Solfège

Have you wondered why we sing in our Music for Young Children class? Especially the Solfège? Mrs. Chandrika here will introduce us to the benefits of singing Solfège as a musician!
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In music, solfège (also called solfeggio, sol-fa, or solfa) is a technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable. The seven syllables normally used for this practice in English-speaking countries are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti.

The Kodály approach emphasizes the importance of learning how to sing on pitch. In the 18th century, John Spencer Curwen drew upon an earlier music teaching system known as Norwich Sol-fa, which had been devised by Sarah Glover, and developed hand signs to go with the solfege syllables (do re mi, etc.). Kodály integrated these hand signs into his teaching methods.
Hand signs are a way of giving a physical placement for a vocal pitch. The low "do" begins at your midsection. Each pitch is then above the previous one. Thus, you have the hand signs going up when the pitch goes up. The upper "do" is at eye level.

Solfege is the language of the well-educated musician. .When we sing the solfege syllables while reading notes or playing the keyboard, we develop a strong sense of tonality and relative pitch. Each solfege note sung strengthens the connection between what is heard, what is seen and what is played. Singing solfege teaches us to internalize the music. With time, and practice, you and your child will begin to hear the notes that you read before those notes are even played on the keyboard.