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Views from the Choir Loft

Solfege

Lucas Tappan · September 29, 2015

LMT Solfege Hand Signs THE FIRST MONTH of probationer rehearsals I set 3 goals, one of which is for them to become fluent in the use of diatonic solfege. Some children (although not nearly as many as one might presume) are familiar with the song “Do, Re, Mi” from The Sound of Music, which is a useful little ditty for introducing solfege syllables to children. I have the boys and girls sing this song during our first practice before we work more in depth on the first five syllables: do, re, mi, fah and sol. After we sing up and down those five notes a few times, we play any number of little games to help make them second nature. One of the probationers’ favorite games is to play “Around the World with Solfege.” Hopefully you are familiar with the game “Around the World.” Basically, children compete against each other one-on-one until one child goes “around the world” and beats all his classmates. In my version, I give the name of a solfege syllable to the two students competing and they have to name the syllable higher or lower (depending on what we have established beforehand) in order to beat one another. This gets them thinking on their toes.

The second week I review sol, la ti and high do, and go through the process again. This time I draw middle C on the board and have them sing the note as Do, after which I add another note and another note until we sing up the major scale. I use these and various other games over the next two weeks to help the children reach fluency, both forward and back. For those who have tried solfege and didn’t seem to get anywhere, remember that this is only the first step. The ultimate goal is not to have children be able to parrot back nonsense syllables, but rather for each child to understand and hear how every note functions within the scale. The probationers will be working on this in the coming months.

This ultimate goal is why I use solfege. Simply put, I feel that solfege is the fastest and most secure route to establishing the scale (whether major, minor, or the variations of the minor scale) and the way its notes function within that scale in the minds of singers. If a student learns what the home note (do) of a scale sounds like, he will be able to hit that note every time it comes along in his music. Likewise, a singer who struggles with distinguishing between descending fifths and fourths within the context of a given work no longer struggles if he understands how those notes function within the scale.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Lucas Tappan

About Lucas Tappan

Dr. Lucas Tappan is a conductor and organist whose specialty is working with children. He lives in Kansas with his wife and four children.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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Many declare that Vatican Council II brought about a true springtime in the Church. Nevertheless, a growing number of Church leaders see this “springtime” as a rejection, a renunciation of her centuries-old heritage, or even as a radical questioning of her past and Tradition. Political Europe is rebuked for abandoning or denying its Christian roots; but the first to have abandoned her Christian roots and past is indisputably the post-conciliar Catholic Church.

— ‘Pope Francis’ Chief Liturgist (31 March 2017)’

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