Solfege is a method of assigning syllables to musical pitches, making them easier to sing. It originated with Guido d'Arezzo in the 11th century and uses syllables like "do re mi fa so la ti do." There are two systems - movable "do," where do shifts with key, and fixed "do," where do is always C. Learning solfege improves sight singing, transcription, relative pitch, and composing by helping recognize patterns in music.

1. An Introduction to
Solfege

2. What’s Solfege?
● A method of naming pitches
● For example: the C major scale can be named
do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, with C corresponding to do, D
to re, etc.
● These syllables are easier to sing than the actual note
names, and give the melody a more memorable
“song-like” quality.
● There are two solfege systems: movable “do” and
fixed “do”
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3. The Origins of Solfege
● Solfege originated nearly a thousand years ago.
● An Italian monk named Guido d’Arezzo noticed that the
beginning of each phrase in the Latin hymn “Ut Queant Laxis”
began on each successive step of the scale.
● He developed a six-note ascending scale based on the first
pitch of each phrase.
● The first syllable of the original (“ut”) was eventually changed to
“do”.
● With this system, one could sing the hymn using these
syllables, instead of the note names.
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4. What Information Does Solfege Give You?
● Suppose you hear two notes, and can
recognize them as “so” going up to “do”.
Here’s what this tells you:
● The pitch movement is from scale degree 5 to
1 (dominant to tonic)
● This implies harmonic (chord) motion of V-I /
V-I
● The interval is a perfect fourth
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5. Two Solfege Systems: Movable “Do”
and Fixed “Do”
● Movable Do always assigns Do to the tonic
of the scale
● For example, Do in F major would be F!
● Fixed Do always assigns Do to C
● For example, Do in F major would still be C!
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6. Advantages of Movable “Do”
● No need to worry about transposition – “Do” is
whatever the tonic of that scale is.
● It is very useful in learning relative pitch, or the
differences in pitch.
● Helpful in learning to identify intervals.
● Allows you to hum, play, or write the melody of
your choice in any key.
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7. Solfege in Minor Keys
● In solfege, we raise or lower the pitch of a note by changing the vowel at
the end of the syllable; this is used for the accidentals of minor scales.
● To sing an E♭, sing “me” (rhymes with “may”) instead of “mi” (rhymes
with “mee”).
● There are two systems for minor solfege: “do”-based minor and
“la”-based minor.
● In “do”-based minor, the lowered 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees are
represented by the syllables “me”, “le”, and “te”.
● “La”-based minor uses the accidental-free minor scale to assign solfege
syllables to the degrees of minor keys, without changing a single
syllable’s vowel!
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8. 6 Great Reasons to Learn Solfege
● Recognize patterns in music
● Improve your sight-singing skills
● Transcribe music
● Learn relative pitch
● Recall melodies at will
● Improve your composing
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9. Summary
● Solfege is a way of naming notes in order to associate
certain syllables with certain pitches.
● There are two systems of learning solfege – movable
“do” and fixed “do”. Movable “do” is more valuable in
ear training and musicality.
● Learning solfege will improve your composing, melody
recall, and ability to identify intervals.
● Use this series of Musical U to start your solfege
training!
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