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Solfege

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  • #1

    Solfege

    Do any of you practice solfege (reading off of sheet music and singing the notes on pitch and following the right rhythms)?

    I know there aren't that many musicians on here, but perhaps for future members or those who may develop this interest one day, I'm making this thread.

    I personally find that using your voice as an instrument, especially for interpreting polyphonic music, seriously gives you a boost in playing with any other musical instrument. I cannot stress enough the usefulness of solfege even though I've only recently started doing it. It feels like I'm finally on a plateau in music that I hitherto had no awareness of whatsoever.

    I have some lesson books for solfege, but using any sheet music is fine. It could be any genre, and it is very engaging to do. When I have too much going on my mind, or I'm in a bus or metro, I like to practice this in a low volume. Time flies and it is very enjoyable. My favorite experience of this so far has been with singing the prelude and fugue from Bach that I played last year. I discovered elements in the voicing that I was not very aware of last year.

    If any of you are interested in learning how to read sheet music, perhaps I can find resources to help explain it to you. Then maybe you can practice solfege yourselves if it interests you.
    Last edited by jgk3; 11-21-2008, 07:34 AM.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Solfege

    Yes. I took two semesters of solfege and aced 'em. It helps a lot with learning how to read music but also how to play and 'breathe' with your instrument. It also helps a lot with breath control and being able to discern and produce accurate pitches.

    We did a lot of really tough exercises which really got your brain thinking.

    If you don't know this already here's one:

    Try doing a whole tone scale with just "do-re" so that you replace the second re with do and repeat from there. It's harder than it sounds.

    We also did a lot of stuff that would modulate key within the song and you'd have to figure out 1) what key it modulates to and 2) how to solfege that section in the key and 3) figure out where to modulate back to the first key! There's so much you can do with solfege besides scales and such, although those are a very important aspect of solfege as well.

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    • #3
      Re: Solfege

      yes good point, modulation is a very strong aspect of serious solfege studies. Personally, I am doing this out of context of a school, but the lesson plan in my books are very solid and very exerting.

      I can certainly feel how solfeging a whole tone scale can be very awkward, but I don't understand what you mean about replacing the second re with a do. To me it would equate to playing do twice instead of once, before continuing your progression in the second octave.

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      • #4
        Re: Solfege

        Originally posted by jgk3 View Post
        yes good point, modulation is a very strong aspect of serious solfege studies. Personally, I am doing this out of context of a school, but the lesson plan in my books are very solid and very exerting.
        Ahhh ok.

        I can certainly feel how solfeging a whole tone scale can be very awkward, but I don't understand what you mean about replacing the second re with a do. To me it would equate to playing do twice instead of once, before continuing your progression in the second octave.
        Well it's kind of hard to explain without me showing/solfeging it but I think you have the gist of it.

        Another interesting/essential exercise is solfeging a I-IV-V7 progression in all inversions. For example:

        I - Do mi sol. mi sol do. sol do mi. mi do sol. do sol mi. sol mi do.
        IV - La do fa. do fa la. etc.
        V7 - Sol ti re fa. ti re fa sol. re fa sol ti. etc.

        The V7 is obviously the hardest to do in all 4 inversions.

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        • #5
          Re: Solfege

          Originally posted by yerazhishda View Post
          Ahhh ok.
          I meant, not in the context, out of context doesn't convey that meaning, woops.

          Well it's kind of hard to explain without me showing/solfeging it but I think you have the gist of it.

          Another interesting/essential exercise is solfeging a I-IV-V7 progression in all inversions. For example:

          I - Do mi sol. mi sol do. sol do mi. mi do sol. do sol mi. sol mi do.
          IV - La do fa. do fa la. etc.
          V7 - Sol ti re fa. ti re fa sol. re fa sol ti. etc.

          The V7 is obviously the hardest to do in all 4 inversions.
          yeah no kidding it's hard, though it must be very rewarding when you get it down. Thanks for that lesson, I will try it.

          Btw, are we supposed to be able to sing all the octaves or are we able to, upon running out of vocal range, go to an octave we can continue from?

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          • #6
            Re: Solfege

            Yes. I did choir for a year in high school, and our teacher always made us solfege through every song, and we were tested on it as well. I'm a bit rusty though, as it's been a while, I don't remember all the signs for the sharp/flat notes.

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            • #7
              Re: Solfege

              I'm surprised this thread worked

              I don't have a problem with the sheet music signs because I've known it for over half my life.

              I also like the effect it has on sharpening your feel for accurate song writing on programs like guitar pro. I had serious trouble finding out what notations for rhythm to use in many of my compositions until I began solfege.

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              • #8
                Re: Solfege

                Originally posted by ara87 View Post
                Yes. I did choir for a year in high school, and our teacher always made us solfege through every song, and we were tested on it as well. I'm a bit rusty though, as it's been a while, I don't remember all the signs for the sharp/flat notes.
                Ascending Chromatic Scale:

                Do di re ri mi fa fi sol si la li ti do

                Descending Chromatic Scale:

                Do ti te la le sol se fa mi re ra do

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                • #9
                  Re: Solfege

                  Originally posted by jgk3 View Post
                  Btw, are we supposed to be able to sing all the octaves or are we able to, upon running out of vocal range, go to an octave we can continue from?
                  It depends what your vocal range is. Are you a bass, baritone, tenor, or countertenor()?

                  You're really only expected to sing within your vocal range (which if you are like most men and myself - a baritone - extends from F just below the bass staff to F/G above middle C), although you can go into your falsetto if absolutely necessary.
                  Last edited by yerazhishda; 11-21-2008, 02:40 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Solfege

                    I'd say I'm from G to C, but I periodically restart from a lower or higher octave when I run out of range. Actually, I'm confused about what you mean by middle C, I thought middle C would've been in my first octave (I consider myself a baritone), not my second. I'd call the C in my second octave a higher C. I didn't learn this in school so I could very well be wrong.

                    The other thing I believe I'm doing wrong, or in an unorthodox fashion, is to not distinguish between sharps and flats in my naming of the notes during singing. If it's a G#, I still say Sol, though I prefer to use the chromatic system you described. My piano teacher who doesn't teach me solfege simply told me to not distinguish, but I feel this limits me and I'm willing to specialize more.

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