Intro to Solfege
Concept 1: The center column of the solfege chart is the Major Scale pattern.
Play up and down the Major Scale on the Virtual Solfege.
Concept 2: The sign of each note in the major scale gives you a clue about its function in the scale:
Play, sign, and sing DO (low DO, at the bottom of the center column). Its sign is a fist, showing that DO is the "home tone," the point of rest, or tonic note in the scale.
Play, sign, and sing RE. Its sign is a slanted hand, showing that RE has movement in the scale. RE is called the supertonic or the note above the tonic.
Play, sign, and sing MI. Its sign is a level flat hand, palm down, showing that MI has less movement than RE. MI is a nickname for mediant, or the note that is halfway between DO and SOL.
Play, sign, and sing FA. Its sign is a thumb point down to MI, showing that the interval between FA and MI is a half step. FA is called the subdominant; that is, as far below DO as SOL is above DO (see the description of SOL).
Play, sign, and sing SOL. Its sign is a flat hand, palm to self, and is the dominant note of the scale; it has more energy and movement than DO, which is the point of rest.
Play, sign, and sing LA. Its sign is a hand "cupped over" SOL. LA is called the submediant, which means that it is halfway from DO down to FA, which is the subdominant.
Play, sign, and sing TI. Its sign is an index finger pointing up to DO to show that the interval between TI and DO is a half step. TI is called the leading tone in the scale.
Play, sign, and sing high DO. Its sign is the same as low DO; a fist. High DO is the eighth note of the scale, so it is an octave above low DO. We hear high DO both as the end of the scale and also as the first note of the next higher octave of the scale. Both low DO and high DO are tonic notes of the scale.
Concept 3: The right column of the solfege chart contains the sharps in the scale. Sharp means one half step higher. Each sharp has the same first letter and the same sign (tilted, rotated, or slanted up) as its major scale counterpart, and each sharp sign ends in "i", pronounced "ee."
- Play DO and then play DI. DI is the "sharp" of DO.
- Play RE and then play RI. RI is the "sharp" of RE.
- Play FA and then play FI. FI is the "sharp" of FA.
- Play SOL and then play SI. SI is the "sharp" of SOL.
- Play LA and then play LI. LI is the "sharp" of LA.
Concept 4: The left column of the solfege chart contains the flats in the scale. Flat means one half step lower. Each flat has the same first letter as its major scale counterpart, and except for RA, has the same sign, tilted or slanted down to show that it is "flat." Every flat syllable ends with the letter "e", pronounced "eh", except RA. 
- Play TI and then play TE. TE is the "flat" of TI.
- Play LA and then play LE. LE is the "flat" of LA.
- Play SOL and then play SE. SE is the "flat" of SOL.
- Play MI and then play ME. ME is the "flat" of MI.
- Play RE and then play RA. RA is the "flat" of RE. Notice that the last letter of RE is "e" so the flat of RE has to have a different vowel than "e." RE is a flat hand slanting up; the flat hand level and the flat hand slanting down have already been taken (MI and ME), so the sign for RA is the same as RE's sign, except that the thumb drops.
Concept 5: Notes that have the same pitch, but different names are called "enharmonic." Each flat and sharp (for example, TE and LI) that sit across from each other on the solfege chart are enharmonic notes.
- Play RA and play DI.
- Play ME and play RI.
- Play SE and play FI.
- Play LE and play SI.
- Play TE and play LI.
Concept 6: Solfege is a pattern for each of the different keys. DO gives each key its name. For example, in the Key of C, DO is C. In the Key of G, DO is G; in the Key of Bb, DO is Bb.
- Click the arrows at the top of the Virtual Solfege to see the key signature and the key signature name change.
- Click on DO and then on the note of the Virtual Keyboard that corresponds to the name of the key signature in each of the following keys:
- DO is C in the Key of C (no sharps or flats.
- DO is G in the Key of G (one sharp).
- DO is D in the Key of D Major (two sharps).
- DO is A in the Key of A Major (three sharps).
- DO is E in the Key of E Major (four sharps).
- DO is B in the Key of B Major (five sharps).
- DO is F# in the Key of F# Major (six sharps).
- DO is Db in the Key of Db Major (five flats).
- DO is Ab in the Key of Ab Major (four flats).
- DO is Eb in the Key of Eb Major (three flats).
- DO is Bb in the Key of Bb Major (two flats).
- DO is F in the Key of F Major (one flat).
Practice: Find a key that is comfortable for your voice to sing both low DO and high DO. Then try singing and signing these patterns. Then check yourself by playing them on the Virtual Solfege:
Concept 6: The chromatic scale is a scale of half steps and consists of every note in the solfege chart in pitch order. The ascending chromatic scale contains each note of the major scale (center column) and the sharps (right column) in pitch order. The descending chromatic scale contains each note of the major scale and the flats (left column) in pitch order.
Play the ascending chromatic scale (center and right columns):
Play the descending chromatic scale (center and left columns):
Concept 7: The whole tone scale is a scale of whole steps. The ascending whole tone scale contains major scale notes and sharps, while the descending whole tone scale contains major scale notes and flats.
- Play the ascending whole tone scale: (low) DO RE MI FI SI LI DO
- Play the descending whole tone scale: (high) DO TE LE SE MI RE DO
Concept 8: The major scale pattern is a combination of whole steps and half steps. Notice that the two half steps in the the major scale are between MI and FA and between TI and DO.
- Play MI and FA and notice that there is no sharp of MI or flat of FA.
- Play TI and DO and notice that there is no sharp of TI or flat of DO.
Concept 9: DO is the tonic note of the scale. The pitch of DO gives the name to the scale and the key signature. (For example, DO is C in the key of C Major).
- Check the top of the Virtual Solfege to make sure that it says "Key of C Major."
- Click on DO.
- Click on C on the Virtual Keyboard to see that DO is C in the Key of C Major.
Concept 10: There is a different DO for each key signature. (The flats and sharps in the key signature determine which note is DO. The last flat in each key signature with flats is FA. The last sharp in every key signature with sharps is TI. The only key with no flats or sharps is C Major. Don't worry if this doesn't make sense now; the lesson on key signatures will explain this in detail.)
- Click the arrows at the top of the Virtual Solfege to see the key signature change.
- Click on DO and then on the note of the Virtual Keyboard that corresponds to the name of the key signature in each of the following keys:
- DO is G in the Key of G (one sharp).
- DO is D in the Key of D Major (two sharps).
- DO is A in the Key of A Major (three sharps).
- DO is E in the Key of E Major (four sharps).
- DO is B in the Key of B Major (five sharps).
- DO is F# in the Key of F# Major (six sharps).
- DO is Db in the Key of Db Major (five flats).
- DO is Ab in the Key of Ab Major (four flats).
- DO is Eb in the Key of Eb Major (three flats).
- DO is Bb in the Key of Bb Major (two flats).
- DO is F in the Key of F Major (one flat).