Solfege Explained
Solfege Explained
Solfege is a way of naming pitches. The solfege syllables developed mainly in Italy many years ago. As in many math sets, these syllables denote pitches that occur in a pattern. Lets learn about the MAJOR SCALE pattern. Major scales are diatonic, meaning that they progress through all the possible whole steps and half steps in an octave. Diatonic scales contain two tetrachords. The prefix tetra means four, so a tetrachord has four notes. Both tetrachords of a major scale have a half step between the top two notes. All the other notes are joined by a whole step. DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO Keeping the whole and half steps in correct order makes it necessary to use sharps and flats in some scales. For violin scales starting on open strings, we just use the basic finger pattern. Low DO will always be an open string.
Solfege Songs
Figure out these songs where DO = A 1. ____________________________________________________ DO DO SO SO LA LA SOFA FA MI MI RE RE DOSO SO FA FA MI MI RESO SO FA FA MI MI REDO DO SO SO LA LA SOFA FA MI MI RE RE DO2. ____________________________________________________ MI ~ RE ~ DO ~ MI ~ RE ~ DO ~ DO DO DO DO RE RE RE RE MI ~ RE ~ DO ~ 3.____________________________________________________ SO SO MI LA SO- MISO SO MI LA SO- MI-
SO - MI- SO MI FA SO SO- DO
SOLFEGE GUESSING
Try to guess which solfege syllable starts and ends each song. If you dont know the song or cant figure it out, leave it blank.
1. Boil Them Cabbage 2. Twinkle, Twinkle 3. Happy Birthday 4. Star Wars Theme 5. Bob the Builder Theme Song 6. Merrily We Roll Along 7. In the Hall of the Mountain King 8. Oh, Susannah! 9. Joy to the World 10. When the Saints Go Marching In