Klarinet Archive - Posting 000994.txt from 1998/05
From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Solfeggio
Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 17:46:09 -0400
Most instructors who have taught sight-singing for years have either
chosen -- or developed -- a system with which they feel comfortable.
There are a variety of approaches:
Moveable DO
^^^^^^^^^^^
1. In the moveable DO system, the tonic pitch is DO whether it be
C, A flat, or F sharp.
2. In some moveable DO procedures the tonic pitch of minor keys
is represented by LA. The advantage of this system is that the
MI-FA syllables represent a half-step interval in major and
minor keys.
3. Advocates of this plan argue that it establishes the same syllable
pattern no matter what the key and is thus more effective, especially
for beginning students. Antagonists sometimes agree that initial
results are favorable, but contend that students are in the long run
(especially in melodies that modulate) forced into complicated
procedures that inhibit the natural flow of sightsinging.
4. Ascending 12 tone moveable DO syllables:
Do-Di-Re-Ri-Mi-Fa-Fi-Sol-Si-La-Li-Ti-
Descending 12 tone moveable DO syllables:
Do-Ti-Te-La-Le-Sol-Se-Fa-Mi-Me-Re-Ra-
Fixed DO
^^^^^^^^
1. DO is always the same note (usually C) regardless of the key.
2. Protagonists of fixed DO point out that since particular lines or
spaces of each staff are always associated with the same syllable,
the system encourages true reading skills and is thus superior to
any other method. Others believe that fixed DO, compared to
moveable DO, is more difficult to master and does not accentuate
as clearly the basic pattern of whole and half-steps in major
and minor scales.
3. Ascending 12 tone fixed DO syllables:
Do-Di-Re-Ri-Me-Mi-Fi-Sol-Si-La-Li-Ti-
Descending 12 tone fixed Do syllable:
Do-Ti-Te-La-Le-Sol-Se-Fa-Mi-Me-Re-Ra-
In addition to the syllables approach, some instructors (or entire
schools, usually) choose alternate systems. When I was at Eastman
10 years ago, they taught using the degree numbers of the chromatic
scale. Thus 1-2-3-4-5...etc. They used the MOVEABLE number system,
where #1 would be the tonic regardless of key, and each degree of
the scale from that point upward would emanate from 1.
And I'm sure that elsewhere, there are schools that use the FIXED number
system, where the tonic is 1, regardless of the scale in question. Thus,
if you were to sing a G major scale, you would start with #8 and work
your way up from there, since 8 represents the note G in a chromatic
scale which starts on C. In other words, G is the 8th degree of the
C chromatic scale.
Yet another system of solfeggio is to use the letter names them-
selves. This sytem is, by definition, a fixed system since you
wouldn't have any logical reason to change letter names per the
different tonics of pieces. A piece in E-flat would have the
"syllable" E-flat as the tonic, and you would sing the other
pitches accordingly by name.
I have equal facility with both fixed and moveable DO systems,
and find the number system less accessible (simply because of
the way my brain works). The letter name system is too unwieldy
given the multiple syllables that must be used for accidentals.
My preference is for fixed DO, because moveable is useful only
for tonal music, and is only superficially adaptable to atonal music
(i.e.; you assume C to be the tonic, which is what fixed DO is by
definition already). With the ever-growing presence of atonal music
in the repertoire, it is more logical for me to use the system that
reflects this trend -- regardless of whether or not there is a tonic
-- rather than switch between the two systems for lack of total
facility in the more universal of the two.
Neil
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