Dear Sensei,

My question involves the study of solfege or a musical system which substitutes Do for C (in the key of C), ra for D, etc. Is solfege part of the Suzuki method or has it been added later?

I have seen minimal benefits from studying this method and I do not know a single accomplished musician that ever had early training in solfege. I know a number of kids that take Suzuki violin and they do not use solfege. I have seen many older Suzuki students who are excellent pianists that did not use solfege either.

I try to be supportive of my kids' study but I cannot figure out how such a method can be useful when songs many times do not begin with the tonic (do)
and there is a large universe of great material not in the key of C. (Although I guess do can be adjusted to other notes).

What further confuses me is most pieces include chords. How can you use solfege with chords? It seems impossible to "think" solfege without first reading a piece and then converting it into solfege. Is it the idea to make music harder to read? Isn't solfege just substituting one time honored system (musical notation) with another?

If solfege is to try to develop the sense of pitch aren't there better ways to develop relative or absolute hearing? Also, Japanese solfege uses "si" and English solfege uses "ti" for the 7th interval. That really makes for some confused kids if they ever see the different method.

When I first encountered the concept of the Suzuki method I had my doubts about playing Twinkles repetitively every day. But I became educated in Dr. Suzuki's teachings and I am now a Twinkle fanatic. I can assure you that a day does not pass in our home that our sons do not play the Twinkle Variations with care and enthusiasm.

Perhaps the Sensei could clear this solfege business up for me. Am I missing something?
 
Sincerely,
Duh about do

Dear Duh about Do,

The use of solfege is for pitch training. Solfege is a system used for singing. It is used all over the world actually, and is the only true international system of naming notes. Additionally, it is taught as a requirement for music majors all over this country.

There are two systems of using solfege. "Movable do" means do is the tonic or first note in any key. "Fixed do" is the system where do is always C regardless of the key. For the purpose of beginners it is advisable to use the "Fixed do". They can learn the movable do easily later. Also, learning alphabet names along with solfege for students is easy and fun.

The syllables in the solfege system correlate with the sound of the notes. Singing is the most natural and first way to learn music. Students who learn to sing and hear solfege well will develop perfect pitch. The breath in singing is very important for pianist to hear as the piano is not an instrument which sustains itself the way a wind instrument or even a violin
for example does. Singing also teaches students how to play legato. It is the most important challenge to learn how to make the piano "sing" and not be a percussion instrument. So in addition to teaching pitch recognition, solfege teaches legato and phrasing.

Parents can sing the solfege to assist their child in learning pieces quickly. Relative pitch is taught inherently in learning the pieces this way. Soon, the child can find the notes on his/her own and the parents job becomes assisting in correct finger numbers. Next, the child will associate the solfege sound with the picture of that sound on the staff. Students
learn to read by singing the solfege while looking at the score, and then playing the notes on the piano. Learning to read is very easy this way.

The alphabet system is useful for learning chords and theory. This is as easy as learning 7 letters to associate with the solfege sounds. Solfege encourages hearing sound, while the alphabet encourages conceptual thinking. So, it is good to do both!

As far as "ti" or "si", children easily adapt. I have students from Argentina who use "si" as their mother sings this way, and others that use "ti". Either way has the same vowel sound.

So, solfege allows students to learn naturally by singing and associating those sounds with a place on the keyboard, and later a symbol on the page. If singing the actual solfege names is hard for you, don't worry! You can either write the solfege names in the book so that you can refer to it while singing, or just sing la la la to the pitches. The most important point is to SING! You will feel good, and you child will learn to breathe naturally when he/she plays the piano.

Thanks so much for a great question,
Sensei