All posts by Robert Estrin

What is Solfeggio? Music Theory Lessons

Solfeggio, sometimes called sight-singing, is the ability to read and sing music at sight. This is an incredibly important skill for all musicians. So how do you develop these skills?

There are a couple of different systems and each one has different values. I’m going to explore these and you can decide what the best course of action is for you.

I grew up with a method called “movable do solfege”. You’ve probably heard it before: “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do”. “Do” is the tonic, the first note of the major scale, and you simply progress up through the scale degrees. In movable do solfege, no matter what major key you are in, the tonic of that key is always do. For example, if you are in C major, C is “do”. This is important to remember because this is not the case when it comes to “fixed do” solfege.

In “fixed do” solfege C is always “do” (and “re” is d and so on). The notes never change syllables.

While these two methods are completely different, they are both important in their own ways.

The strength of “fixed do” comes from naming notes. No matter what iteration the note takes it will always correlate to the particular syllable in the “fixed do” system. C will always be “do”, D will always be “re” and so on. This can be incredibly useful – especially if you’re a conductor – because you will be able to determine the absolute pitch of each of the notes. Scores are transposed and there are different clefs so being able to determine the absolute pitch is a very powerful tool.

So why would you want to use movable do? Why should you constantly be changing the pitch of “do” and why would you want it in different places? The value is that you can hear music in the context of the key, so you can figure out the notes you are hearing. In other words, if you hear a pattern of notes (for example: do, mi, so ) you can determine that it’s a major triad chord; no matter what the key. This makes it possible to quantify the pitches relative to one another and determine these patterns of notes much easier. This can really help for people who don’t have perfect pitch – it’s a much easier way to know the notes you are hearing.

But what about the relative minor? There are actually two schools of thought for this. The way I was trained is that the key signature determines where “do” is, so the relative minor begins on “la”. This makes perfect sense and is still easy to grasp even if the piece switches between major and minor. This works out the same for all of the modes which share key signatures with major and minor scales but start on different scale degrees (like all the white keys from D-D would be a D dorian mode which shares the key signature of C major which has no sharps or flats).

The last thing we need to address is how to deal with accidentals (sharps, flats, and naturals). These are simply ignored in fixed do solfege but in movable do we add extra syllables to account for these accidentals.

An ascending chromatic scale would be:

Do-Di-Re-Ri-Mi-Fa-Fi-So-Si-La-Li-Ti-Do

Descending chromatic scale is:

Do-Ti-Te-La-Le-So-Se-Fa-Mi-Me-Re-Ra- Do

Movable do solfege is how I grew up with music and it’s how I hear music. I use it for every aspect of music, whether it’s reading music or even performing. All music is essentially playing by ear so even if you read it’s important to have a system in place that allows you to understand what you are hearing.

Thanks for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Read Ahead in Music

This question comes from another viewer who asks how to read ahead in music to improve their reading. So how do you achieve this and is it a good technique?

Well the truth is, reading ahead is actually not exactly how it works. Instead, it is a matter of looking at chunks of music instead of reading note by note much like reading text. When you first learn how to read a language, you must sound out each letter forming words. Eventually, you recognize words and even phrases. It is the same with reading music. You begin to recognize chords and progressions instead of just individual notes.

So instead of reading ahead in the music, it’s best to digest your music into chunks. If you break your music into these sections you will be able to absorb them much more easily and you will have an understanding of the structure of what you are playing helping the fluency of your reading.

You can even apply this same technique to sight reading. Instead of just reading all the notes and hoping for the best, the more you begin to break down your music into small chunks you will begin to recognize similar patterns. After a while this will become almost second nature and you will be able to read and digest all your music much more easily.

Thanks again for joining me and if you have any more questions please contact me directly: Robert@LivingPiano.com (949) 244-3729

What’s the Difference between Allegro and Moderato?

To put it in simple terms, in a musical context: Allegro means fast; while Moderato means moderately fast. (Actually, the Italian translation of Allegro is actually “happy” and Moderato means “moderate”). But these two terms can be confusing – how do you judge fast? What is moderately fast? And really, the speed really depends on the context of the original score; every piece has different requirements.

You might have even seen some metronomes which indicate Allegro from a certain number to another and other markings such as Andante with a range as well, but this is actually quite ridiculous. Each piece has a certain pulse to it and Allegro can’t be quantified in this way.

The biggest thing to remember is that Fast and Slow are Not Absolutes. The speeds and the markings are simply characters of the piece.

So where exactly to do these terms come from? They are Italian words. This is mostly because Western music has its roots in Western Europe and Italy was a big epicenter for music. Eventually, their terms were adopted by most of the music community.

If you study French or German music, sometimes you will run into a bunch of different terms from their languages. I suggest getting a dictionary, or use online or smartphone resources. Some of the German terms are so long they are almost impossible to pronounce!

Thanks again for watching, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Memorize a Piece of Music You Can Already Play

This might sound like a silly question but sometimes you have a piece you can play with the music in front of you but you haven’t memorized it yet. You might be able to play the whole piece by barely glancing at the music but you still need it in parts. This can be cumbersome and is something you want to avoid. So how do you fix this?

I have produced a video in the past on How to Memorize Music. If you haven’t watched it yet I highly recommend it as a companion piece to this article. My very first lesson as a child when I studied with my father Morton Estrin was how to memorize music. It’s a crucial skill that every musician should learn.

Taking small sections of music and memorizing each hand separately, then putting them together helps you memorize even the most difficult passages of music. This is a great system to use but how do you account for a piece you almost have memorized? How can you push yourself over the edge and get the whole piece down?

I actually have two methods for you. The first is the band-aid approach to practicing music. This technique is simple but very effective. Play through the piece as far as you can from memory. When you encounter a spot that you can’t go past without looking at the music, you stop. Then take this small section and study it intensely. Use the method I detailed above and learn each hand separately first to get the section memorized securely.

If the band-aid approach doesn’t work for you don’t worry; you have other options. Rather than starting all over again and learning small chunks at a time, expand the amount of music you learn for each section. So where you might have been memorizing 3-4 measures at a time, try and work with 8-10 measures at a time. Make sure you learn the hands separately and then combine them together.

I highly recommend that in the future you start by memorizing your piece as the first step and not the last step. Start by progressing through your music in small chunks and learn each hand separately; then combine them when you’re ready. Ultimately this is a much more efficient way to learn your music.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is a Plagal Cadence? Music Theory Lessons

This is a term you may or may not be familiar with. The plagal cadence is a IV chord resolving to a I chord at the end of a piece. Why is this significant? Typically the end of a piece has a V – I or V7 – I cadence.

So why is the plagal cadence important and how can you use it in your music? It is a certain tool you can use to add a fresh color to the end of a piece. I highly recommend you listen to the accompanying video to this article to understand the function of a plagal cadence. Ultimately, the sound is what sets it apart.

A classic example of a plagal cadence is the “Amen” in a church service. Once you hear it, you will always remember it!

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

Why is C Not A? Music Theory Questions

Somebody asked me this question the other day and I was very confused – I wondered what they could be talking about. But once he explained the questions I began to understand that it actually made a lot of sense.

C is the starting note for most pieces you start with on the piano and a C major scale is played by playing all the white keys consecutively on the piano. You’d think that because this is the basic foundation of music that the note would be called A and you would then name the other notes accordingly.

Upon thinking about this I began to understand why things evolved this way and why C is the way it is. To understand this concept you’ll have to go way back into time before minor and major tonality was entrenched into Western music.

Originally, music was built on modes. Modes can be started on any of the white keys (and can be transposed to other keys with sharps or flats). For example, the notes from D to D diatonically is the Dorian mode and the Aeolian Mode is from A to A.

The ionian mode, which is the major scale, was not very popular at the time. If you listen to Renaissance music, you will rarely hear something written in the major. At the same time, the minor modes were very popular and the aeolian mode was one of the most popular. This might explain why A is the starting note!

If anybody has different information about this or another explanation I would be glad to hear it. These are my personal thoughts and conjecture based on my knowledge of music and it’s history. I would love to hear anyone else’s thoughts on why C is not called A.

I hope you have enjoyed this and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.