Up from My Youth, May Israel Say in Tonic Solfa
Up from My Youth, May Israel Say in Tonic Solfa to WINCHESTER OLD, doh is F: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 9 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dUp- | mfrom--mmyryouth,-dmay- | fIs--frael-msay,-rHave- |
| mI-sbeen-snurs'd-fein- | stears;-----mMy- |
| lgriefs--swerefcon--mstant- | ras-dthe-t,day,-mAnd- |
| rte--ddious-das-t,the- | dyears.--- |
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- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- d (F)
- Range
- t, to l (E to D, a seventh)
- Tune
- WINCHESTER OLD
- Words
- Isaac Watts
- Music
- Thomas Este, George Kirbye
Tune WINCHESTER OLD by Thomas Este (died undefined) and George Kirbye (died 1634); words by Isaac Watts (1674–1748). 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 F · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in F major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
Up from my youth, may Israel say,
Have I been nurs'd in tears;
My griefs were constant as the day,
And tedious as the years.
Up from my youth I bore the rage
Of all the sons of strife;
Oft they assail'd my riper age,
But not destroy'd my life.
Their cruel plough had torn my flesh
With furrows long and deep,
Hourly they vex my wounds afresh,
Nor let my sorrows sleep.
The Lord grew angry on his throne,
And with impartial eye
Measur'd the mischiefs they had done
Then let his arrows fly.
How was their insolence surpris'd
To hear his thunders roll!
And all the foes of Zion seiz'd
With horror to the soul.
Thus shall the men that hate the saints
Be blasted from the sky;
Their glory fades, their courage faints,
And all their projects die.
What tho' they flourish tall and fair,
They have no root beneath;
Their growth shall perish in despair,
And lie despis'd in death.
So corn that on the house-top stands
No hope of harvest gives;
The reaper ne'er shall fill his hands,
Nor binder fold the sheaves.
It springs and withers on the place:
No traveller bestows
A word of blessing on the grass,
Nor minds it as he goes.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum F 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 d (F), on the word “Up”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet 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
Isaac Watts wrote these words for The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (1719): Psalm 129, headed “Persecutors punished”.
Watts' psalms were printed without tunes and sung to any tune of their metre, Common Metre (8.6.8.6). This page sets the words to WINCHESTER OLD; any other Common Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words (1719): Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
- Music (Whole Book of Psalmes, 1592): Thomas Este (died undefined)
- Arranged (tenor lead): George Kirbye (died 1634)
Tune WINCHESTER OLD by Thomas Este (died undefined) and George Kirbye (died 1634); words by Isaac Watts (1674–1748).
Sung to the same tune: "I Am, Saith Christ Our Glorious Head, "Simon, Beware! the Savior Said, "Why Has My God My Soul Forsook, All Hail! Ye Servants of the Lord, Approach, My Soul, the Mercy-seat, As Twilight's Gradual Veil Is Spread, Blest Is the Nation Where the Lord, Come, Shout Aloud the Father's Grace, Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul, Dearest of All the Names Above, Down Headlong from Their Native Skies, Father of Light! Conduct My Feet, God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength, Hail! Father, Son, and Spirit Great, Have Pity, Lord, for Thou Are Great, Hence from My Soul, Sad Thoughts, Be Gone, How Are Thy Glories Here Display'd, How Blest Thy Creature Is, O God, How Large the Promise! How Divine, How Short and Hasty Is Our Life, I Love the Windows of Thy Grace, In Anger, Lord, Rebuke Me Not, In God's Own House Pronounce His Praise, In Mercy, Not in Wrath, Rebuke, In Vain We Thus Recall to Mind, Jesus Hath Died That I Might Live, Jesus, I Love Thy Charming Name, Joy Is a Fruit That Will Not Grow, Let the Whole Race of Creatures Lie, Lord of the Families Below, Lord, Lead the Way the Saviour Went, Lord, We Adore Thy Bounteous Hand, Lovers of Pleasure More Than God, My God! Till I Received Thy Stroke, My Heart Rejoices in Thy Name, Now from the Altar of Our Hearts, O Ever Ready to Forgive, O God! to Thee Our Hearts Would Pay, O Lord, Another Day Is Flown, O Thou Who Driest the Mourner's Tear, O Word of Truth! in Devious Paths, Oft as the Leper's Case I Read, Oh God, That Mad'st the Earth and Sky, Oh God! Thy Name They Well May Praise, Oh, If My Soul Was Form'd for Woe, Once More, My Soul, the Rising Day, Once Perishing in Blood I Lay, Praise God the Lord, Ye Sons of Men, Raise Thee, My Soul, Fly Up, and Run, Salvation! What a Glorious Plan, See Aaron, God's Anointed Priest, Shine Forth, Eternal Source of Light, Shine, Mighty God, on Britain Shine, Sight, Hearing, Feeling, Taste and Smell, Sin Has Undone Our Wretched Race, Sin Like a Venomous Disease, Talk with Us, Lord, Thyself Reveal, The God of Mercy Be Ador'd, The Grass, and Flow'rs, Which Clothe the Field, The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns, The Lion That on Sampson Roared, The Lord Appears My Helper Now, The Savior Calls; Let Every Ear, Thee We Adore, Eternal Name, There Is a Land of Pure Delight, There Is a World We Have Not Seen, Through All the Changing Scenes of Life, Through Endless Years Thou Art the Same, Through Thee We Now Together Came, Uncertain How the Way to Find, Unshaken as the Sacred Hill, We Come, O Lord, Before Thy Throne, We Sing the Glories of Thy Love, We Wait in Faith, in Prayer We Wait, What Shall We Ask of God in Prayer, When in the Light of Faith Divine, When Israel Heard the Fiery Law, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, Who Shall Inhabit in Thy Hill, Who Will Arise and Plead My Right, Why Do We Mourn Departed Friends, Why Is My Heart So Far from Thee, Will God for Ever Cast Us Off, With Joy We Meditate the Grace, With Songs and Honours Sounding Loud.
Questions about Up from My Youth, May Israel Say
What is the doh of Up from My Youth, May Israel Say?
In this version, in F major, doh is F. 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 Up from My Youth, May Israel Say start on?
It starts on d (F in F major), a pickup on the word “Up” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is Up from My Youth, May Israel Say in the public domain?
Yes. Isaac Watts died in 1748, Thomas Este died in undefined, George Kirbye died in 1634; the words were first published in 1719 and the music in 1592. 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.