In music,solfège (/ˈsɒlfɛʒ/,French:[sɔlfɛʒ]) orsolfeggio (/sɒlˈfɛdʒioʊ/;Italian:[solˈfeddʒo]), also calledsol-fa,solfa,solfeo, among many names, is amnemonic used in teachingaural skills,pitch andsight-reading ofWestern music. Solfège is a form ofsolmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Syllables are assigned to the notes of thescale and assist the musician inaudiating, or mentally hearing, the pitches of a piece of music, often for the purpose of singing them aloud. Through theRenaissance (and much later in someshapenote publications) various interlocking four-, five- and six-note systems were employed to cover the octave. Thetonic sol-fa method popularized the seven syllables commonly used in English-speaking countries:do (spelleddoh intonic sol-fa),[1]re,mi,fa,so(l),la, andti (orsi) (seebelow).
There are two current ways of applying solfège: 1)fixed do, where the syllables are always tied to specific pitches (e.g., "do" is always "C-natural") and 2)movable do, where the syllables are assigned toscale degrees, with "do" always the first degree of the major scale.
Italian "solfeggio" and English/French "solfège" derive from the names of two of the syllables used:sol andfa.[2][3]
The generic term "solmization", referring to any system of denotingpitches of a musical scale by syllables, including those used in India and Japan as well as solfège, comes from Frenchsolmisation, from the Latinsolfège syllablessol andmi.[4]
The verb "to sol-fa" means to sing the solfège syllables of a passage (as opposed to singing the lyrics, humming, etc).[5]
In eleventh-century Italy, the music theoristGuido of Arezzo invented a notational system that named the six notes of thehexachord after the first syllable of each line of the Latinhymn "Ut queant laxis", the "Hymn to St.John the Baptist", yieldingut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.[6][7] Each successive line of this hymn begins on the nextscale degree, so each note's name was the syllable sung at that pitch in this hymn.
Ut queant laxīs resonāre fibrīs
Mīra gestōrum famulī tuōrum,
Solve pollūtī labiī reātum,
Sancte Iohannēs.
The words were ascribed toPaulus Diaconus in the 8th century. They translate as:
So that your servants may with loosened voices
Resound the wonders of your deeds,
Clean the guilt from our stained lips,
O Saint John.
"Ut" was changed in the 1600s in Italy to theopen syllable Do.[7] Guido's system had only six notes, but "si" was added later as the seventh note of the diatonic scale. InAnglophone countries, "si" was changed to "ti" bySarah Glover in the nineteenth century so that every syllable mightbegin with a different letter. "Ti" is used intonic sol-fa (and in the famed American show tune "Do-Re-Mi").
Some authors speculate that the solfège syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) might have been influenced by the syllables of theArabic solmization system called درر مفصّلاتDurar Mufaṣṣalāt ("Detailed Pearls") (dāl, rā', mīm, fā', ṣād, lām, tā'). This mixed-origin theory was brought forward by scholars as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth century, in the works ofFrancisci a Mesgnien Meninski andJean-Benjamin de La Borde.[8][9][10][11] Modern scholars are mostly skeptical.[12]
In theElizabethan era, England and its related territories used only four of the syllables: mi, fa, sol, and la. "Mi" stood for modern ti or si, "fa" for modern do or ut, "sol" for modern re, and "la" for modern mi. Then, fa, sol and la would be repeated to also stand for their modern counterparts, resulting in the scale being "fa, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa". The use of "fa", "sol" and "la" for two positions in the scale is a leftover from the Guidonian system of so-called "mutations" (i.e. changes of hexachord on a note, seeGuidonian hand). This system was largely eliminated by the 19th century, but is still used in someshape note systems, which give each of the four syllables "fa", "sol", "la", and "mi" a different shape.
An example of this type of solmization occurs in Shakespeare'sKing Lear, where in Act 1, Scene 2,Edmund exclaims to himself right after Edgar's entrance so that Edgar can hear him: "O, these eclipses do portend these divisions". Then, in the 1623First Folio (but not in the 1608 Quarto), he adds "Fa, so, la, mi". This Edmund probably sang to the tune ofFa,So,La,Ti (e.g. F, G, A, B in C major), i.e. an ascending sequence of three whole tones with an ominous feel to it: seetritone (historical uses).[citation needed]
Solfège is still used for sight reading training. There are two main types:Movable do andFixed do.
InMovable do[13] ortonic sol-fa, each syllable corresponds to ascale degree; for example, if the music changes into a higher key, each syllable moves to a correspondingly higher note. This is analogous to the Guidonian practice of giving each degree of the hexachord a solfège name, and is mostly used in Germanic countries,Commonwealth countries, and the United States.
One particularly important variant of movable do, but differing in some respects from the system described below, was invented in the nineteenth century bySarah Ann Glover, and is known astonic sol-fa.
In Italy, in 1972,Roberto Goitre wrote the famous method "Cantar leggendo", which has come to be used for choruses and for music for young children.
The pedagogical advantage of the movable-Do system is its ability to assist in the theoretical understanding of music; because a tonic is established and then sung in comparison to, the student infers melodic and chordal implications through their singing.
Movable do is frequently employed in Australia, China, Japan (with 5th being so, and 7th being si), Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, and English-speaking Canada. The movable do system is a fundamental element of theKodály method used primarily inHungary, but with a dedicated following worldwide. In the movable do system, each solfège syllable corresponds not to a pitch, but to a scale degree: The first degree of a major scale is always sung as "do", the second as "re", etc. (For minor keys, see below.) In movable do, a given tune is therefore always sol-faed on the same syllables, no matter what key it is in.
The solfège syllables used for movable do differ slightly from those used for fixed do, because the English variant of the basic syllables ("ti" instead of "si") is usually used, andchromatically altered syllables are usually included as well.
| Major scale degree | Mova. do solfège syllable | # of half steps from Do | Trad. pron. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do | 0 | /doʊ/ |
| Raised 1 | Di | 1 | /diː/ |
| Lowered 2 | Ra | 1 | /ɹɑː/ |
| 2 | Re | 2 | /ɹeɪ/ |
| Raised 2 | Ri | 3 | /ɹiː/ |
| Lowered 3 | Me (& Ma) | 3 | /meɪ/ (/mɑː/) |
| 3 | Mi | 4 | /miː/ |
| 4 | Fa | 5 | /fɑː/ |
| Raised 4 | Fi | 6 | /fiː/ |
| Lowered 5 | Se | 6 | /seɪ/ |
| 5 | Sol | 7 | /soʊ/ |
| Raised 5 | Si | 8 | /siː/ |
| Lowered 6 | Le (& Lo) | 8 | /leɪ/ (/loʊ/) |
| 6 | La | 9 | /lɑː/ |
| Raised 6 | Li | 10 | /liː/ |
| Lowered 7 | Te (& Ta) | 10 | /teɪ/ (/tɑː/) |
| 7 | Ti | 11 | /tiː/ |
If, at a certain point, the key of a piece modulates, then it is necessary to change the solfège syllables at that point. For example, if a piece begins in C major, then C is initially sung on "do", D on "re", etc. If, however, the piece then modulates to F major, then F is sung on "do", G on "re", etc., and C is then sung on "sol".
Passages in a minor key may be sol-faed in one of two ways in movable do: either starting on do (using "me", "le", and "te" for the lowered third, sixth, and seventh degrees, and "la" and "ti" for the raised sixth and seventh degrees), which is referred to as "do-based minor", or starting on la (using "fi" and "si" for the raised sixth and seventh degrees). The latter (referred to as "la-based minor") is sometimes preferred in choral singing, especially with children.
The choice of which system is used for minor makes a difference as to how you handle modulations. In the first case ("do-based minor"), when the key moves for example from C major to C minor the syllable do keeps pointing to the same note, namely C, (there's no "mutation" of do's note), but when the key shifts from C major to A minor (or A major), the scale is transposed from do = C to do = A. In the second case ("la-based minor"), when the key moves from C major to A minor the syllable do continues to point to the same note, again C, but when the key moves from C major to C minor the scale is transposed from do = C to do = E-flat.
| Natural minor scale degree | Movable do solfège syllable (La-based minor) | Movable do solfège syllable (Do-based minor) |
|---|---|---|
| Lowered 1 | Le (& Lo) | ( Ti ) |
| 1 | La | Do |
| Raised 1 | Li | Di |
| Lowered 2 | Te (& Ta) | Ra |
| 2 | Ti | Re |
| 3 | Do | Me (& Ma) |
| Raised 3 | Di | Mi |
| Lowered 4 | Ra | ( Mi ) |
| 4 | Re | Fa |
| Raised 4 | Ri | Fi |
| Lowered 5 | Me (& Ma) | Se |
| 5 | Mi | Sol |
| 6 | Fa | Le (& Lo) |
| Raised 6 | Fi | La |
| Lowered 7 | Se | ( La ) |
| 7 | Sol | Te (& Ta) |
| Raised 7 | Si | Ti |
InFixed do, each syllable always corresponds to the same pitch; when the music changes keys, each syllable continues to refer to the same sound (in the absolute sense) as it did before. This is analogous to the Romance-language system naming pitches after the solfège syllables, and is used in Romance and Slavic countries, among others, including Spanish-speaking countries.
From theItalian Renaissance, the debate over the superiority of instrumental music versus singing led Italian voice teachers to use Guido’s syllables for vocal technique rather than pitch discrimination. Hence, specific syllables were associated with fixed pitches. When theParis Conservatoire was founded at the turn of the nineteenth century, its solfège textbooks adhered to the conventions of Italian solfeggio, solidifying the use ofFixed doh in Romance cultures[14]
In the majorRomance andSlavic languages, the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si are the ordinary names of the notes, in the same way that the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B are used to name notes in English. For native speakers of these languages, solfège is simplysinging the names of the notes, omitting any modifiers such as "sharp" or "flat" to preserve the rhythm. This system is calledfixed do and is used inBelgium, Brazil, Spain,Portugal, France, Italy,Romania, Latin American countries and in French-speaking Canada as well as countries such asRussia,Turkey,Ukraine,Bulgaria andIsrael where non-Romance languages are spoken. In the United States, the fixed-do system is taught at many conservatories and schools of music including TheJuilliard School in New York City, theCurtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, theEastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, theNew England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, theSan Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, California, and theCleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio.
| Note name | Syllable | Pronunciation | Pitch class | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Romance | Anglicized | Italian | ||
| C♭ | Do♭ | do | /doʊ/ | /dɔ/ | 11 |
| C | Do | 0 | |||
| C♯ | Do♯ | 1 | |||
| D♭ | Re♭ | re | /ɹeɪ/ | /rɛ/ | 1 |
| D | Re | 2 | |||
| D♯ | Re♯ | 3 | |||
| E♭ | Mi♭ | mi | /miː/ | /mi/ | 3 |
| E | Mi | 4 | |||
| E♯ | Mi♯ | 5 | |||
| F♭ | Fa♭ | fa | /fɑː/ | /fa/ | 4 |
| F | Fa | 5 | |||
| F♯ | Fa♯ | 6 | |||
| G♭ | Sol♭ | sol | /soʊl/ | /sɔl/ | 6 |
| G | Sol | 7 | |||
| G♯ | Sol♯ | 8 | |||
| A♭ | La♭ | la | /lɑː/ | /la/ | 8 |
| A | La | 9 | |||
| A♯ | La♯ | 10 | |||
| B♭ | Si♭ | si | /siː/ | /si/ | 10 |
| B | Si | 11 | |||
| B♯ | Si♯ | 0 | |||
In the fixed do system, shown above, accidentals do not affect the syllables used. For example, C, C♯, and C♭ (as well asC
andC
, not shown above) are all sung with the syllable "do".
Several chromatic fixed-do systems have also been devised to account forchromatic notes, and even fordouble-sharp anddouble-flat variants. TheYehnian system, being the first24-EDO (i.e., quarter tone) solfège system, proposed even quartertonal syllables. While having no exceptions to its rules, it supports both si and ti users.
| Note name | Syllable | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Romance | Traditional [15] | 5 sharps,5 flats [15][16][17] | Hullah [18] | Shearer [19] | Siler [20] | Latoni [21] | Yehnian (chromatic) (Si users / Ti users)[22] | Pitch Class | |||
| C | Do | do | – | duf | daw | du | Ka | Dɚ | 10 | |||
| C♭ | Do♭ | – | du | de | do | Ne | Də | 11 | ||||
| C | Do | do | do | do | da | Bi | Do | 0 | ||||
| C♯ | Do♯ | di | da | di | de | Ro | Du | 1 | ||||
| C | Do | – | das | dai | di | Tu | Dü | 2 | ||||
| D | Re | re | – | raf | raw | ru | Be | Rɚ | 0 | |||
| D♭ | Re♭ | ra | ra | ra | ro | Ri | Rə | 1 | ||||
| D | Re | re | re | re | ra | To | Re | 2 | ||||
| D♯ | Re♯ | ri | ri | ri | re | Mu | Ru | 3 | ||||
| D | Re | – | ris | rai | ri | Ga | Rü | 4 | ||||
| E | Mi | mi | – | mef | maw | mu | Ti | Mɚ | 2 | |||
| E♭ | Mi♭ | me | me | me | mo | Mo | Mə | 3 | ||||
| E | Mi | mi | mi | mi | ma | Gu | Mi | 4 | ||||
| E♯ | Mi♯ | – | mis | mai | me | Sa | Mu | 5 | ||||
| E | Mi | – | mish | – | mi | Pe | Mi | 6 | ||||
| F | Fa | fa | – | fof | faw | fu | Mi | Fɚ | 3 | |||
| F♭ | Fa♭ | – | fo | fe | fo | Go | Fə | 4 | ||||
| F | Fa | fa | fa | fa | fa | Su | Fa | 5 | ||||
| F♯ | Fa♯ | fi | fe | fi | fe | Pa | Fu | 6 | ||||
| F | Fa | – | fes | fai | fi | Le | Fü | 7 | ||||
| G | Sol | sol | – | sulf | saw | su | So | Sɚl / Sɚ | 5 | |||
| G♭ | Sol♭ | se | sul | se | so | Pu | Səl / Sə | 6 | ||||
| G | Sol | sol | sol | so | sa | La | Sol | 7 | ||||
| G♯ | Sol♯ | si | sal | si | se | De | Sul / Su | 8 | ||||
| G | Sol | – | sals | sai | si | Fi | Sül / Sü | 9 | ||||
| A | La | la | – | lof | law | lu | Lu | Lɚ | 7 | |||
| A♭ | La♭ | le | lo | le | lo | Da | Lə | 8 | ||||
| A | La | la | la | la | la | Fe | La | 9 | ||||
| A♯ | La♯ | li | le | li | le | Ki | La | 10 | ||||
| A | La | – | les | lai | li | No | Lü | 11 | ||||
| B | Si | si | – | sef | taw | tu | Fa | Sɚ / Tɚ | 9 | |||
| B♭ | Si♭ | te | se | te | to | Ke | Sə / Tə | 10 | ||||
| B | Si | ti | si | ti | ta | Ni | Si / Ti | 11 | ||||
| B♯ | Si♯ | – | sis | tai | te | Bo | Su / Tu | 0 | ||||
| B | Si | – | sish | – | ti | Ru | Sü / Tü | 1 | ||||
| A dash ("–") means that the source(s) did not specify a syllable. | ||||||||||||
In the countries with fixed-do, these seven syllables (with "si" rather than "ti") – and not the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B – are used to name the notes of the C-Major scale. Here it would be said, for example, that Beethoven'sNinth Symphony (inD minor) is in "Re minor", and that its third movement (inB-flat major) is in "Si-bemol major".
InGermanic countries, on the other hand, the notes have letter names that are mainly the same as those used in English (so that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is said to be in "d-Moll"), and solfège syllables are encountered only in sight-singing and ear training.
... The Yehnian Solfège is an intuitive, easily adoptable, and professionally capable quartertonal solfège system ...
