Solfa Notation

Music Notation

Music notation can be described as the act of reproducing musical sounds in writing or the art of writing music. As a musician, vocalist or instrumentalist you may be inspire to compose a new song, or melody can just come into your head, mind, or heart on the spurn/spun of the moment & for you not to forget you have to put it down on paper if you don't have an audio/sound recorder. The means by which you do this is called notation. There are many types of notation but two major types of notation are:
(i) staff notation
(ii) solfa notation

(I)Staff Notation
Staff notation is the method of writing musical sounds on a staff or stave, using symbols called musical notes.

Diagram

(II) Solfa Notation
Solfa notation is very common as it is easy to learn & does not involve much technicalities. It is commonly used by traditional/classical choirs. Some instrumentalists also make use of it when playing their instruments.

Solfa notation uses 7 consonants of the english alphabet to represent sound and they are :
d, r, m, f, s, l, t .
Solfa notation is the method of writing musical sound with solfa notes for example the popular rhyme Mary has a Little Lamb has the following solfa

m r d r m m m
r r r m m m
m r d r m m m
r r r m r d 

Pronouncing the solfa 
We have 
d as in doe (Doe a female deer)
r as in ray   (A ray of sunlight)
m as in me ( Me a name I call myself)
f as in far    (Far a long way to walk)
s as in sew  (Sew a cloth)
l as in la
t as in tea    ( I want to drink tea)

Solfa actually enables you to feel the music you are either playing or singing.

Musical Alphabets

Musical Alphabets

In music we make use of the first seven(7) letters of the alphabets, namely A, B, C, D, E, F, & G. These seven letters are called musical alphabets & are used to write music. 

After letter G we go back to A, folowed by B, C, D and the pattern/progression continues all over again.

ABCDEFGA'B'C'D'E'F'G'A''B''C''D''E''F''G''A'''.

The white keys of the keyboard are named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet.

Keyboard Diagram 
  

One octave Keyboard

Two octave keyboard 

Each alphabets corresponds to a specific sound. The sound produced when E is played on a piano is different from when D is played. Also the sound produced when E is played on a well tuned guitar is similar to E played on the piano. Thus if I play C on the lower part of the keyboard & the upper part they are expected to sound basically alike. The only difference will be in the pitch of the two C(s). The pitch of the upper C will be higher than that of the lower C.

Also C played on the piano is the same as C played on the guitar although the quality(timbre) of the notes will be different.   

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