Tonic Solfa Notation

Meaning of Tonic Solfa

Tonic Solfa Notation is a system which involves the use of syllabic names for music reading. These syllabic names are called solfa notes. In a nutshell tonic solfa notation is a method of reading music. The method was established in the Nineteenth Century in Britain. It was made popular by John Curwen. It is based on the use of seven consonant small letters of the alphabets, namely,  d, r, m, f, s, l, t. To complete the note of the scale, the first letter, ‘d’ (doh) is usually repeated.

Accidentals in Solfa Notation

The accidental signs used in solfa notation are sharps and flats. The sharp (#) sign is used to raise the sound of the note by a semitone. As a result, ‘doh’ becomes ‘de’, ‘ray’ becomes ‘re’, ‘fah’ is ‘fe’ ‘soh’ is ‘se’ and ‘lah’ becomes ‘le’. For Example:

Similarly, the flat sign is used to lower the sound of the note by a semitone. In this case the letter ‘a’ (aw) is attached to the solfa note, then ‘ray’ becomes ‘raw ‘ ‘m’ becomes ‘maw’, ‘l’ is ‘law’ and ‘t’ is ‘taw’.