Solmization

Syllables for the degrees

The page Ear training describes the principle: solmization gives every degree of a scale a syllable. Because it is relative, it helps to grasp melodies and their tensions independently of the actual key. In major the “do” is always the tonic, the “ti” strives upwards back to the “do”. The page calls it a classic of music teaching.

The table shows it for three keys: in C major C is the do, in G major G, in F major F. The syllables stay, the notes change.

Do is not C

According to the page Klang-Regenbogen this is the decisive point for teaching: the syllables are used relatively. “Do” is not C, but the tonic of the major key in question. The distance from do to mi is therefore always a major third, and ti always presses up to do, no matter what key you happen to be in.

The benefit: a child who has learnt a song in C can sing it at once in G with the syllables. With absolute note names it would have to learn the piece anew. Both systems have their place and do not contradict each other. You need the letter names to talk about a particular piece and to fret on the instrument. You need the syllables to hear what is going on. In lessons they run in parallel: the colour shows the absolute note, the syllable its function in the scale.

Where the syllables come from

The Klang-Regenbogen page explains the origin: the syllables go back to the old hymn to St John “Ut queant laxis”, whose lines each began one note higher. Guido of Arezzo (11th century) took their opening syllables as names. Later times changed the series: today “do” is mostly sung instead of “ut”, and “ti” (formerly “si”) was added later. That is also where the spellings come from: while the Ear training page writes “sol”, the Klang-Regenbogen page has “so”, as is usual in the Kodály system.

Hand signs and rhythm language

In the Kodály method the hand signs belong to solmization. The page Notation symbols lists them: every degree has a hand shape of its own, and the height of the hand in front of the body shows the pitch in addition. The English music educator John Curwen added hand signs to his tonic sol-fa in the 19th century, Zoltán Kodály made them a fixed part of music education in Hungary and worldwide.

Alongside the pitch syllables Kodály has the rhythm language. The article Why children learn rhythm through language names the syllables “ta” for the quarter note and “ti-ti” for two eighth notes and stresses that they are independent of language.

Inner hearing

The Ear training page records: anyone who can sing melodies in solmization syllables links ear, voice and theory into a unity. That is exactly what inner hearing is, letting a melody sound in your head before you play it. The page Klang-Spektrum describes do-re-mi and fixed timbres as ways of making pitches tangible and easier to remember.

Common mistakes

• Equating do with C: That holds only for C major. In every other key the do moves with the tonic.
• Mixing syllables and note names: “Fa” is the fourth degree, not the note F. When you speak of the note, you say F.
• Not leading the ti to the do: The pull of the ti upwards is the core of the system. If you ignore it, you sing out of tune.