Do Re. Me, Vs. A, B etc ?

[Stingrayz]

Hello All,

I am about to start taking lessons on the Double bass, and i was talking to the teacher, and he said he was going to teach me notes in the "Do Re me" way.. is this going to be trouble in trying to play in a symphony or auditions ? should i learn the normal way of C and G etc ?

Thank You

[trwiz1]

You need to be able to read and understand the letter names of notes, of course. Learning the "do, re, mi" method, called solfeggio (sp?) is a way of easily being able to hear passages in your head before playing them. No matter what key you are in, "do" is the tonic, and the other syllables relate to it.

It's hard to understand why it's important until you learn it, and it really is like a foreign language for a while. Stick with it and it'll be very beneficial to your sight reading skills.

[Aaron Saunders]

"Do, re, mi" is an ear training exercise. It's important to be able to hear each note and interval before you can play it in tune.

trwiz1 is right -- it will basically only make sense AFTER you've learned it. I didn't find it helped much with my reading, but it made my ear much better, also because I learned it in a vocals class.

[Stingrayz]

Hello,

Thanks for the replies, its starting to kinda make sense, i guess i have to find out for myself hehe

Thanks

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by trwiz1

No matter what key you are in, "do" is the tonic, and the other syllables relate to it.

Only in moving solfege, in fixed solfege (which is still used in a lot of legit programs) "Do" is always C.

[Justin K-ski]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

Only in moving solfege, in fixed solfege (which is still used in a lot of legit programs) "Do" is always C.

Indeed, at juilliard fixed do is used exclusively. In Europe people don't say "a minor", instead they say "la mineur". I was speaking to a friend at school last year who argues that since most classical music comes from Europe, we ought to used solfege instead of letter names when discussing music. I don't know if that's true but I certainly think that learning the solfege symbols would be beneficial.

[sibass89]

I learned using a traditional note naming system but ever since I learned solfege, I talk in solfege. When discussing music with my teachers I will always say this sol or that mi. I find it easier and it gives me a better understanding, especially because I am a firm believer of you can't play your music unless you can sing your music.

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by Justin K-ski

Indeed, at juilliard fixed do is used exclusively. In Europe people don't say "a minor", instead they say "la mineur". I was speaking to a friend at school last year who argues that since most classical music comes from Europe, we ought to used solfege instead of letter names when discussing music. I don't know if that's true but I certainly think that learning the solfege symbols would be beneficial.

By the same token, we should all be using gut strings and avoid the tritone

[Justin K-ski]

True enough, but my point that leaning solfege can't hurt stands.

If the topic starter is living in kuwait then he's closer (not close :-p) to the big European music cities than the US.

[sibass89]

Justin is absolutely right. Learning notes with solfege is a completely ligitimate way of learning. There is nothing wrong with calling a note by a syllable instead of a letter because you are still naming it something and learning how to read music. By learning how to read notes and place notes through solfege you are learning how to hear the notes at the same time. If you can't hear your music or sing your music you can't play the music.

[Zachmozach]

just learn both then you have no problems.

[Stingrayz]

Yeah i plan on learning both, but probably the Do Ray Me first, mostly because most teachers here studied in a european country, i was thinking that it was possible in converting them later on ? because i can basically read notes in the traditional notaion, but as G-A-B etc, because i tought myself the bass guitar and thats how i figuered out the notes, but im pretty sure im going to be reading notes the Sylable way, guess i can convert them later on,

[sibass89]

Yeah, it's the same thing like learning solfege later. You just learn that a g is a sol and so forth.

[eleonn]

Well here (Perú) we learn first the notes like DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA and SI. The first time I got a tab from internet I thought what the ... is C, D, E... then I learn that C=DO, D=RE and so on. Actually its the same thing when you get used to both.

The DO, RE, MI ... notation was first taught by a european (spanish or italian I guess) priest in 1800's who tried to give names to every note that could sound similar to its tone so it would be easier to students to recognize every note and you will see this is true. When you pronounce the word DO (at least in spanish :-) ) it actually sounds like the note C sounds and the same thing with the other notes.

[Jazzin']

Here in Quebec, in highschool we started learing in French in the first couple years and had it in English for the last few years. Just like Mathematics, Science, History, etc... actually.

So we first learned it as Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si with Bemol, Diese and Becarre instead of C D E F G A B with flat, sharp and natural.

It takes 2 seconds to learn it the other way once you learned it one way.

I think it's best to learn the English way because it's the standard in the modern world.

[ToR-Tu-Ra]

I know both, I use both. Theres basically three ways to represent sounds in a written way: as pneumas on a staff, with the alphabet or by their "names". I think each way has it's own advantages and a "place". If I want to write a bassline or some voicings or stuff like that, I'd do it with standard notation on a staff, it's easier for me that way. If I want to write down some chords like a progression or something, I'd use the alphabet. If I'm reading/singing something out loud, I'd use the "names" of the notes. I find it very "un-musical" singing "D, F, AAAAA,"

Anyone knows why the alphabet system starts on the sixth? Why not name Do=A?

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by ToR-Tu-Ra

Anyone knows why the alphabet system starts on the sixth? Why not name Do=A?

Back in the 60's when I was living in Houston, I had a friend from Mexico, who was a classical guitarist. The first time we jammed together, he called a tune in the key of "Do". I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Turns out that to him, "Do" was "A". I always thought that Do was the root of whatever key you were playing in.

[ToR-Tu-Ra]

Do=A ??? That's a new one for me

[Jeff Guevin]

Originally Posted by ToR-Tu-Ra

Anyone knows why the alphabet system starts on the sixth? Why not name Do=A?

Another thread touched on this recently, and I think the idea was that the minor scale was more common than the major at the time--ergo, A is the 1st degree, not the sixth.

[bassforjesus]

alot of you are confused,no do is not the root note of the key you are in! and no! do is not a!!as a latin bassist i had to learn both, this is how it goes
Do=c Re=d mi=e fa=f sol=g la=a si=b and of course you have you minor,sharp and flat.
if in spanish this are the equivalents: minor=menor sharp=sostenido flat=bemol if any questions please let me know thanks God bless!