When, Lord, to This Our Western Land in Tonic Solfa
When, Lord, to This Our Western Land in Tonic Solfa to MERIBAH, doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 4 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dWhen,--- | mLord,--mtomthis-rour-mwest--fern- | sland,-------mLed--- |
| lby--lthylprov--si--fden--mtial- | rhand,-------sOur--- |
| twan--ldering-sfa----fethers--- | scame,-------sTheir--- |
| d'an--scient-shomes,-mtheir-ffriends-lin- | syouth-------sSent--- |
| d'forth-sthe-sher--malds-fof-lthy- | struth,-------dTo--- |
| rkeep-fthem-min---rthy--- | dname.------- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 3/2
- Starts on
- d (E♭)
- Range
- d to d' (E♭ to E♭, an octave)
- Tune
- MERIBAH
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Lowell Mason
Tune MERIBAH by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Anonymous. 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 Eb · 3/2
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Eb major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
When, Lord, to this our western land,
Led by thy providential hand,
Our wandering fathers came,
Their ancient homes, their friends in youth
Sent forth the heralds of thy truth,
To keep them in thy name.
Then, through our solitary coast,
The desert features soon were lost;
Thy temples there arose;
Our shores, as culture made them fair,
Were hallowed by thy rites, by prayer,
And blossomed as the rose.
And O, may we repay this debt
To regions solitary yet
Within our spreading land!
There brethren, from our common home,
Still westward, like our fathers, roam,
Still guided by thy hand.
Father, we own this debt of love;
O, shed thy Spirit from above,
To move each Christian breast,
Till heralds shall thy truth proclaim,
And temples rise, to fix thy name,
Through all our boundless West!
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Eb 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 (E♭), on the word “When”, 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
These words were printed without an author's name in Hymns for Christian Devotion, compiled by John G. Adams and Edwin H. Chapin (Boston, 1846), as hymn 736 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “On Western Missions”, where the book credits them to the Episcopal Collection.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Common Particular Metre (8.8.6.8.8.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to MERIBAH; any other Common Particular Metre tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Music (1839): Lowell Mason (1792–1872)
Tune MERIBAH by Lowell Mason (1792–1872); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: At Early Dawn, with Pious Thought, Be It My Only Wisdom Here, Blinded in Youth by Satan's Arts, But We from Such Assaults Are Freed, Except the Lord Conduct the Plan, How Happy, Gracious Lord! Are We, If Solid Happiness We Prize, Light of My Life, O Lord, Thou Art, Lord, Thou Hast Won, at Length I Yield, May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfil, O God of Life, in Whom We Live, O Lord! How Happy Should We Be, O Love Divine, How Sweet Thou Art, O, Could We Speak the Matchless Worth, The Joyful Morn, My God, Is Come, Thou God of Glorious Majesty.
Questions about When, Lord, to This Our Western Land
What is the doh of When, Lord, to This Our Western Land?
In this version, in Eb major, doh is Eb. 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 When, Lord, to This Our Western Land start on?
It starts on d (E♭ in Eb major), a pickup on the word “When” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is When, Lord, to This Our Western Land in the public domain?
Yes. Lowell Mason died in 1872; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1839. 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.