Sven Edward Olbash (c) 2013

1. Solfège Bootcamp
Music before 1600
© 2013 by Sven Edward Olbash

2. Pitch is vibration.
Pitch is measured by frequency and expressed in terms of
cps (cycles per second) or Herz. The human ear can
differentiate between frequencies ranging from about 20 to
20,000 Hz.
What is pitch?

3. Intervals are proportions.
Pythagoras and the blacksmith
"A famous discovery is attributed to Pythagoras...
that the central musical concords (the octave, fifth
and fourth) correspond to the whole number ratios
2:1, 3:2 and 4:3 respectively.
[...]
One story has it that Pythagoras passed by a
blacksmith's shop and heard the concords in the
sounds of the hammers striking the anvil and then
discovered that the sounds made by hammers
whose weights are in the ratio 2:1 will be an octave
apart, etc." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

4. Just intonation requires deviation from "absolute" pitch.
Equally tempered Third (5:4) Fourth (4:3) Fifth (3:2)
G 392.0 B 490.0 C 522.7 D 588.0
A 440.0 D 586.7 E 660.0
B 493.9 E 658.5
C 523.3 E 654.1 F 697.7 G 784.9
D 587.3 G 783.1 A 881.0
E 659.3 A 879.0 B 988.9
Frequency (in Herz)

5. Early notation is used only as a memory aid.
The earliest musical notation indicates rhythm and melodic contour, but not exact pitch.
It is impossible to learn a song from this notation alone without having someone who
knows it teach it to you.
Bibliothèque municipale de Laon, Manuscript 239 (9th or 10th century).

6. Guido names the notes of the major hexachord.
UT queant laxis
REsonare fibris
MIra gestorum
FAmuli tuorum
SOLve polluti
LAbii reatum
Sancte Ioannes
Hymn to St. John the Baptist. Melody attributed to Guido of Arezzo
(11th c).

7. Solmization of the Guidonian hand (gamut)

8. Mutation between natural and soft hexachords
using a common tone
Communion Comedite, 9th or 10th c.

9. The hard and soft hexachords
Communion Tollite hostias, 9th or 10th c.

10. Renaissance singers were trained using medieval hexachord solmization.
L'homme armé, anonymous 14th or 15th c.

11. The modern convention adds the syllable Ti
and changes Ut to Do

12. In the Ward Method, the syllables Do Re Mi are written 1 2 3, etc.
with a dot above or below for upper and lower octaves.
Sequence Stabat mater dolorosa, 13th c. (Ward notation)

13. Melody is made of pitch and rhythm.
In order to arrive at the right note, you have to count.
Per illud ave, attr. Josquin Desprez (ed. Laura Conrad © 2000)

14. Two-part exercises or bicinia were an important part
of Renaissance vocal training.
Oculus non vidit, Orlande de Lassus

15. Singing from partbook format, singers are forced to use their ears
to stay together and in tune with other parts.

16. Sing flats as Fa and naturals or sharps as Mi. This sometimes involves
imagining a Fa or Mi where there isn't one, resulting in musica ficta.

17. Even in vertical harmonies, chromaticism is still heard
in relation to a tenor, real or imagined, throughout the Renaissance period.
Carmina Chromatico, Orlande de Lassus

18. As we move toward the Baroque, extended vocal ranges
render the hexachord method of solmization less useful.
La vita fugge, late Renaissance chanson by André Pevernage

19. The use of modern clefs in recent editions does not necessarily suggest
absolute pitch. Transposition is often necessary for a satisfactory performance.