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Music
Grade 6-12
Solfège & Movable-Do Reference Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering solfège syllables, movable-do, major and minor scale patterns, scale degrees, and key-center thinking for grades 6-12.
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This cheat sheet covers solfège, movable-do, and the way singers connect syllables to scale degrees. Students need it because solfège helps them sight-sing, hear intervals, and understand melodies in any key. Movable-do makes the tonic feel like home, so the same pattern can be used in C major, G major, F major, or any other key. It is useful for choir, band, orchestra, piano, music theory, and ear training.
Key Facts
- In movable-do major, the scale degrees are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 and the solfège syllables are do re mi fa sol la ti do.
- The major scale whole-step and half-step pattern is W W H W W W H.
- In movable-do, do is always scale degree 1, also called the tonic, no matter what key the music is in.
- Ascending chromatic solfège often uses do di re ri mi fa fi sol si la li ti do.
- Descending chromatic solfège often uses do ti te la le sol se fa mi me re ra do.
- Natural minor with movable-do based on la uses la ti do re mi fa sol la.
- The distance from do to mi is a major third, and the distance from do to sol is a perfect fifth.
- A key signature tells which pitch name becomes do in movable-do for a major key.
Vocabulary
- Solfège
- Solfège is a system of syllables, such as do, re, mi, used to sing and hear notes by their function in a scale.
- Movable-do
- Movable-do is a solfège system where do changes to match the tonic of the current key.
- Tonic
- The tonic is scale degree 1 and the home note of a key.
- Scale degree
- A scale degree is the numbered position of a note within a scale, such as 1 for do or 5 for sol.
- Key signature
- A key signature is the set of sharps or flats at the beginning of music that helps identify the key.
- Half step
- A half step is the smallest distance between two notes in standard Western music, such as E to F or B to C.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Keeping do on C in every key is wrong in movable-do because do must move to the tonic of the current key.
- Confusing sol and scale degree 7 is wrong because sol is scale degree 5, while ti is scale degree 7 in major.
- Singing fa too high or mi too low often breaks the major scale pattern because the half step must be between mi and fa.
- Using the same chromatic syllable for sharped and flatted notes is wrong because raised notes and lowered notes have different syllables, such as fi and se.
- Ignoring the key signature before assigning solfège is wrong because the key signature helps determine which pitch is do.
Practice Questions
- 1 In G major using movable-do, what pitch is do and what pitch is sol?
- 2 Write the solfège syllables for scale degrees 1 2 3 5 3 2 1 in a major key.
- 3 Using the major scale pattern W W H W W W H, list the notes of an F major scale.
- 4 Explain why movable-do helps singers recognize the same melody pattern in different keys.