Yea, I Will Extol Thee in Tonic Solfa
Yea, I Will Extol Thee in Tonic Solfa to BEMERTON, doh is F: the solfa with the words, staff notation, 5 verses and a piano.
The solfa with the words
| mYea,-mI-rwill-rex-- | dtol---t,Thee,--- |
| dLord-dof-rLife-rand- | mlight!------- |
| sFor-sThine-farm-fup-- | mheld---rme,--- |
| mTurned-mmy-rfoes-rto- | dflight.------- |
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- Key
- F major
- Doh
- F
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m (A)
- Range
- t, to s (E to C, a sixth)
- Tune
- BEMERTON
- Words
- James Montgomery
- Music
- Freidrich Filitz
Tune BEMERTON by Freidrich Filitz (died undefined); words by James Montgomery (1771–1854). 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
Yea, I will extol Thee,
Lord of Life and light!
For Thine arm upheld me,
Turned my foes to flight.
I implored Thy succor,
Thou wast swift to save,
To heal my wounded spirit,
And bring me from the grave.
Grief may, like the pilgrim,
Through the night sojourn,
Yet shall joy, to-morrow,
With the sun return.
Thou hast turned my mourning
Into minstrelsy;
Girded me with gladness,
Set from thraldom free.
Thee my ransomed powers
Henceforth shall adore;
Thee, my great Deliverer,
Bless forevermore!
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 m (A).
- 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 t. 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
James Montgomery wrote these words. They were printed in the supplement of the 1866 edition of A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1866), as hymn 549, “I Will Extol Thee, O Lord!”.
The book printed the words without tunes, marked Sixes and Fives (6.5.6.5), to be sung to any tune of that metre. This page sets them to BEMERTON; any other Sixes and Fives tune fits them as well.
- Words: James Montgomery (1771–1854)
- Music (1847): Freidrich Filitz (died undefined)
Tune BEMERTON by Freidrich Filitz (died undefined); words by James Montgomery (1771–1854).
Sung to the same tune: Bethlehem Rejoices.
Questions about Yea, I Will Extol Thee
What is the doh of Yea, I Will Extol Thee?
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 Yea, I Will Extol Thee start on?
It starts on m (A in F major). Find doh first, then sing up or down to m.
Is Yea, I Will Extol Thee in the public domain?
Yes. James Montgomery died in 1854, Freidrich Filitz died in undefined; the words were in print by 1866 and the music in 1847. 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.