Doublereed Archive - Posting 000011.txt from 2004/07

From: Kat Sleeper <katsleeper@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Americas, and the rest of the world!!!
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 09:19:35 -0400


On Friday, July 2, 2004, at 07:17 AM, Jennifer I.Paull wrote:
> He's talking about letter C. It is for this reason that when the=20
> movable
> do - the tonic sol-fa system was invented during the 19th C, the =
horror
> of "ti" was substituted for "si" in Britain. I'm sure Julie Andrews =
was
> delighted. The French have never understood this. "Do" to a French
> man doesn't mean home base - it means C.
>
> E major is therefore;
>
> Mi, Fa, Sol,La, Si, Do, R=E9, Mi

I have been involved in several faculty wars about "fixed Do" (Do is=20
always C, no matter what key) vs. "Moveable DO" (Do is the tonic and=20
changes with key) (And, as an aside, I grew up with semi-tones=20
alongside half-steps! America's music world is NOT a standardized=20
entity except in stubborness, I think.) I personally find fixed Do the=20=

best option. People tend to develop better sightsinging skills (and it=20=

helps with pitch recognition, etc.) The argument for Moveable Do only=20=

applies to a specific strain of Western music--that with tonal centers=20=

in a "key." For that, I was taught to use numbers (ie. 1 for tonic, 2=20=

for supertonic, 3 for median, 4 subdominant etc...) That way, I think=20
it's the best of both worlds--the pitch consistency of fixed Do as an=20
aid to sight-singing/reading and the number system for an aid to theory=20=

labeling--for when that's important.

So--in some institutions here Emajor is do re mi fa so la s(t)i do....

I don't like that.

I have studied with faculty from all over the world which helps with=20
the nomenclature discrepancies--that's pretty lucky, I think. But in=20
the end, it's like you said, it's just a bunch of labels. Two bassoons=20=

playing in unison can be called a half-step/semi-tone/whatever and it=20
still sounds the same. (BTW--that is a joke!!!!!!!!!!!)

--Kat Sleeper

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