Sunday, February 20, 2011

What is solfege or solfeggio?


Solfege, solfeggio, or solfa, is a system of attaching short (easy-to-say) syllables to the pitches (notes) of a musical scale.

It is the “use of the sol-fa syllables to note the tones of the scale; solmization.” (www.YourDictionary.com)  I first heard of solfege when I watched the movie The Sound of Music, in which Julie Andrews taught the children in her care the song, “Do, Re, Mi.”  Later I learned of solfege from my son, Curtis, who had studied this in depth at the American Boychoir School in Princeton from 6th through the 8th grade.  If you take a major D scale, and sing up 7 pitches, you would sing Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti and then Do again for the higher D.  The note names would be D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D.

“The seven syllables commonly used for this practice in English-speaking countries are: do (pronounced dough), re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti which may be heard in "Do-Re-Mi" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's score for The Sound of Music (Wikipedia)”

With the above, I’m referring to the traditional Western diatonic scale.  If you want to study different kinds of scales, Wikipedia has a volume of information on the many different kinds of scales, probably more than you would want to know.  The one we Americans are most familiar with is the diatonic scale that exists of whole notes and half notes (or whole tones and semitones).

Musikgarten uses the solfege syllables for its tonal patterns, such as “sol-mi-do.”  Also, we use what is called a moveable “do,” not the fixed “do.”  Our “do” will change, depending on the key in which we are singing or playing an instrument.  This helps with sight-singing, and with understanding and learning intervals in music.  My next blog will be about intervals (the distance from one pitch or note to another).

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Show Your Child a Major Third

Musikgarten is a joyful and fun place where toddlers, and preschoolers, and young children experience and learn music fundamentals together.

If you have a piano or keyboard, show your child where the D above middle C is.  Most children's singing range is in the key of D.  Then find F# (sharp).
Play D and F# together.  Ask your child to sing and hold the D while you sing the F# at the same time.  This will take some practice for most people.  Try it every day for 5 days.