Download Solfege - Practice - 101

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Solfege
Objectives:
• To directly relate the scale degrees to the Solfege syllables
• To directly relate the Solfege syllables to the scale degrees
• To relate the pitch relative to the tonic to the Solfege syllable
• To relate the notes within each major scale pattern to the Solfege syllable and the sounds
they represent.
The first step is to be comfortable reading the numbers of the scale degrees in Scottie’s
Notation as Solfege. Just by reading through the musical examples without the guitar and
saying or singing the Solfege will quickly make us adept at this. Once we can accurately do
this without the guitar, we should begin doing it with the guitar while playing the melody.
Start slowly so we can sing the pitch we are playing. When the melody goes out of range,
transpose down or up an octave to a comfortable place. This will be the beginning of relating
the sounds to the Solfege syllables.
After singing a melody with the guitar and feeling comfortable with the pitches and Solfege,
stop playing the melody or play the melody after singing only to confirm the correct pitch. We
can play chords or turn on the Guitar Pro arrangements while singing the melody.
In scale practice, we should begin singing the notes we play. This will relate the Solfege and
pitch to the fretboard. In practicing in the same key, we will be singing in the same range, but
playing in different ranges and positions. This will help relate the different scale cells on the
fretboard to each other. In practicing different keys successively, we will be focusing on
relating the pitch to the tonic.
All this will contribute to so many other facets of music. These exercises will improve our
singing and listening. Once we master the art of solfeging, we will be able to listen to a melody
and know what the notes are and how they relate to the piece. We will be able to recreate the
melody either by singing it or playing it. We will be able to transpose the melody into other
keys or registers. We will be able to alter the melody to fit our purposes and as we learn about
chords, we will be able to harmonize the melody in an infinite number of ways.
Practice
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