lindsmuse
Solmization is a system of attributing a distinct syllable to each note in a musical scale. Various forms of solmization are in use and have been used throughout the world.
In today's excerpt - the Italian monk Guido of Arezzo invented the method of learning notes we now refer to as "do, re, mi" or solmization (from the notes "sol" and "mi") in about 1024 CE - thus giving each note or tone in the scale its own name. Along with his invention of the four-line musical staff, it allowed singers to master new music in a year rather than a decade, and permitted the subsequent rise of polyphony:
"Actually it was ut, re, mi, etc., that Guido invented. He got the names of the notes - ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la - from the initial syllables of the half lines that make up the first stanza of an eighth-century Latin hymn to John the Baptist written by Paul the Deacon. In this work, each nonitalicized syllable below fell on a higher successive tone of the hexachord, the first six notes of the major scale (c, d, e, f, g, a):
Ut queant laxis resonare fibris
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solvepolluti labii reatum ...
(So that your servants can, with unrestrained voice, sing the wonders of your deeds, remove the guilt of our tainted lips!)
"The initial letters of "Sancte Iohannes," the next words in the text, which directly address St. John, later gave us the name of the note si, which was eventually changed to ti, just as ut was later changed to do and sol to so in many countries for reasons of euphony. The singing of vocal exercises to these syllables is termed solfeggio or solfege, names deriving from sol and fa, just as solmization itself is derived from sol and mi. .....etc
More of this at Delanceyplace.com
Jack-Flash-Jr
Cool! From Wikipedia: An alternative theory on the origins of solfège proposes that it may have also had Arabic musical origins. It has been argued that the solfège syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) may have been derived from the syllables of the Arabic solmization system درر مفصّلات Durar Mufaṣṣalāt ("Separated Pearls") (dāl, rā', mīm, fā', ṣād, lām, tā') during the Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe. This origin theory was first proposed by François de Mesgnien Meninski in 1680, and then by J. B. de Laborde in 1780.[10][11][12][13] Guillaume Villoteau (Description historique, technique et litteraire des instruments de musique des orientaux in the Description de l'Égypte,[14] Paris 1809) appears to endorse this view.[citation needed] However, there is no documentary evidence for this theory.[15]
In all of Hindustani music and Carnatic music (two major branches of Indian classical music), a form of solfège called swara or sargam is the first lesson. In Indian classical music the corresponding sounds of solfege are sa, re (ri), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni and back to sa. The Sanhita portion of the Samaveda (Hindu holy verses), that date back to 1300-1000 BCE[dubious – discuss] were later set to music using this technique. This is the earliest known origin of the solfège.
I personally believe it originated with Rogers and Hammerstein ?
