Introduction to Diatonicism
10 Sight Singing Instructions
Simple Meters and Finding Do (and Mi and Sol)
This week’s sight singing lesson will continue our focus on singing intervals using movable-do solfege, chanting rhythms in simple meters, and putting the two concepts together in stepwise melodies in major keys.
How to Practice
Intervals: Perfect and Imperfect Consonances
All the perfect and imperfect consonances – perfect unisons, fourths, fifths, and octaves; major and minor thirds; major and minor sixths – have something in common. They can all be found within the tones of the major triad and its inversions.
As you know, an inverted major third is a minor sixth, and an inverted minor third is a major sixth. The perfect fifth is commonly associated with the two outer pitches of the major triad, and in its inverted form composes a perfect fourth. Therefore, it makes sense to think of these inversions using the same solfege, i.e.:
Solfege of Perfect and Imperfect Consonances
| Interval | Inverse |
|---|---|
| M3 = do, mi | m6 = mi, do |
| m3 = mi, sol | M6 = sol, mi |
| P5 = do, sol | P4 = sol, do |
Melodies Composed of Major Triad Skips
When learning any diatonic melody, you should first locate every occurrence of do, mi, and sol. The tones of the tonic triad are signposts that will guide you around melodic shapes. In the current sight singing assignment, we will focus on melodies that explicitly use tones from the major triad. Many melodies do this: it’s very common to begin sol, do or some other combination of tones from the tonic triad such as sol, mi or mi, sol.
