By Kaity Woodrum

     Solfege (Fr.) or Solfeggio (It.) or Sol-fa are terms that refer to the system of attributing syllables to pitches found on a musical score. (Think “Do, a Deer” from The Sound of Music.) An eleventh-century Benedictine monk, Guido of Arezzo, created the system to help the brothers he was working with learn chants quickly. He is also the father of the modern music notation system. The solfege syllables were taken from the first verse of an eighty-century Latin hymn “Ut Queant Laxis,” or the “Hymn of St. John.” Each line in the chant began a scale degree higher that the last line. The solfege syllables were the first syllables of each line in the hymn: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. Ti (or si) followed later. Ut was changed to do some years later, because of its open vowel ending and relative ease to sing.

     A variety of forms of this system continued to be used in Europe through the Victorian Era. In the twentieth century, John Curwen added hand signs to the syllables, a practice that was adopted by Zoltan Kodaly for use in schools throughout Hungary. Kodaly—like music educator Shinichi Suzuki—believed in a mother-tongue approach, in which children develop their inner ear and listening discernment skills prior to learning to read music. His sight-singing and solfege method is widely accepted throughout the world today.

     At Trinity, we use solfege beginning in TK and continuing up through the Upper School level. Studies have shown that the use of solfege is one of the best ways to develop the inner ear. It helps students understand and identify intervals and discern high and low, skills which can later be translated to the musical staff. Other studies have shown that there is great benefit to students who practice solfege in developing their musical understanding, sight-singing skills, and music literacy, especially if students continue using it for many years. In other words: practice, practice, practice. Other studies have shown that using the syllables helps to develop a good singing voice. Through games, warm-ups, and exercises the solfege system is being employed in music classes and choral rehearsals within each grade level at Trinity to help develop each child’s musical ability.