Klarinet Archive - Posting 001057.txt from 1998/05

From: Rich & Tani Miller <musicians@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Solfeggio
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 20:04:21 -0400

I prefer moveable Do. For me, La-based minor is easier to hear and thus sing.
I wish that colleges and universities would choose one system and use it
throughout all classes. Maybe some do.

To each his own I guess . . .

You wrote a very clear explanation!!!!

Tani

Neil Leupold wrote:

> 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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