The Happy Musician

Today we will be exploring how to sing solfege. Solfege is the basic system for notes sung in choir, and is used for performance songs (Galop, Ken Berg) and sight-reading (as in the Florida All-State sight-reading audition and/or chorus). A video that goes along with this is coming out soon. Let’s get started!

Every scale has seven major notes plus the top note, which rounds off the octave (8 keys). The foundation for the scale is the tonic, or first note of the scale. In solfege, we call this Do. We will ignore the hand signs for now, but they will be important to know later.

The second note is Re, pronounced “Reh,” not “Ray.” In a musical theater setting, Ray would be more appropriate, but in a choir, Reh is used for blending.

The third note is Mi, which is a major third from Do. We say the vowel for Mi closer to “Meh,” because i (pronounced ee) is a gliding vowel, meaning it has two vowel sounds in one. Try saying mile regularly. It sounds like my-uhl. In a choir, to blend, you would want to say “mahl.” It’s the same with Mi. You will want to say Meh instead of Mee.

The fourth note is Fa, a perfect fourth from Do. The fifth is So, or Sol, depending on the director’s preferences.

La is the sixth note in the scale. It is a common neutral tone, much like di or da.

Ti is one of the hardest intervals from Do, either a half step down or seven steps up (in the scale).

Do at the top is the same as Do at the bottom, except one is 8 steps higher in terms of scales. It is 12 half steps from the bottom Do.

Thanks for reading, and check back soon for a video lesson on this post! The poll in the previous post is being taken down on Labor Day, which is this Monday, so make sure to check that out and vote. See you soon!

Cover photo by Josh Sorenson

Post photo by TPT