Do you often have problems finding the right note in a song? This often happens if you have to make a "jump" from one note to a isolated one. Every singer has that problem from time to time, even those who have "perfect pitch." There is a method to help you overcome that difficulty, and you're likely already acquainted with it.
In the remarkable Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music", Maria teaches the von Trapp children how to sing making use of the song "Do, Re, Mi." Did you think Rodgers & Hammerstein simply made that up? They didn't. It's an historic system called solfege, which assigns a syllable to every note of the octave scale.
The key note (tonic) of the range is called do. In the key of C major that would be C. The scale is: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. The name "solfege" is a French adoption from the syllables sol and fa. It's also called "solfeggio" in Italian and "sol fa" or "tonic sol fa" in English.
Solfege is used primarily in ear training--teaching music students how to differentiate one pitch from another and asses the distance (interval) between any two pitches. Almost all college-level music programs necessitate their students to take ear training and sight-singing. This instructs students to precisely sing any pitch based on intervals.
Solfege can be quite complex in minor keys and those with many sharps and flats. For briefness and simplicity, we're only gonna use the C major scale (no sharps or flats) to exhibit intervals. The chart below shows the notes, syllable names, and intervals in the C major scale. C to D second do to re
C to E third do to mi
C to F fourth do to fa
C to G fifth do to so
C to A sixth do to la
C to B seventh do to ti
C to C octave do to do
Perhaps you've heard of "perfect pitch". The more suitable name for it is absolute pitch. Some individuals are skilled with the ability to sing any certain note without hearing any reference pitch. They can also accurately identify any pitch they hear. Absolute pitch is partly a genetic endowment, and partially a matter of training.
Ear training and sight-singing programs combine listening to notes and times with singing them. Essentially you're learning to memorize what each interval sounds like. Once you've mastered that, you can sing any pitch once you've heard a prospective starting pitch. For example, you can sing a G after hearing a C. That's relative pitch.
As soon as you learn solfege and master relative pitch, you should have far fewer problems finding the correct notes in any song you wish to sing.
In the remarkable Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music", Maria teaches the von Trapp children how to sing making use of the song "Do, Re, Mi." Did you think Rodgers & Hammerstein simply made that up? They didn't. It's an historic system called solfege, which assigns a syllable to every note of the octave scale.
The key note (tonic) of the range is called do. In the key of C major that would be C. The scale is: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. The name "solfege" is a French adoption from the syllables sol and fa. It's also called "solfeggio" in Italian and "sol fa" or "tonic sol fa" in English.
Solfege is used primarily in ear training--teaching music students how to differentiate one pitch from another and asses the distance (interval) between any two pitches. Almost all college-level music programs necessitate their students to take ear training and sight-singing. This instructs students to precisely sing any pitch based on intervals.
Solfege can be quite complex in minor keys and those with many sharps and flats. For briefness and simplicity, we're only gonna use the C major scale (no sharps or flats) to exhibit intervals. The chart below shows the notes, syllable names, and intervals in the C major scale. C to D second do to re
C to E third do to mi
C to F fourth do to fa
C to G fifth do to so
C to A sixth do to la
C to B seventh do to ti
C to C octave do to do
Perhaps you've heard of "perfect pitch". The more suitable name for it is absolute pitch. Some individuals are skilled with the ability to sing any certain note without hearing any reference pitch. They can also accurately identify any pitch they hear. Absolute pitch is partly a genetic endowment, and partially a matter of training.
Ear training and sight-singing programs combine listening to notes and times with singing them. Essentially you're learning to memorize what each interval sounds like. Once you've mastered that, you can sing any pitch once you've heard a prospective starting pitch. For example, you can sing a G after hearing a C. That's relative pitch.
As soon as you learn solfege and master relative pitch, you should have far fewer problems finding the correct notes in any song you wish to sing.
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