In music, solfège (British English or American English , ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a
mnemonic
A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember.
It makes use of e ...
used in teaching
aural skills,
pitch and
sight-reading
In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian language, Italian meaning, "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singi ...
of
Western music. Solfège is a form of
solmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
s are assigned to the notes of the
scale and assist the musician in
audiating, or mentally hearing, the pitches of a piece of music, often for the purpose of singing them aloud. Through the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
(and much later in some
shapenote publications) various interlocking four-, five- and six-note systems were employed to cover the octave. The
tonic sol-fa method popularized the seven syllables commonly used in English-speaking countries: ''do'' (spelled ''doh'' in
tonic sol-fa),
['']Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' 2nd Ed. (1998) ''re'', ''mi'', ''fa'', ''so(l)'', ''la'', and ''ti'' (or ''si'') (see
below).
There are two current ways of applying solfège: 1)
fixed do, where the syllables are always tied to specific pitches (e.g., "do" is always "C-natural") and 2)
movable do, where the syllables are assigned to
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals ...
s, with "do" always the first degree of the major scale.
Etymology
Italian "" and English/French "" derive from the names of two of the syllables used: ''sol'' and ''fa''.
[
][
]
The generic term "
solmization", referring to any system of denoting
pitches of a musical scale by syllables, including those used in India and Japan as well as solfège, comes from French , from the Latin syllables ''sol'' and ''mi''.
[
]
The verb "to sol-fa" means to sing the solfège syllables of a passage (as opposed to singing the lyrics, humming, etc).
[
]
Origin
In eleventh-century Italy, the music theorist
Guido of Arezzo
Guido of Arezzo (; – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern Staff (music), staff notation that had a massive ...
invented a notational system that named the six notes of the
hexachord
In music, a hexachord (also hexachordon) is a six- note series, as exhibited in a scale ( hexatonic or hexad) or tone row. The term was adopted in this sense during the Middle Ages and adapted in the 20th century in Milton Babbitt's serial t ...
after the first syllable of each line of the Latin
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...
"
Ut queant laxis", the "Hymn to St.
John the Baptist
John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
", yielding ''ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la''.
[Davies, Norman (1997), ''Europe'', pp. 271–272] Each successive line of this hymn begins on the next
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals ...
, so each note's name was the syllable sung at that pitch in this hymn.
Ut queant laxīs resonāre fibrīs
Mīra gestōrum famulī tuōrum,
Solve pollūtī labiī reātum,
Sancte Iohannēs.
The words were ascribed to
Paulus Diaconus in the 8th century. They translate as:
So that your servants may with loosened voices
Resound the wonders of your deeds,
Clean the guilt from our stained lips,
O Saint John.
"Ut" was changed in the 1600s in Italy to the
open syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''ma ...
Do.
[
] Guido's system had only six notes, but "si" was added later as the seventh note of the diatonic scale. In
Anglophone countries, "si" was changed to "ti" by
Sarah Glover in the nineteenth century so that every syllable might
begin with a different letter. "Ti" is used in
tonic sol-fa (and in the famed American show tune "
Do-Re-Mi").
Some authors speculate that the solfège syllables (''do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti'') might have been influenced by the syllables of the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
solmization system called درر مفصّلات ''Durar Mufaṣṣalāt'' ("Detailed Pearls") (
''dāl, rā', mīm, fā', ṣād, lām, tā). This mixed-origin theory was brought forward by scholars as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth century, in the works of
Francisci a Mesgnien Meninski and
Jean-Benjamin de La Borde. Modern scholars are mostly skeptical.
In Elizabethan England
In the
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female ...
, England and its related territories used only four of the syllables: mi, fa, sol, and la. "Mi" stood for modern ti or si, "fa" for modern do or ut, "sol" for modern re, and "la" for modern mi. Then, fa, sol and la would be repeated to also stand for their modern counterparts, resulting in the scale being "fa, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa". The use of "fa", "sol" and "la" for two positions in the scale is a leftover from the Guidonian system of so-called "mutations" (i.e. changes of hexachord on a note, see
Guidonian hand
The Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight reading, sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theory, music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, incl ...
). This system was largely eliminated by the 19th century, but is still used in some
shape note
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and Sing-along, social singing. The notation became a popular teaching device in American singing schools during the 19th century. Shapes were added to the noteheads in ...
systems, which give each of the four syllables "fa", "sol", "la", and "mi" a different shape.
An example of this type of solmization occurs in Shakespeare's ''
King Lear
''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
'', where in Act 1, Scene 2,
Edmund
Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings and nobles
*Ed ...
exclaims to himself right after Edgar's entrance so that Edgar can hear him: "O, these eclipses do portend these divisions". Then, in the 1623
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
(but not in the 1608 Quarto), he adds "Fa, so, la, mi". This Edmund probably sang to the tune of ''Fa'', ''So'', ''La'', ''Ti'' (e.g. F, G, A, B in C major), i.e. an ascending sequence of three whole tones with an ominous feel to it: see
tritone (historical uses).
Modern use
Solfège is still used for sight reading training. There are two main types: ''Movable do'' and ''Fixed do''.
Movable do solfège
In ''Movable do'' or ''tonic sol-fa'', each syllable corresponds to a
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals ...
; for example, if the music changes into a higher key, each syllable moves to a correspondingly higher note. This is analogous to the Guidonian practice of giving each degree of the hexachord a solfège name, and is mostly used in Germanic countries,
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
countries, and the United States.
One particularly important variant of movable do, but differing in some respects from the system described below, was invented in the nineteenth century by
Sarah Ann Glover, and is known as
tonic sol-fa.
In Italy, in 1972,
Roberto Goitre wrote the famous method "Cantar leggendo", which has come to be used for choruses and for music for young children.
The pedagogical advantage of the movable-Do system is its ability to assist in the theoretical understanding of music; because a tonic is established and then sung in comparison to, the student infers melodic and chordal implications through their singing.
Major
Movable do is frequently employed in Australia, China, Japan (with 5th being so, and 7th being si), Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, and English-speaking Canada. The movable do system is a fundamental element of the
Kodály method used primarily in
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, but with a dedicated following worldwide. In the movable do system, each solfège syllable corresponds not to a pitch, but to a scale degree: The first degree of a major scale is always sung as "do", the second as "re", etc. (For minor keys, see below.) In movable do, a given tune is therefore always sol-faed on the same syllables, no matter what key it is in.
The solfège syllables used for movable do differ slightly from those used for fixed do, because the English variant of the basic syllables ("ti" instead of "si") is usually used, and
chromatically altered syllables are usually included as well.
If, at a certain point, the key of a piece modulates, then it is necessary to change the solfège syllables at that point. For example, if a piece begins in C major, then C is initially sung on "do", D on "re", etc. If, however, the piece then modulates to F major, then F is sung on "do", G on "re", etc., and C is then sung on "sol".
Minor
Passages in a minor key may be sol-faed in one of two ways in movable do: either starting on do (using "me", "le", and "te" for the lowered third, sixth, and seventh degrees, and "la" and "ti" for the raised sixth and seventh degrees), which is referred to as "do-based minor", or starting on la (using "fi" and "si" for the raised sixth and seventh degrees). The latter (referred to as "la-based minor") is sometimes preferred in choral singing, especially with children.
The choice of which system is used for minor makes a difference as to how you handle modulations. In the first case ("do-based minor"), when the key moves for example from C major to C minor the syllable do keeps pointing to the same note, namely C, (there's no "mutation" of do's note), but when the key shifts from C major to A minor (or A major), the scale is transposed from do = C to do = A. In the second case ("la-based minor"), when the key moves from C major to A minor the syllable do continues to point to the same note, again C, but when the key moves from C major to C minor the scale is transposed from do = C to do = E-flat.
Fixed do solfège

In ''Fixed do'', each syllable always corresponds to the same pitch; when the music changes keys, each syllable continues to refer to the same sound (in the absolute sense) as it did before. This is analogous to the Romance-language system naming pitches after the solfège syllables, and is used in Romance and Slavic countries, among others, including Spanish-speaking countries.
From the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...
, the debate over the superiority of instrumental music versus singing led Italian voice teachers to use Guido’s syllables for vocal technique rather than pitch discrimination. Hence, specific syllables were associated with fixed pitches. When the
Paris Conservatoire was founded at the turn of the nineteenth century, its solfège textbooks adhered to the conventions of Italian solfeggio, solidifying the use of ''Fixed doh'' in Romance cultures
In the major
Romance and
Slavic languages, the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si are the ordinary names of the notes, in the same way that the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B are used to name notes in English. For native speakers of these languages, solfège is simply ''singing the names of the notes'', omitting any modifiers such as "sharp" or "flat" to preserve the rhythm. This system is called fixed do and is used in
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, Brazil, Spain,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, France, Italy,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, Latin American countries and in French-speaking Canada as well as countries such as
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
and
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
where non-Romance languages are spoken. In the United States, the fixed-do system is taught at many conservatories and schools of music including The
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
in New York City, the
Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, the
New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, California, and the
Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the fixed do system, shown above, accidentals do not affect the syllables used. For example, C, C, and C (as well as and , not shown above) are all sung with the syllable "do".
Chromatic variants
Several chromatic fixed-do systems have also been devised to account for
chromatic notes, and even for
double-sharp and
double-flat variants. The
Yehnian system, being the first
24-EDO (i.e., quarter tone) solfège system, proposed even quartertonal syllables. While having no exceptions to its rules, it supports both si and ti users.
Note names
In the countries with fixed-do, these seven syllables (with "si" rather than "ti") – and not the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B – are used to name the notes of the C-Major scale. Here it would be said, for example, that Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony (in
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The D natural minor scale is:
Changes needed ...
) is in "Re minor", and that its third movement (in
B-flat major
B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor.
The B-flat major scale is:
Changes needed for ...
) is in "Si-bemol major".
In
Germanic countries, on the other hand, the notes have letter names that are mainly the same as those used in English (so that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is said to be in "d-Moll"), and solfège syllables are encountered only in sight-singing and ear training.
Cultural references
* The various possibilities to distinguish the notes acoustically, optically and by ways of speech and
signs, made the solfège a possible
syllabary
In the Linguistics, linguistic study of Written language, written languages, a syllabary is a set of grapheme, written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) mora (linguistics), morae which make up words.
A symbol in a syllaba ...
for an
International Auxiliary Language
An international auxiliary language (sometimes acronymized as IAL or contracted as auxlang) is a language meant for communication between people from different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primarily a ...
(IAL/LAI). This was, in the latter half of the 19th century, realised in the musical language
Solresol.
* In ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'', the song "
Do-Re-Mi" is built around solfège. Maria sings it with the von Trapp children to teach them to sing the major scale.
*
Ernie Kovacs' television show had a popular recurring sketch that became known as "
The Nairobi Trio". The three characters wore long
overcoat
An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee. Overcoats are most often used in winter when warmth is more important.
They are sometimes confused with or referred to as #T ...
s,
bowler hats, and gorilla masks, and were performed by Ernie and two other rotating persons including uncredited stars such as
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
and
Jack Lemmon, as well as Kovacs' wife, singer
Edie Adams. There was no dialog, the three pantomimed to the song Solfeggio by
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster.
After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...
and the lyrics of the song were made up solely of the solfeggio syllables themselves. The sketch was so popular, that the song was re-released as "Song of the Nairobi Trio".
See also
*
*
*
*
References
External links
History of Notation*
ttps://www.gnu.org/software/solfege/ GNU Solfège, a free software program to study solfeggioEyes and Ears, an anthology of melodies for practicing sight-singingAn interactive database of sight-reading materials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solfege
Musical notation
Constructed languages