solmization (redirected from solmisates)

solmization

 or solfeggio

System of designating musical notes by syllable names. It may have been invented by the 11th-century Italian monk Guido d'Arezzo when training his cathedral singers. The syllables—ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la—were derived from the first syllables of the lines of a hymn, each phrase of which began one note higher than the previous phrase. This six-note series, or hexachord, facilitated the sight-reading of music by allowing the singer always to associate a given musical interval with any two syllables. The syllables are still in use, though ut is usually replaced by the more singable do, and ti or si has been added for the seventh scale degree. Compare shape-note singing.