[kln2-devel] re: do-re-mi

[Mo <Mo...@no...>]

> > In Poland we call C sharp "C#" or "cis". I don't really know how
> > to extend "do-re-mi" system to accidented notes. Maybe this
> > should be kept only for preliminary lessons, without
> > accidentals, and not extended for features planned in future?

The Do-Re-Mi method (Solfeggio) is great and has its place in
musicianship. One will find this used in sight-singing of melodies
without text.

There are several methods of the Do systems:

THE FIXED Do:

Notes C,D,E,F,G,A and B are mapped to Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Ti.
The name for each note is sung without any regards to accidentals.
For example, in the G major key, Sol is G while F# is Fa.

THE MOVEABLE Do:

In this method, Do always represents the tonic or first degree of the 
scale, regardless of accidental. For example, in the G major key, Do is
G while Ti is F#. The chromatic scale is as follows in this method:
Ascending:
Do Di Re Ri Mi Fa Fi Sol Si La Li Ti Do

Descending
Do Ti Te La Le Sol Se Fa Mi Me Re Ra Do


Personally, I have learned the Movable Do system and that seems to be
the predominant method here in the USA. Although I have had professors
in the Universities that have used the Fixed Do method primarily. 

At the moment KLearnnotes2 is aimed at learning notes. We don't have to
stop here however. Learning notes is very basic part of theroy. There
has been discussion of including key signatures which is great. Learning
chords and their different inversions would be nice as well. Even better
yet, introducing tempo and sequence of notes would be awesome. Have the
application plays very simple intervals of notes and the student would
select the correct notes and place it on the clef. Later it could be
extended into playing simple melodies with varying rhythm and tempo.
Again here, the application will play a tune. The student then has to
listen and then place the correct notes on the clef.

The latter part is where the Solfegio system will help a student. Right
now, learning notes does not require a sense of tonality, intervals,
scales, or different keys. If we introduce intervals and keys, and
extend it as I written above, the Solfeggio system would work nicely.
Personally I have found the Moveable Do system easy to learn and it
gives the student a sense of tonality. We should not however abandon the
actual names of notes. 

If we decide to go in this direction, introducing melodies and rhythm,
it will turn our application from learning music theory into a
musicianship application.