Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay in Tonic Solfa
Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay in Tonic Solfa to SELENA, doh is Ab: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 6 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| sUn--sless-sthe- | lLord-----shad-sbeen-femy- | sstay-----t(With-ttrem--d'bling- |
| r'joy-----d'my-d'soul-tmay- | d'say)-----sMy-scru--sel- |
| lfoe-----shad-sgained-fehis- | send:-----tBut-the-d'ap-- |
| r'peared-----d'for-d'my-tre-- | d'lief,-----m'And-m'Sa--m'tan- |
| f'sees,-----m'with-r'shame-d'and- | lgrief,-----lThat-lI-lhave- |
| san-sal--smight----sy--- | sFriend.----- |
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- Key
- Ab major
- Doh
- Ab
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- s (E♭)
- Range
- fe to f' (E𝄫 to D♭, a seventh)
- Tune
- SELENA
- Words
- John Newton
- Music
- Isaac B. Woodbury
Tune SELENA by Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858); words by John Newton (1725–1807). Sources and licences.
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is Ab · 3/2
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Ab major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Unless the Lord had been my stay
(With trembling joy my soul may say)
My cruel foe had gained his end:
But he appeared for my relief,
And Satan sees, with shame and grief,
That I have an almighty Friend.
O, 'twas a dark and trying hour,
When harassed by the tempter's pow'r,
I felt my strongest hopes decline!
You only who have known his arts,
You only who have felt his darts,
Can pity such a case as mine.
Loud in my ears a charge he read,
(My conscience witnessed all he said)
My long black list of outward sin;
Then bringing forth my heart to view,
Too well what's hidden there he knew,
He showed me ten-times worse within.
'Tis all too true, my soul replied,
But I remember Jesus died,
And now he fills a throne of grace;
I'll go, as I have done before,
His mercy I may still implore,
I have his promise, "Seek my face."
But, as when sudden fogs arise,
The trees and hills, the sun and skies,
Are all at once concealed from view;
So clouds of horror, black as night,
By Satan raised, hid from my sight,
The throne of grace and promise too.
Then, while beset with guilt and fear,
He tried to urge me to despair,
He tried, and he almost prevailed;
But Jesus, by a heav'nly ray,
Drove clouds, and guilt, and fear away,
And all the tempter's malice failed.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Ab and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on s (E♭), on the first syllable of “Unless”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 3/2 means three minim beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m f s l t and the chromatic fe. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
John Newton wrote these words. They were printed in Olney Hymns (London, 1779), Book III, hymn 22, “Help in time of Need”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Long Metre, six lines (8.8.8.8.8.8), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to SELENA; any other Long Metre, six lines tune fits them as well.
- Words: John Newton (1725–1807)
- Music (1850): Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858)
Tune SELENA by Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858); words by John Newton (1725–1807).
Sung to the same tune: Above, Below, Where'er I Gaze, Afflicted by a Gracious God, All Things Are Possible to Him, Around Bethesda's Healing Wave, Behold the Servant of the Lord, Blest Who with Generous Pity Glows, Captain of Our Salvation, Take, Come, O Thou Universal Good, Creator Spirit, by Whose Light, Father of Everlasting, Grace, Father of Lights, from Whom Proceeds, God Sent Me to the Desert Wild, Hark! upon the Morning Breezes, I Brought My Darkest Sin to Mind, I Brought My Merits to the Throne, I Praised the Earth in Beauty Seen, I Sought the Lord at Early Morn, If Listening, as I Listen Still, Jesu, If Still the Same Thou Art, Jesus, Thou Source of Calm Repose, Join, All Ye Servants of the Lord, Lord of the Sea! — Thy Potent Sway, O 'Tis Enough, My God, My God, O Come, Thou Radiant Morning Star, O Let My Trembling Soul Be Still, O Lord of Bounty, Let This Bread, O Lord, Whose Bounteous Hand Again, O Love, I Languish at Thy Stay, O Thou Whom Fain My Soul Would Love, O Thou, in Whom the Weary Find, Our Earth We Now Lament to See, Peace, Troubled Soul, Whose Plaintive Moan, Strange and Mysterious Is My Life, The Heavens, O Lord! Thy Power Proclaim, The Promise Which the Saviour Made, Thou God Unsearchable, Unknown, Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose, Thou, Lord, on Whom I Still Depend, To Thee, My God! to Thee I Bring, Watched by the World's Malignant Eye, Weary of Wandering from My God, What Must It Be to Dwell Above, What Shall I Do My God to Love, When Quiet in My House I Sit, When Streaming from the Eastern Skies, When Thou Wert Crucified by Men, Would Jesus Have the Sinner Die.
Questions about Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay
What is the doh of Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay?
In this version, in Ab major, doh is Ab. 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 Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay start on?
It starts on s (E♭ in Ab major), a pickup on the first syllable of “Unless” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is Unless the Lord Had Been My Stay in the public domain?
Yes. John Newton died in 1807, Isaac B. Woodbury died in 1858; the words were in print by 1779 and the music in 1850. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in the UK, the EU, the United States and Nigeria. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.