What Is Solfege?
Solfege (also spelled solfège, and called solfeggio or solfa) is a system that gives each note of a scale a short, singable syllable:
Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do
Instead of thinking "C, D, E" or "first note, second note, third note", you sing a name for each step of the scale. Because every syllable stands for a position in the key, solfege trains you to hear how notes relate to each other, not just what they are called.
That is the real point of it. Solfege is an ear training system. Singers use it to sight-read, teachers use it to teach pitch, and instrumentalists and songwriters use it to work out melodies by ear without guessing note by note.
The Solfege Scale
Here is the major scale in solfege, shown in C major:
| Scale degree | Solfege syllable | Pronounced | Note in C major |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do | "doh" | C |
| 2 | Re | "ray" | D |
| 3 | Mi | "mee" | E |
| 4 | Fa | "fah" | F |
| 5 | Sol (or So) | "soh" | G |
| 6 | La | "lah" | A |
| 7 | Ti (or Si) | "tee" | B |
| 8 | Do | "doh" | C |
Sing it up and down and you get the "do re mi fa so la ti do" most people know from school or from The Sound of Music. You will see both "Sol" and "So": they are the same note. Many teachers drop the "l" so every syllable ends in a vowel, which is easier to sing.
The gaps between the syllables follow the major scale pattern: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. The two half steps sit between Mi and Fa, and between Ti and Do. Those are the two places where the scale pulls hardest, which is why Ti sounds like it wants to resolve up to Do.
What Does Solfege Mean? A Short History
The word comes from the syllables themselves: "sol" plus "fa", via the Italian solfeggio and the French solfège.
The system started around 1025 with Guido of Arezzo, an Italian monk who needed a faster way to teach choirs new chants. He used a hymn to St. John the Baptist, Ut queant laxis, where each line starts one step higher than the last. The first syllable of each line gave him six note names:
Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La
Three changes turned that into the scale we use now:
- Ut became Do in the 1600s, because "ut" ends in a hard consonant and is awkward to sing. Do is usually credited to the Italian theorist Giovanni Battista Doni.
- Si was added as the seventh note, taken from the initials of "Sancte Iohannes" in the final line of the hymn.
- Si became Ti in English-speaking countries in the 1800s. Sarah Glover made the change for her Tonic Sol-fa method so that every syllable would start with a different letter (Si clashed with Sol). John Curwen spread the method across Britain and added the hand signs.
Much of Europe and Latin America still uses Si.
Fixed Do vs Movable Do
There are two ways to use solfege, and they work very differently.
Fixed Do
In fixed do, each syllable is a permanent note name. Do is always C, Re is always D, Mi is always E, no matter what key the music is in. It is effectively a different alphabet for the same notes.
This is the standard in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Russia, where "Do" is simply the name of C. Conservatories in those countries train fixed do to a high level, and it suits players who read a lot of complex, chromatic music.
Movable Do
In movable do, Do is always the tonic of the current key. In C major, Do is C. In G major, Do is G. In E♭ major, Do is E♭. The syllables describe the function of each note, not its letter name.
This is the system used in the US, the UK and most English-speaking countries, and in the Kodály method. It is the better system for ear training, because Sol always sounds like Sol: the same tension, the same pull back to Do, in every key.
Which one should you learn?
| Fixed Do | Movable Do | |
|---|---|---|
| Do means | Always C | The tonic of the key |
| Syllables change when the key changes | No | Yes, the letter names change underneath |
| Best for | Reading complex scores, absolute pitch naming | Hearing relationships, transposing, playing by ear |
| Where it's standard | Romance-language countries, Russia | US, UK, Kodály teaching |
| Good for playing by ear | Less so | Yes |
If you are learning solfege to improve your ear, write melodies or play by ear, learn movable do. Every melody you learn becomes portable: once you can sing it in solfege, you can play it in any key. The rest of this guide uses movable do.
Chromatic Solfege: Sharps and Flats
The seven basic syllables only cover the notes inside the key. For notes outside it, solfege changes the vowel: raised notes take an "i" (pronounced "ee"), and lowered notes mostly take an "e" (pronounced "ay"). Re is the exception and lowers to Ra.
| Ascending (sharps) | Note in C | Descending (flats) | Note in C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do | C | Do | C |
| Di | C♯ | Ti | B |
| Re | D | Te | B♭ |
| Ri | D♯ | La | A |
| Mi | E | Le | A♭ |
| Fa | F | Sol | G |
| Fi | F♯ | Se | G♭ |
| Sol | G | Fa | F |
| Si | G♯ | Mi | E |
| La | A | Me | E♭ |
| Li | A♯ | Re | D |
| Ti | B | Ra | D♭ |
| Do | C | Do | C |
There is no raised Mi or raised Ti, because Mi to Fa and Ti to Do are already half steps.
You do not need all of these on day one. The four you will hear most in pop, electronic and hip hop music are Te (the flat 7, all over rock and EDM), Me and Le (the borrowed minor sound in major songs), and Fi (the raised 4 in Lydian melodies and film music).
Solfege for Minor Scales
Minor keys are where movable do splits into two camps.
La-based minor
The minor scale starts on La, using the same syllables as its relative major. A minor and C major share all their notes, so A minor is sung La, Ti, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La.
Do-based minor
The minor scale starts on Do, and the 3rd, 6th and 7th are lowered with chromatic syllables. A minor is sung Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Le, Te, Do.
| Scale degree | La-based natural minor | Do-based natural minor | A minor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La | Do | A |
| 2 | Ti | Re | B |
| 3 | Do | Me | C |
| 4 | Re | Fa | D |
| 5 | Mi | Sol | E |
| 6 | Fa | Le | F |
| 7 | Sol | Te | G |
| 8 | La | Do | A |
For harmonic minor, raise the 7th: Sol becomes Si in la-based, and Te becomes Ti in do-based.
La-based is easier to start with because you only need the seven basic syllables. Do-based pays off later. Most modern songs mix major and minor colors freely, and do-based keeps the tonic as Do, so you always know where home is.
Solfege Hand Signs
The solfege hand signs, often called Curwen hand signs, give each syllable a physical shape. John Curwen introduced them in the 1870s and the Kodály method made them standard in music classrooms.
| Syllable | Hand sign |
|---|---|
| Do | Closed fist, held flat in front of you |
| Re | Flat hand, palm down, angled upward diagonally |
| Mi | Flat hand, palm down, held level |
| Fa | Fist with the thumb pointing down |
| Sol | Flat hand, palm facing your body, held level |
| La | Relaxed hand, palm down, fingers drooping |
| Ti | Fist with the index finger pointing up diagonally |
| High Do | Closed fist again, held at eye level |
The signs are also stacked by height. Low Do sits around your waist and each sign moves a little higher up the scale, so high Do ends up near your forehead. Your hand traces the melody in the air as you sing.
The shapes are not random. Ti points up because it wants to resolve to Do. Fa's thumb points down because it wants to fall to Mi. Re and La have shapes that lean toward their neighbors. Making the sign while you sing ties the sound, the shape and the "pull" of each note together, which is why hand signs help so much with tuning.
Solfege and Chords
Solfege is not just for melodies. Stack every other syllable and you get the chords of the key:
| Chord | Roman numeral | Solfege | In C major |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tonic | I | Do, Mi, Sol | C major |
| Supertonic | ii | Re, Fa, La | D minor |
| Mediant | iii | Mi, Sol, Ti | E minor |
| Subdominant | IV | Fa, La, Do | F major |
| Dominant | V | Sol, Ti, Re | G major |
| Submediant | vi | La, Do, Mi | A minor |
| Leading tone | vii° | Ti, Re, Fa | B diminished |
This is useful in two directions. When you hear a melody sitting on Do, Mi and Sol, you know the chord underneath is probably the I. When you are writing over a chord progression, you know which syllables will sound stable against it. A melody that lands on La, Do or Mi over the vi chord will sound settled; landing on Ti will sound tense.
To practice, play a simple progression such as I, IV, V, I on a keyboard. Sing the root of each chord in solfege, then the full triad: Do, Mi, Sol; Fa, La, Do; Sol, Ti, Re; Do, Mi, Sol.
Why Solfege Works for Ear Training
Every syllable in movable do has a consistent feeling, and that is the whole trick:
- Do feels like home, completely stable.
- Mi is stable but brighter.
- Sol is strong and open.
- Re and La feel like they are in motion.
- Fa leans down toward Mi.
- Ti pulls hard up toward Do.
Once you have sung those syllables enough, you stop hearing "a note" and start hearing "that's Sol". That is exactly what you need to transcribe a melody, sing harmonies, or play a tune you heard once.
It also makes intervals concrete. Do to Sol is a perfect 5th. Do to Mi is a major 3rd. Mi to Fa is a half step. Every famous interval has a solfege shape you can hear. Interval training and solfege build the same skill from two directions.
Solfege for Instrumentalists and Songwriters
Most people meet solfege in a choir, but it is just as useful if you never sing in public.
Play by ear. If you can sing a melody back in solfege, you already know its scale degrees. Find Do on your instrument and the rest of the notes follow, in any key.
Write melodies faster. Hum an idea, sing it back on solfege, and you know exactly which notes to write down or play. No more hunting note by note.
Find the key by ear. Sing the note the melody wants to end on. That is usually Do, and once you have Do, you have the key.
Read music more fluently. Solfege connects the dots on the staff to the sound in your head. Once you can name bass clef notes and treble clef notes, singing them in solfege tells you how they should sound before you play them.
Teaching Solfege
For teachers, solfege is one of the most effective ways to build musicianship in a class. A few things that work well:
- Start with three notes. Sol, Mi and La (the playground "nah nah na nah nah" chant) are easier for young students than the full scale.
- Use hand signs from day one. They give you a silent way to lead the class and show who is hearing the pitch and who is guessing.
- Pick one system and stick to it. Switching between fixed do and movable do mid-year confuses students. Most English-speaking schools use movable do.
- Mix singing with listening. Students learn faster when they also have to identify syllables they hear, not just sing ones they see.
Auris for schools gives teachers ready-made ear training drills and class progress tracking, so students can practice listening at home between lessons.
How to Learn Solfege: 5 Exercises
Work through these in order. Ten minutes a day beats an hour once a week.
- Sing the major scale up and down. Play C on a keyboard, sing Do, then sing up to high Do and back down. Check yourself on the keyboard at the top and bottom. Add the hand signs once the syllables feel natural.
- Sing the tonic triad. Do, Mi, Sol, Mi, Do. Then Do, Mi, Sol, high Do, Sol, Mi, Do. This locks in the three most stable notes of the key.
- Skip around the scale. Do, Mi, Re, Fa, Mi, Sol, Fa, La, Sol, Ti, La, high Do. Then try Do to Sol, Do to La, Do to Fa: jumps away from home and back.
- Sing songs you already know. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" starts Do, Do, Sol, Sol, La, La, Sol. "Ode to Joy" starts Mi, Mi, Fa, Sol, Sol, Fa, Mi, Re. "Happy Birthday" starts Sol, Sol, La, Sol, Do, Ti. Work out the rest of each one yourself.
- Dictation. Have someone play, or use an app to play, a short melody of three to five notes starting on Do. Sing it back in solfege before you look at the answer. This is the exercise that actually builds your ear, and the one most people skip.
The fifth exercise is the hard one to do alone, because you need something to play melodies to you and check your answers. That is what ear training apps are for.
Practice Solfege with Auris
Knowing the syllables is the theory. Hearing them is the skill, and that only comes from regular listening practice: hearing a note in context and naming it before you see the answer.
Auris lets you practice exactly that, with your answers shown in solfege. In the settings you can choose movable do, or movable do with la-based minor, so the exercises use the same system you learned above. The exercises that build solfege skills most directly:
- Harmonic Context: hear a note against a key and name its scale degree. This is the core solfege skill.
- Melodic Dictation: hear a short melody and write it back, the exercise most people skip when practicing alone.
- Interval Recognition: hear two notes and name the distance, so Do to Sol or Mi to Fa becomes instant.
- Scale and Chord Recognition: hear the difference between major and minor, and between the chords of the key.
Levels get harder as you improve, and with a free account your progress is saved so you can see how your ear develops over time.
Start with some exercises to train your ear.
FAQ
What are the 7 solfege syllables?
Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Ti. The eighth note of the scale is Do again, one octave higher.
Is it Ti or Si?
Both are correct. Ti is used in English-speaking countries; Si is used in most of Europe and Latin America. Ti was introduced so each syllable starts with a different letter.
Is it So or Sol?
They are the same note. Sol is the original spelling; many teachers use So because it ends on a vowel and is easier to sing.
What is the difference between solfege and solfeggio?
Nothing. Solfeggio is the Italian name and solfège is the French name for the same system. Solfa and sol-fa are also used.
Should I learn fixed do or movable do?
Movable do, if your goal is ear training, playing by ear or writing music. Fixed do is mainly useful if you study in a country where Do is the name for C, or if you read a lot of complex classical scores.
What is the solfege for a minor scale?
In la-based minor: La, Ti, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. In do-based minor: Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Le, Te, Do. Both describe the same notes; they differ in which syllable is treated as home.
What are the solfege syllables for sharps and flats?
Raised notes change to an "i" vowel: Di, Ri, Fi, Si, Li. Lowered notes change to an "e" vowel: Te, Le, Se, Me, with Re lowering to Ra.
Do you need solfege if you play an instrument?
It helps. Instrumentalists who can sing a melody in solfege learn songs faster, transpose more easily and play by ear more reliably, because they hear the scale degrees instead of just the finger positions.
How long does it take to learn solfege?
Most people can sing the major scale and simple melodies in solfege within a couple of weeks of daily practice. Hearing and naming syllables reliably from a recording takes regular dictation practice over a longer stretch.
