While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks in Tonic Solfa
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks in Tonic Solfa to WINCHESTER OLD: the solfa with the words, staff notation, the six verses, and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| dWhile- | mshep---mherdsrwatched-dtheir- | fflocks-fby-mnight,-rAll- |
| mseat--sed-son-fethe- | sground,-----mThe- |
| lAn---sgelfof-mthe- | rLord-dcame-t,down,-mAnd- |
| rglo--dry-dshone-t,a-- | dround.--- |
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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
- Nahum Tate
- Music
- Thomas Este, George Kirbye
Tune WINCHESTER OLD by Thomas Este (died undefined) and George Kirbye (died 1634); words by Nahum Tate (1652–1715). 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
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
“Fear not,” said he; for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
“To you in David’s town this day
Is born of David’s line
A Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:
“The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”
Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of Angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song:
“All glory be to God on high,
And on the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heaven to men
Begin and never cease.”
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 “While”, 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
Nahum Tate’s words date from 1700. The tune WINCHESTER OLD comes from Thomas Este’s Whole Book of Psalmes (1592).
- Words (1700): Nahum Tate (1652–1715)
- 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 Nahum Tate (1652–1715).
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, Up from My Youth, May Israel Say, 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, 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 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
What is the doh of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks?
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 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks start on?
It starts on d (F in F major), a pickup on the word “While” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to d.
Is While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks in the public domain?
Yes. Nahum Tate died in 1715, Thomas Este died in undefined, George Kirbye died in 1634; the words were first published in 1700 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.