How to apply move-able Do?

[Eric Dolphy]

Here's a handy reference for Move-able Do:

1 - Do
2 - Re
3 - Mi
4 - Fa
5 - So
6 - La
7 - Ti
b2 - Di or Ra
b3 - Ri or Me
#4 - Fi or Se
b6 - Si or Le
b7 - Li or Te

This works for all 12 keys. Hope that helps.

I understand this part, my problem is connecting the syllables with the tone I can produce with my voice. Does this make sense?

For example: I can sing the first couple bars of a Charlie Parker solo on Nows the Time but I use “da” for every note just making them higher or lower. I would have no idea how to do it like those videos of Alexa doing Parker tunes.

[matt.guitarteacher]

I understand this part, my problem is connecting the syllables with the tone I can produce with my voice. Does this make sense?

For example: I can sing the first couple bars of a Charlie Parker solo on Nows the Time but I use “da” for every note just making them higher or lower. I would have no idea how to do it like those videos of Alexa doing Parker tunes.

I'm pretty sure she didn't start with Parker tunes. Maybe start with something simpler?

[Jason Sioco]

I understand this part, my problem is connecting the syllables with the tone I can produce with my voice. Does this make sense?

For example: I can sing the first couple bars of a Charlie Parker solo on Nows the Time but I use “da” for every note just making them higher or lower. I would have no idea how to do it like those videos of Alexa doing Parker tunes.

I agree with Matt, but I think you can do two things: You can start learning slow pop tunes, slow film scores, or anything slow to get a good grasp of solfege with slow but pretty tunes. Or use a transcription app/software to slow down the Charlie Parker solos, sing the solos slowly with solfege then gradually speed it up.

[kofblz]

I use it based on the chord I'm playing out of, not necessarily the chord on the chart. I still have trouble with changing chords every bar, or worse, twice a bar. So for soloing on tough tunes I find shortcuts and chords I can substitute and hang out on for a while. Then I keep my "Do" on the substituted chord root.

[Irez87]

I think the next question us "solfanatics" could field is "SO WHAT? How does practicing solfege help as you continue to study and play in the jazz idiom?

I think that's a fair question, no?

I'll start.

Solfege, the way I utilize it, helps me relate everything that operates in a tune in a purely aural medium. IE, I hear the theory of the "Nashville Number System" (labeling how harmony functions in a tune)--it becomes a sound in my head that I can use with immediacy on the bandstand.

My mentor said something REALLY important this week. I think some of you already know this tidbit. He said, "It's not what you play that's important--it's everything else that you hear in your head. That could be the drums, the bass line, the harmony, the melody."

I think sound, I play sound. My video on "Just Friends" hints at this approach.

But why complicate things? Why sing everything, every melody note, chord tone, extension, everything as it relates to a key center and not the individual chords? Two fold:

1. I can hear where everything ultimately resolves. I can train my ear to trace the path from the beginning of the tune to where it ultimately resolves. It's a lot of work, but I find this work FUN!

2. I don't have to worry about re-orienting my "do" (my key center) every time a chord changes, or a progression "changes key" (Bruce Arnold taught me some interesting things about key changes in music)

I've noticed that if I go at my studies of more "advanced" harmony, like tritone subs and back cycles to the I chord, that things fall apart when I get to the piano. The notes might be theoretically correct, but because I'm not hearing the key center of the entire tune (not progression, the entire tune) I end up modulating. Most recently, I find myself modulating to the V. I mean, that sounds cool and all, but it sounds like shite it I'm not doing it on purpose.

But that's just how I study it. Kofblz was hinting at the method he studies. Jason is busy compiling several methods to create his own way. So how does solfege help you all in your quest to study improvisation?

Before anyone says it: yes the records hold all the answers. I listen to jazz everyday and I try to cop at least one lick a day and bury it into my aural memory. Solfege helps with that too. Anyway, keep it going--let's make an argument that solfege is a worthwhile endeavor in this lifelong language we label as "jazz".