Sound becomes pitch
A musical sound has four properties: pitch, duration, loudness (dynamics) and timbre (tone colour). Pitch is fixed by frequency and is the foundation of melody.
The staff and the clefs
Five horizontal lines + four spaces form the staff. The treble clef (𝄞) wraps around the G line; the bass clef (𝄢) sits on the F line. Together they form the grand staff used in SATB choral writing.
Tonic solfa names
Each degree of the major scale has a syllable: doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te, doh. Written as d r m f s l t d'. Upper octave uses an apostrophe (d'), lower octave a comma (d,).
- d is always the tonic (home) of the key.
- t pulls strongly to d — it is the leading tone.
- f pulls down to m, giving cadential weight.
Practice
Sing d r m f s l t d' ascending and descending in C major. Then sing leaps: d–m, d–s, d–d'. Listen for the gravity of each note toward the tonic.
Quiz
1. Which solfa syllable is the tonic (home note)?
2. What does an apostrophe after a solfa note mean?