At 3:20 AM -0500 2/8/06, Arkady wrote:
From: "David W. Fenton"
>> You don't say if the Russian system was movable or fixed Do.
Yankee Doodle in C major is --
do do re me do mi re, do do re mi do si, do do re mi fa mi re do si sol la
si do do
So, if I was asked to sing Yankee Doodle in F major in Russia:), I'd sing
sing it as:
Fa fa sol la fa la sol, fa fa sol la fa mi...., etc. --
So, is that Russian method the same as what they refer to as "Fixed Do" here
in the USA?!
Yes, that is what we would call fixed Do, in which the syllables
simply replace the letter names. Like David, I see no utility to the
system, but then I was not trained in it.
Now, the way I understand the "Movable Do" is that, even while singing
Yankee Doodle in the Key of F, or any other key, I'd have to use the same
note names, as I would in the key of C? -- do do re me do mi re, do do re mi
do si?!
If that's what they mean by "Movable Do", then TO ME, no offense to anyone
please, ok?, that would be WEIRD....
Again, that is correct, and no offense is taken. Do is always the
tonic note in a tonal piece in major. There is disagreement about
the tonic note in minor. Kodaly and those using his methods use a
La-based minor, while music theorists (poor dears!) seem to prefer a
Do-based minor or even those awkward and unsingable numbers.
And of course it seems weird to you! We are all most comfortable
with what we grew up with. We know the useful things it can do, and
we know the problems with it (although we never admit them!). That's
to be expected. But when Guido d'Arezzo invented the system way back
in about AD 1030, it was a system of (in modern terms) moveable Do.
(Actually moveable Ut, but never mind that!)
Guido's system was invented for one specific use: teaching. Its
modern descendent, solfege, was adopted by Kodaly for one specific
use: teaching. It is still in use a millenium after its invention
because it is enormously effective: for teaching.
And while David is basically correct in that it assumes tonal music
(Guido's chants were certainly tonal, although not in common-practice
major or minor modes), but when you observe an advanced Kodaly
solfege class bopping through an atonal piece with abandon you
realize that while it's a stretch, it can be done.
My wife, who is Kodaly certified, understands fixed Do just fine, and
has taught students or helped workshop participants who only knew
fixed Do translate what was being said, but she would never choose to
use it in her own teaching.
[What follows is what appears to be a very long dialog, with the
authors undifferentiated and only separable by guesswork. It has
been snipped.]
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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