Introduction
Solfege, also known as sol-fa or solfeggio, refers to a music education method used in western music to teach pitch and sight singing. Solfege is a type of solmization, which relates to a methodology of attributing distinct syllables to notes in musical scales. When syllables are assigned to notes of the music scale, musicians are able to hear pitches of music mentally. Indeed, this is possible even when individuals see the songs for the first time and sing them aloud. In this regard, this paper evaluates the evolution of solfege in western music and its use in teaching in present-day music.
Origin of Solfege
The origin of solfege has its roots in the 11 th century in Italy when Guido of Arezzo, a music theorist invented a notational system that named six pitches of the hexachord. 1 In a Hymn to St. John the Baptist, the composition yielded ut, re, mi, sol, and la, where successive lines of the hymn began in a next scale degree. Another theory explains that solfege syllables, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, were derived from the Arabic solmization system. Although, these arguments are not captured in any documentary, the works of Franciscus a Mesgnien Meninski and Jean-Benjamin de la Borde in 1680 and 1780 respectively elaborate this perspective. Moreover, in the Elizabethan era, from 1558 to 1603, the golden age of English development, they used the syllables of Mi, fa, sol, and la. The present-day use indicates Mi as si , fa as do or ut , sol as re , and la as mi .
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Historical Development
The history of solfeggio, however, was more prevalent in the 19 th century when the Soviet Union zones sought to restructure their educational systems; teachers looked for progressive pedagogies for inspiration. One of the most used pedagogies in the mid-19 th century was the aspect of English tonic sol-fa. Sol-fa used syllables, hand gestures, and a simplified notation structure to teach amateurs how to read music. 2 Adapting to tonic sol-fa triggered the concentration on syllables and the cheironomy in music formations that followed. Tonic sol-fa in the western readers’ orientation captured a movable-do system, which set a major scale to adapted Guidonia syllables namely; do re mi fa so la ti do. Notably, the East Germans used a hand and finger cheironomy to illustrate the scale back and forth. While some teachers used the outline to teach music, others developed more concrete systems like solmization to demonstrate a variety of concepts ranging from music literacy to absolute pitch.
Solfege and Teaching
Solfege music method was developed 44 years after the inception of solmization. Heinrich Werle published guidance to solfege based on his 40 years’ experience working with children. Werle claims that solfege method accommodated children’s natural tendencies as they unfolded. In particular, Werle states “all newborn infants cried at, or close to, the pitch a.” 3 This pitch formed a tonal center of children lives. Werle observed that children up to the age of 10 continually produce pitch a’ “spontaneously and intuitively by the art of bodily and spiritual instinct” as opposed to the natural thought process. 4 Through Werle’s deductions, children have an inborn nature of diatonic harmony. He indicates that infants hit second notes when breathing in between cries and the note is always higher by an octave or two octaves. Werle notes that a foundation of harmony already exists and the process unfolds subconsciously. This is in relation to music birth within the acoustics. Werle’s solmization system cultivated music tendencies that were present from children’s birth. Similar to sol-fa, Werle uses syllables to activate children’s, muscle memories. According to Werle, children’s physical abilities tend to grow faster than their brain rationalism.
Solfege and Mnemonic Gestures
Unlike sol-fa teachers who started with the pitches so and mi, which were a falling third common in children songs, solfege adopted a single primal pitch a,’ which was assigned the syllable fe alongside a helpful mnemonic of an outstretched arm. The gestures work together as a unit, thus forming a basis for the children’s tonal education. Accompanying the gesture, the children would check the pitch with a tuning fork, thus rediscovering and defining their natural tonal centers with which they had been born with. The fe gesture resembled the hitlergrub, the Nazi salute. 5 However, while the Nazi salute angled upwards, Werle’s system held the arm at ca. 30 degrees above the level. Even if the similarity may have been irrelevant, East German music educators overlooked the fact that many pedagogies in the Weimar era were used throughout the Nazi era. The teachers’ perspectives held that the gestures and the syllables were apolitical and devised to teach skills and not any propositional content.
Following the exploration of the pitch a’, children got used to their spontaneous musical setups. This followed the introduction of f#, a minor third below a’. This was important given that the fe gesture was similar to the syllable Wa , but at an angle. Werle indicates that f# was a primary tone characterized by sympathetic resonance. The falling minor third was principal to tonic sol-fa education but was not entirely used for psychoacoustic reasons. Educators noted that most speeches and songs from children featured the interval.
After this discovery, the teachers would then drop their hands to the side to produce d’ or Mu. D major scale pitches followed gradually over time. In the growth of solfege, Werle assigned syllables Mu Ro Wa la fe bu zu mu. Here, the gesture traces a 180-degree arc projecting from bottom to the top. The alternation entails parallel and perpendicular positioning to the ground. The whole arm gestures used in these elaborations were meant to gesture to the children the relative pitches that accompanied a song’s tone. D major marked a solid development of the solfeggio music system, where children’s natural inclinations were the determinants of the choices of the D major.
Movable do and Fixed do solfege
Solfege has two main types of modern-day use: Movable do solfege and the fixed do solfege. 6 In Movable do solfege, every syllable corresponds to a scale degree. A system common in Germanic countries, the United States, and Commonwealth countries, Movable do solfege is analogous to the Guidonian practice. The practice specifies giving each degree of the hexachord a solfege name. Movable do solfeggio possesses a pedagogical advantage of assisting in the comprehension of the theoretical understanding of music development. This is because the establishment of a tonic is sung in comparison to melodic and chordal aligning through which a student infers. A notable difference in movable do and the fixed do is that the latter is appropriate for instrumentalists while the former suffices the applications of music theorists and composers. In the present-day, movable do is employed in Australia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, and Hong Kong. Solfege syllables correspond to pitch but in a scale degree. While the first degree is usually sung as “do,” the second major scale is sung as “re.” The movable do solfege syllables differ from the fixed do by the variation of English on the basic syllables. The minor key passage in the movable do can either start on do, which indicates the do-based minor or starting from la to refer to the la-based minor. This phenomenon is mostly referred to as the choral singing especially among children.
Fixed do solfege outlines a spectacle where every syllable corresponds to the name of a note. In addition, Fixed-do system is analogous to the romance system of naming pitches after solfege syllables. The system is prevalent among the romance, Slavic, and the Spanish-speaking countries. For the major romance Slavic languages, the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si name notes in the same way as letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. 7 The native speakers of these languages sing the name of the note while omitting modifiers such as sharp or flat to preserve the rhythm.
Movable do solfege system corresponds to the psychological experience of the normal tunes. Essentially, this means that when a song is sung a note higher, it is perceived as the same song and notes have similar relationships to each other. On the other hand, fixed do solfege implies that all notes are different thus indicating the generality of the movable do solfege system that the vast majority of persons do not possess an absolute pitch. Fixed do has been argued to belong to the serious musicians because of its complexity in modulations and vagueness in tonality. While any movable do system can be used as a fixed do solfege system, a fixed do requires musicians to regard syllables as tonic and does not force them to analyze the tonic notes where ambiguity prevails. Fixed do allow musicians to practice in multiple tonalities alongside corresponding syllables.
Solfege and the Piano
Solfege music systems have significance in the relationships observed between pitches and the white notes in pianos. By basing majorly on the western music, piano octaves present equally spaced front white notes and black wedge notes in the back. The representation highlights basic solfege notes projecting a pattern of gaps similar to Do T Re T Mi S Fa T So T La T Ti S Do. 8 Moving back to the evenly spaced back keys in the piano, the pattern would start on any note to produce a different tune. Indeed, the disciplines of solfege music present this understanding since its inception to the modern-day developments experienced in the music industry. Notably, while music may come naturally in a person’s vocal ability, advancing the know-how on the music requires concentration and enlightenment on the developments made on musicology.
Conclusion
Developing from as far as the 11 th century, the solfege music system has shaped music development extensively. Music teachers such as Heinrich Werle have contributed significantly to the development of solfege syllables and the gestures that accompany them. Mainly, the Solfege teachings are based on the understanding of children’s tonal inclinations and their alignment to vocal scales as they grow. Solfege is categorized into movable do and fixed do. While the movable do solfege has no attachment to specific notes, fixed do solfege aligns syllables to specific musical notes. As such, fixed do solfege is perceived as more complex than the movable do solfege, and more musicians and teachers subscribe to it in developing music of the modern era.
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