The Ultimate Guide to Solfege

I am a huge believer in solfege for singers and instrumentalists of all genres – yes, even pop and rock! Solfege is an incredible, measurable tool for building musicianship skills and ear training that will last a lifetime. I created The Ultimate Guide to Solfege to help you understand what solfege is, how it will help you AND some amazing exercises to help you get started!

What is Solfege?

Solfege is a method to build an aural understanding of pitch. Syllables are given to represent how the notes relate to each other. By singing scales and patterns in solfege, musicians of any age, level or genre can build a stronger sense of pitch and develop their ears.

Solfege goes back as far as the 11th century and has been a staple of Western music education since then. It is often taught to singers in choirs, to help them develop better intonation (tuning the notes), sing harmonies more confidently, and develop sight singing skills. Syllables (Do, Re, Mi, etc.) are assigned to the scale degrees to help musicians audiate (mentally hear) the notes.

You may have learned some solfege as a child singing in your school or church choir, but never understood what it was for. I’m here to tell you that solfege is an incredible tool!

Why do we use Solfege syllables?

Solfege is used to understand the tendencies of a note in each key and how it functions in relationship to other pitches and to the home key. When we go from Do to Re or Re to Mi, there is a specific spatial difference between those pitches. Since major scales in every key share the identical spatial differences, once we learn Solfege in one key it transfers to every key very easily.

Solfege is a form of what I call “living theory”: instead of learning theory in a book, you learn it by singing and developing an understanding of how notes relate to one another.

Solfege will help you:

Learn to play by ear
Pick up melodies faster
Sing harmony
Learn to sight sing better
Learn to audiate or “mentally hear” music better
Build all these skills in a measurable way. Rather than hoping to pick up these skills, you can develop them in an efficient and proven process!

Who needs Solfege?

All musicians can benefit from solfege training! It is a very user-friendly way to build a strong foundation of ear training, tonal memory and is a simple way to understand music theory (without all those horrible textbooks). Solfege provides a fast track to developing these skills in a meaningful way to musicians of all backgrounds.

Here are some examples of how different musicians can benefit from solfege:

Classical singers
- build sight singing skills, learn music faster, learn to sing harmony. and improve their ability to learn their music can benefit from Solfege training, as can choristers who want to sing harmonies and learn their parts better.
Jazz, Pop and Rock singers
- learn to sing great harmonies, sing more in tune, understand the harmony that the band is playing, write better songs.
Instrumentalists,
- you can also benefit from the study of Solfege, as it uses singing to develop your ears in a much deeper way.
General music teachers, early childhood educators and music therapists, these
- gain more confidence with your own aural skills and provide an effective framework to use with your students.
Music teachers, choral conductors and private voice/instrumental instructors, this course is an excellent resource to use with your students. It is also an excellent supplement for any of your students who would benefit from this training, but you don’t have time to work on it during rehearsal or lesson time.

Two Different Kinds of Solfege?

Moveable Do vs. Fixed Do

There are two different methods for approaching Solfege: Fixed Do and Moveable Do. There is a lot of controversy in music education as to which is the preferred method. (It’s an argument that goes on all the time between colleagues!)

In Fixed Do Solfege, the C is always Do and the D is always Re. Fixed Do Solfege is tied to how the notes are names in some European (Spanish, Portugese, French) and Slavic (Russian, Croatian, Ukrainian) languages. Some educators argue that Fixed Do is best for developing perfect pitch (where you can hear a note and name it). Others argue that Fixed Do Solfege is best for singing contemporary classical music or other music genres where the tonal center is not clearly defined.

In Moveable Do, the syllables are tied to the major scale, and the root of the key you are in is always Do. That means in the key of C, C will be Do, but in the key of Ab, the Ab is Do. It is called “Moveable” Do because the Do always adjusts to the key that you are in.

I think that Moveable Do is ideal for building relative pitch skills, which help you hear the relationships between the notes no matter what key you are in. I find this method most beneficial for musicians of all backgrounds, regardless of whether they plan to sight sing or not. Moveable Do Solfege helps you hear key centers and how the notes of the scale are related to the key that you are in at any given time, which I find is the skill most often lacking from singers and instrumentalists alike. Once you have mastered the intervallic relationships of the major scale you will be able to match pitch with more confidence!

If you want to dive deep into the difference between Moveable Do and Fixed Do, this article goes into deep detail on the subject. Time to nerd out!

How to Sing the Major Scale in Solfege

In this tutorial, we will sing our way up and down the major scale in moveable do solfege. I explain some of the fundamentals of solfege and show you the Kodaly hand signs too. This is a perfect place to start with solfege!

What are Kodaly Handsigns?

Zoltan Kodaly was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and educator, who created his own method of music pedagogy. His Kodaly Method is an outstanding program that is used in teaching children and choral music worldwide.

One of the most notable tools of his method is a set of hand signs that accompany the Solfege syllables. These hand signs, also known as the Curwen hand signs, give a visual representation to the notes and how they function within the scale.

Within the major scale, notes have certain functions or tendencies that we can train our ears to hear. Developing an understanding of these functions will help you sing and hear intervals and harmonies with greater confidence. Instead of just hearing pitches, you will be able to identify how they function in the scale, leading you to have more clarity in your aural skills.

Kodaly Hand Signs in Major

I bet you think that this is all there is, right? No way! This is The Ultimate Guide to Solfege, remember? Now we are going to dig into the Chromatic Scale!

Solfege in minor

Relative Major/Relative Minor

I like to use La-based, rather than Do-based minor, which means that we will be singing our minor scales from La to La, rather than from Do to Do. This is reinforcing the relationship between relative major and relative minor. The term “relative major” means that the major and minor scales share a key signature in common.

The C major scale has no sharps or flats; and the A minor scale also has no sharps or flats. We say that A minor is the Relative Minor of C major. They are related by key signature.

How to Sing the Natural Minor Scale in Solfege

The Natural Minor Scale is the scale that is naturally derived from the major scale. A minor is the relative minor of C major, so to play A natural minor, you will just play the notes of the Major scale, starting and ending on A. This scale is also known as the Aeolian mode.

As we continue this Ultimate Guide to Solfege, in this tutorial, we will sing our way up and down the natural minor scale in Moveable Do solfege. I explain some of the fundamentals of solfege and show you the Kodaly hand signs too. This is a perfect place to explore the difference between the major and minor tonalities.

How to Sing the Natural Minor Scale in Solfege

The Harmonic Minor Scale is a natural minor scale with one alteration: the 7th of the scale is raised by a half step. The Harmonic Minor Scale has a unique-sounding augmented second between the 6th and 7th degrees (between Fa and Si).

In this tutorial, we continue our Ultimate Guide to Solfege by singing our way up and down the Harmonic Minor Scale in Moveable Do solfege. I explain how the Harmonic Minor Scale works and show you the Kodaly hand signs too. This is a perfect place to explore the sound of the Harmonic Minor Scale!

Kodaly Hand Signs for the Harmonic Minor Scale

The hand signs are the same in the natural and harmonic minor scales, except that “Sol” becomes “Si.” This is what the hand signs will look like:

Crash Course in Solfege

If you’ve made it this far, I’m guessing that you are now onboard with the whole concept of Solfege and how it will literally change your life as a singer, teacher and music maker! If you want to do a deeper dive into solfege, I recommend singing up for Crash Course in Solfege.

This unique, user friendly online course is available as part of The Versatile Musician – an all-inclusive membership for musicians of all levels and backgrounds. For a small monthly fee, you get access to hundreds of video lessons and downloads in topics like Piano for Singers, Musicianship, Solfege, Rhythm, Jazz, Improvisation and more. Sign up today!

Need to learn more chords?

How to Sing the Melodic Minor Scale in Solfege

The Melodic Minor Scale is different on the way up and the way down. When the scale ascends (goes up), the 6th and 7th are raised by a half step. When the scale descends (goes down), the 6th and 7th are lowered by a half step; it reverts back to being the natural minor scale.

In this tutorial, we will sing our way up and down the Melodic Minor Scale in Moveable Do solfege. I explain the structure of the Melodic Minor Scale and show you the Kodaly hand signs too. This is a perfect place to explore the sound and feeling of the Melodic Minor Scale!

Kodaly Hand Signs for the Melodic Minor Scale

The hand signs are the same in the natural and harmonic minor scales, except that “Sol” becomes “Si.” This is what the hand signs will look like:

Crash Course in Solfege

I bet you think that this is all there is, right? No way! This is The Ultimate Guide to Solfege, remember? Now we are going to dig into the Chromatic Scale!

Singing The Chromatic Scale in Moveable Do Solfege

Now that we have worked our way through the major and three minor scales in Solfege, we are ready to jump in and take it to the next level! In this tutorial, we will sing through the Chromatic Scale Ascending in Moveable Do Solfege. This one is tricky, so I break it down into easy pieces for you!

Now that we have worked our way through the major and three minor scales in Solfege, we are ready to jump in and take it to the next level! In this tutorial, we will sing through the Chromatic Scale Descending in Moveable Do Solfege. This one is tricky, so I break it down into easy pieces for you!

Crash Course in Solfege

Solfege is Not Just a Classical Tool

In case you needed more convincing that solfege is great for pop/rock musicians, check out these short videos I made. I have developed kind of a following for my silly Instagram Reels where I sing popular hits in Moveable Do Solfege.

Learn more!

Do you struggle to SING IN TUNE?

Do you need to build your MUSICIANSHIP SKILLS?

Are you looking to deepen your understanding of MUSIC THEORY?

Are you looking for new material to help your STUDENTS GROW?

Crash Course in Solfege is an all-in-one course for developing your ear training, aural skills and music theory.

Solfege (do, re, mi, etc) is a centuries-old method of ear training that I have adapted for 21st Century singers.