | s - - - - - - - |

| t - - - l - s - | d' - - - s - - - |

| t - - - l - s - | m' - - - - - - - |

| m' - - - f' - m' - | m' - r' - d' - l - |

| s - d' - r' - - d' | d' - - - - - - - |

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 (1875): James Walch (1837–1901)

Metre: 11.10.11.10 +.9.11.

Melody from the Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary (CCEH, public domain); tune TIDINGS by James Walch (1837–1901). 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 Tidings

What is the doh of Tidings?

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 Tidings start on?

It starts on d' (B♭ in Bb major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to d'.

What words can be sung to Tidings?

Tidings is in the metre 11.10.11.10 +.9.11: lines of 11, 10, 11, 10,, then, 9, 11 syllables. Words written in the same metre fit it; check where the stresses fall before you sing them together.

Is Tidings in the public domain?

Yes. James Walch died in 1901; the tune was first published in 1875. 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.