Hi - can anyone advise me?

I am taking Singing Grade 4 soon, but am having trouble with the sight singing. I have gradually taught myself to sight sing quite a lot of material in a major key, using a system I read about. It's a bit like solfa, but you use numbers (in your head) instead of do re mi..., and gradually learn to associate the number position in the scale with the right sound.

My question is about minor keys. I'm trying to use the same sort of system, but am not sure whether to think of the minor scale as being:
1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7b ... or
6 7 1 2 3 4 5 ...

Or the equivalent question in solfa is: do you treat minor keys as starting on do (with some notes flattened) or on la?

I hope this makes some sense.

Thanks for any help.

The way I do it is to just get used to singing the different intervals. I don't use the do-re-mi method to sightread, in the short time before you have to sing it properly go through quickly and get all the intervals sorted. I don't know...I've never used that method to sightread, what if the piece doesn't start on the tonic note? I'm intrigued...do you number the different notes then before singing? Fascinating, doesn't it confuse you whilst singing? Or, I suppose, if that's the way you've learnt then you're used to it. Naomi x

It is best to practise singing in real solfa, ie. not numbers. There was a thread in the teachers forum a while ago on singing in numbers and why solfa is much more effective. You should find it in the search function. But as you give it in numbers, the equivalent is starting on 6, not 1. In solfa this would be lah, and soh would become "see", as the raised 7th.

Solfa singing has worked wonders with my own sight singing which I used to be an absolute failure at. Looking for scale intervals was the perfect way to lose track. I can not recommend solfa highly enough to anyone. It is such a powerful tool it should be practised by everyone.

Do try it and see if it works. I was amazed at how effective it really was.

Thanks for the helpful replies.

I expect I'll gradually improve at finding my way round using intervals, but for the moment I need a system like the number one I've been using, or solfa.

I'd be interested to read the previous thread explaining why solfa is better than numbers. I've tried searching but can't find it. Any further clues as to where I might find it?

How have you learnt your solfa, neil.clarinet? In lessons, or did you teach yourself. Any good books / courses you can recommend?

Cheers

noon

There's a thread here about it.

A thread and a half! Thank you.

Thanks Anotherpianist. That's the thread I was talking about.

Yes I have learned solfa by myself. The best way is just to practise. Best to start with relatively simple tunes with NO accidentals, like folk songs, hymns, nursery rhymes. It really is practise. It's not just something you can or can't do, just how much you practise.

Courses, Kodaly courses do solfa and other musicianship training. Sadly they are few. The Summer School is VERY expensive (about £600). I am doing a course in Glasgow in September. Should be fun.

I think I really need to learn to do Kodaly. I did a taster day in Birmingham, and would love to do a course, but as you say teachers are few and far between and seem to be non-existent around here.

So I guess I will have to learn it myself too.

Do you have any tips on how I can do this?

The more I get into music the more I realise there is to do

Jane

Makes sense - lots of practice eventually gets these things embedded in the brain! I've got loads of those little Folk Song books, so I can practise with those.

Does anyone have any recommendations for methods for modelling rhythm? I've used something very basic:
1 2 3 4, (crotchets)
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and (quavers)
1 e and a 2 e and a... (semi-quavers)
but would be pleased to know if there's something more effective for embedding this stuff.

Simple. Crotchet=ta, quaver=ti, semi-quavers=ti-ri-ti-ri, quaver-crothet-quaver=syn-co-pa.