When Shall the Voice of Singing in Tonic Solfa
When Shall the Voice of Singing in Tonic Solfa to GREENLAND, doh is Eb: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 2 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mWhen- | sshall-sthe-svoice-sof- | d'sing----ming-mFlow- |
| rjoy--rful--fly-fa-- | mlong?-----rWhen- |
| mhill-sand-sval--sley,- | d'ring----feing-feWith- |
| sone-ltri--tum--lphant- | ssong,-----tPro-- |
| d'claim-sthe-fcon--mtest- | mend----red,-tAnd- |
| d'Him,-swho-fonce-mwas- | rslain,-----s,A-- |
| dgain-mto-searth--sede- | tscend----led,-lIn- |
| sright--meous--mness--rto | dreign?----- |
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- Key
- Eb major
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (G)
- Range
- s, to d' (B♭ to E♭)
- Tune
- GREENLAND
- Words
- Anonymous
- Music
- Johann Michael Haydn, B. Jacob
Tune GREENLAND by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and B. Jacob (died undefined); 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 · 4/4
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 shall the voice of singing
Flow joyfully along?
When hill and valley, ringing
With one triumphant song,
Proclaim the contest ended,
And Him, who once was slain,
Again to earth descended,
In righteousness to reign?
Then from the craggy mountains
The sacred shout shall fly,
And shady vales and fountains
Shall echo the reply:
High tower and lowly dwelling
Shall send the chorus round,
The hallelujah swelling
In one eternal sound.
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 m (G), on the word “When”, 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 se. 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 300 of its twenty-second edition (1853), “Universal Hallelujah”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sevens and Sixes Double (7.6.7.6.7.6.7.6), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to GREENLAND; any other Sevens and Sixes Double tune fits them as well.
- Words: Anonymous
- Music: Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
- Arranged (National Psalmody, 1819): B. Jacob (died undefined)
Tune GREENLAND by Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806) and B. Jacob (died undefined); words by Anonymous.
Sung to the same tune: How Blest, Amid All Blessing, Light of the Gentile Nations, O God of Our Salvation, Shall Men Pretend to Pleasure, The Heavens Declare His Glory, The Morning Light Is Breaking, We Come with Joy and Gladness.
Questions about When Shall the Voice of Singing
What is the doh of When Shall the Voice of Singing?
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 Shall the Voice of Singing start on?
It starts on m (G in Eb major), a pickup on the word “When” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is When Shall the Voice of Singing in the public domain?
Yes. Johann Michael Haydn died in 1806, B. Jacob died in undefined; the words were in print by 1853 and the music in 1819. 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.