Solfège and Ear Training: Preliminary

Name: Solfège and Ear Training: Preliminary
Rating: 4.7 (48 reviews)

Start with the basics!

Created byJosh Cook

Last updated 10/2023

English

What you'll learn

What is solfège
A brief history of solfège
How to best apply solfège as a modern musician
How to use solfège to start major and minor scales
How solfège can be used to better understand/write melodies
Develop your ear and musicianship

Course content

6 sections • 16 lectures • 1h 44m total length

What is Solfege5:35
Before you commit to learning something as deep and involved as solfege, let's talk a little bit more about what solfege is, and how it can benefit you as a musician.
A Brief History of Solfege5:59
Context never hurts, so let's talk about how solfege came to be and just how important Guido D'Arezzo was to the evolution of solfeggio and music notation.
Applying Solfege5:36
OK, you know what solfege is, you know how it came to be, now let's talk about how you can actively apply solfege as a way of heightening your overall musicianship.

Starting Scales7:19
This class will discuss how most Western scales start, using Do-Re-Mi and Do-Re-Me.
Learning Intervals7:20
This class will cover what an interval is, which intervals are covered at this course level, and how they sound. This is in preparation for the next class when you'll be tested on hearing these intervals.
Identifying Intervals8:19
In this class you'll be tested on the intervals of a perfect 1st, major 2nd, minor 3rd, and major 3rd. These test examples can be broken ascending, broken descending, or blocked.

Major Singback5:02
Piano examples mixing up Do, Re and Mi will be given and you'll be expected to sing them back. If you're not a great singer don't worry, just try your best and use repetion to help you progress.
Major Ear Tests12:25
Now you'll be expected to listen to short samples of mixed up solfege, pause the video and guess what the solfege is, and unpause to hear the answer. Once you've gone through this class a few times feel free to jump around so the answers continue to keep you guessing.
Major Reverse Ear Tests5:09
Now onto the hardest of the types of ear tests. For these examples solfege will be stated, Do will be given, and you'll be expected to sing the solfege. Again, pause as you need to, and answer will be given as you go. Good luck!

Minor Singback4:58
Piano examples mixing up Do, Re and Me will be given and you'll be expected to sing them back. If you're not a great singer don't worry, just try your best and use repetion to help you progress.
Minor Ear Tests10:15
Now you'll be expected to listen to short samples of mixed up solfege, pause the video and guess what the solfege is, and unpause to hear the answer. Once you've gone through this class a few times feel free to jump around so the answers continue to keep you guessing.
Minor Reverse Ear Tests4:38
Now onto the hardest of the types of ear tests. For these examples solfege will be stated, Do will be given, and you'll be expected to sing the solfege. Again, pause as you need to, and answer will be given as you go. Good luck!

Mixed Singback5:19
Piano examples mixing up Do, Re, Me and Mi will be given and you'll be expected to sing them back. If you're not a great singer don't worry, just try your best and use repetion to help you progress.
Mixed Ear Tests10:18
Now you'll be expected to listen to short samples of mixed up solfege, pause the video and guess what the solfege is, and unpause to hear the answer. Once you've gone through this class a few times feel free to jump around so the answers continue to keep you guessing.
Mixed Reverse Ear Tests4:49
Now onto the hardest of the types of ear tests. For these examples solfege will be stated, Do will be given, and you'll be expected to sing the solfege. Both major and minor examples are given, so watch out for the different sound between Mi and Me. Again, pause as you need to, and answer will be given as you go. Good luck!

Wrap-up1:05
Great job for getting this far! Remember to take these classes MANY times to get the most out of this course. Progress in ear training is often a mix of clear teaching/instruction, and repetition. Hopefully I've done my job in making the content clear, now it's your job to practice until you start to feel confident with this material. From there, challenge yourself on the next level offered in this course series, where we work with pentascales (the first 5 notes of a major or minor scale.
Again, congrats, and hopefully solfege training can benefit you as it has myself and many of my students!

Requirements

No previous experience is required, but basic singing abilities will help

Description

Have you ever wondered how to think of melodies in a way where you can make sense of the notes?
Are you sick of melodic information being vague and unfamiliar?
Are you looking to expand your musicianship and learn the vocabulary of solfege to help you gain context for your melodic decisions?

You've come to the right place!

We're going to start off very simple in this course and just cover Do-Re-Mi and Do-Re-Me. In other words, the first 3 notes of major and minor scales. Building these courses in small chunks allows students to saturate in each scale's environment, learning it's colors and characteristics, and then expanding their knowledge with each additional course.

This preliminary course offers all of the information you'll need before progressing into the full beginners series of solfege and ear training. From discussing what solfege is at it's core, to delving into it's history, and recommending how to apply solfege, this course isn't all about the technical and theoretical side of solfege, but rather a more broad look at solfege in it's most beginner stages.

Designed to teach absolute beginners, or help fill in some knowledge of intermediate level students, this course is worth going through even if you think you know the basics well. You never know which rock you'll overturn to find out something new within this vast topic of solfege!

Solfege helped me personally as a musician, as it gave me a language to make sense of how I was coloring my jazz chords as a pianist, and gave me an understandable vocabulary as a soloist so that my improvisations had intent and confidence behind them. Solfege is now always available to me to better understand and demystify the music I listen to, as well as inform my decisions as a composer and performer.

You don't have to be a pro singer to take these courses, BUT being able to sing on pitch is a solid benefit. You can think of understanding pitch sort of like understanding a language. If you only ever read it or think it, you can still understand it, but as you get speaking it your understanding of the language becomes more developed and confident. So, even if you don't sing well, at least try your best during the ear test portions.

This course is NOT a course on sight singing. While the material covered will certainly help you improve your ability to sight sing, providing you have separate instruction as to how to develop that specific skill, these classes will not cover any form of music notation at this stage. From taking these courses you will eventually be able to understand note selection in melodies of songs you hear, and have more confidence when writing your own melodies. However, singing music off of a staff will not be developed until later courses.

So, if you're ready to demystify melodies, improve your musicianship, and improve your understanding of scales and solfege, then this course is the perfect starting point.

Who this course is for:

Beginner musicians looking to improve their general musicianship
Beginner music producers/composers looking to improve their understanding of melody writing
Beginner singers looking to improve their understanding of pitch in relation to scales
Students looking for supplementary material for the '4-start Sight Reading and Ear Tests' series
Musicians that quickly need to learn the basics of solfège before advancing their musicianship in post-secondary courses
Students in choir looking to improve their knowledge of solfège

Solfège and Ear Training: Preliminary

What you'll learn

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Course content

All About Solfege3 lectures • 17min

Scales and Intervals3 lectures • 23min

Major Singback/Ear Tests3 lectures • 23min

Minor Singback/Ear Tests3 lectures • 20min

Major and Minor (mixed) Singback/Ear Tests3 lectures • 20min

Wrap-up1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: