Music Fundamentals A Balanced Approach

Theory Trainer

Exercise 1aFind white keys on the staff (treble clef).

Exercise 1bFind white keys on the keyboard (treble clef).

Introduction to Singing—Why Sing?

Singing, next to speaking, is the second most important means of verbal communication.

• Singing is important in all cultures around the world; melodies run the gamut from religious songs to
  popular songs, including songs about love, work, nature, and family life. Songs are used to inspire (national
  anthems or college school songs) and to teach (how to count). Songs mark celebrations like weddings, rites
  of passage like bar and bat mitzvahs, as well as funerals and processions.


• Singing is an important expressive form of art along with painting, dancing, drama, poetry, and literature.
  Singing, with its use of language, gives music a distinctive artistic dimension. Singing, however, may be
  expressive, even without the use of words (for example, jazz scat singing).


• Singing is an important aid in the study of music theory and does not require additional resources for
  practice.

Singing exercises will be included throughout this book. It is not important that one’s singing be “beautiful”—
“beauty” is culturally determined. Instead, it is important to listen carefully to match one’s pitch with the pitch
on the track or played by the instructor. Your instructor may use one of several methods for singing: solfège
(the use of syllables), numbers, letter names, or perhaps a repeated syllable like “La.”

Singing in the Treble Clef

Musicians in many countries do not use the alphabet to name pitches; instead, they use syllables, called solfège,
or solfeggio. Guido d’Arezzo, a medieval monk, devised a syllabic system (or possibly codified it) around the
eleventh century. He used the first syllable of each line of a Latin hymn to name consecutive ascending pitches.
Originally only six syllables were used and the seventh (Ti or Si, pronounced “See”) was added later.

• For these first singing exercises we are using the pitch C as the central note, also called the “tonic.” If C is
  the tonic then it is called “Do” (originally “Ut” in the Middle Ages), D is named “Re” and so forth.


• The word “solfège” is a combination of the two syllables, Sol and Fa.

C D E F G A B C

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti (Si) Do

Pronounced:DohRayMeeFahSolLahTeeDoh

• Numbers may be substituted for either solfège syllables or alphabet letters.

C D EFG ABC

12345678

• Your instructor will tell you the method to use for singing.

BASICS OF PITCH

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