Solfege Teaching Guide

First Edition
Last updated: 6/13/2018

Copyright © 2018 by Eileen Sauer

ISBN: 1-979-64193-5
Contents
Background 1
Preparatory Work 7
Dannhäuser Solfege 8
Accompaniment Book 9
Dictation Book 10
Whiteboard / Chalkboard 11
Seating 12
Two Pianos 14
Supplies 16
Structure of Classes 18
Student Growth (long term) 22
Teacher Growth (long term) 23
Solfege Process Growth 24
Running a Demonstration 25
Launching a New Class 28
First Solfege Class 28
First Dictation Class 35
Joining an Existing Class 37
Teenage / Adult Students 38
Taking A Step Back 39
Administrative Considerations 40
New Solfege Instructors 41
Mozart Effect DIY Kit 44
Foundation - Details 48
Singing / Solfegiating 48
Sightreading 50
Conducting Time 54
 Ear Training 57
Music Dictation 65
Improving Solfege Skills 69
Continuity Rule 69
Got It, Forgot It 71
Tackle the Hardest First 71
Mental Play 72
Adding to the Foundation 73
Church Modes 73
Meter Lesson 74
Beaming Notes 78
Lead Sheets 79
ABRSM 80
Using Solfege as a Tool 81
Improvisation 83
Composition 85
Music Notation Software 93
Sibelius Notation Checklist 95
Advanced Students 105
Coaching Leaders 105
Advanced Exercises 108
Performance Preparation 110
History 110
Tips and Tricks 116
Curriculum 124
Level 1 126
Level 2 128
Level 3 130
Level 4 131
Level 5 132
Exercises 133
 Sample 1 134
Sample 2 135
Sample 3 137
Sample 4 140
Additional Background 142
Archives 146
Synesthesia 152
Piano Practice 157
New Students 157
Le Carpentier 160
References 169
Acknowledgements 171
About the Author 174
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Background
Starting at age 9, Mademoiselle Yvonne Combe studied music at
the Paris Conservatory when French composers Claude Debussy,
Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel were alive
and Fauré was Director of the Conservatory. She taught in Paris,
France and Montreux, Switzerland, then later emigrated to the US
and founded The French School of Music in Plainfield, NJ in 1927,
teaching piano and solfege in the U.S. for over six decades. I took
piano and solfege lessons at French School from 1972 to 1982
(ages 7 - 17), when Mlle. Combe was in her 80s. Many French
School alumni competed in NJ MEC (Music Education Council)
piano competitions, and as first, second, or third place winners,
performed in Carnegie Recital Hall. I played there nine times, and
my little sister played there ten times. There are Carnegie
programs with 12 French School students listed. Back then I
thought all of this was “normal” and couldn’t understand why
students of other piano teachers weren’t doing the same thing,
because it all seemed relatively easy.

Of the French School alumni in the 1970s (and a few before and
after), these are the known alumni who went to Juilliard or pre-
Juilliard:

• Jim Correnti (also Reformed Episcopal Seminary)

• Julie Jacobson (also Fordham University, NY Restaurant
School)
• Robert Taub (also Princeton) (check Wikipedia)
• Karen Zereconsky (also Manhattan School of Music and
Moscow Conservatory of Music)

Background | 1
 • Mayo Tsuzuki (also Yale)
• Wendy Jaffe (also Duke University)
• Eri Ikezi (also Columbia University)

Other alumni include:

• Carol Comune (New England Conservatory)

• Vince Di Mura (Manhattan School of Music)
• Liz Du Four (University of Ottawa)
• Timothy Waters (Principia College), specializing in
acoustic, audiovisual, and technology design for
performance venues (requiring knowledge of music and
physics)
• Suzanne Waters (Principia College), professional singer
who has worked in many films and television series (check
IMDB), also a graphic and web designer

Alumni from these lists who are past and present faculty include
Vince Di Mura and Carol Comune at Princeton, and Karen
Zereconsky at Princeton, French Conservatory, and conservatories
in Asia and Italy. Alumni have been / are resident artists and
composers as well as concertizing artists. Mayo Tsuzuki worked
with Zubin Mehta, and Vince Di Mura studied with Constance
Keene.

Those alumni who did not pursue careers as professional musicians

became doctors, lawyers, technologists, entrepreneurs, executives,
etc. I became a software developer, technical trainer and
engineering manager (University of Notre Dame), real estate
investor, and also a self-taught composer who as of spring 2016
became the eighth known alumna to have joined the Juilliard
ranks, part of the evening division taking classes in music

2 | Solfege Teaching Guide

composition and orchestration.

Alumni from earlier decades who reconnected with the school

through the French School of Music Facebook page also show a
pattern of successful musical careers as performers, music
educators, etc. Because of Mlle. Combe’s history with the Paris
Conservatory and her methodologies, French School students often
developed both excellent technique and a musical voice informed
by French composers.

After a lifetime dedicated to teaching piano and solfege, Mlle.

Combe passed away in 1990 at age 97. Her student Stephen
Waters took over the school, and in 2014 he passed away as well,
putting the school’s fate at a crossroad. Judy Waters took over as
director of the school, and in late 2015, she asked me to restart
solfege classes at French School, which hadn’t been offered in
years. By then, the days of Mlle. Combe requiring piano students to
take solfege lessons had ended. There can be various obstacles to
taking and teaching solfege classes. Parents may not want to make
multiple trips to the school every week, and students today are
involved in more and more activities that leave insufficient time for
learning solfege. Piano teachers may be so busy with piano
students that they don’t have time to run solfege classes.

At French School, what was lost in terms of extra time and effort
needed for solfege classes, was repaid when it took months, not
years, to learn to perform increasingly advanced music because
instrument and voice lessons became more efficient.

When Judy asked me to restart solfege classes, I had never stepped

into a conservatory environment, and her request prompted me to
simultaneously enroll in Juilliard. Three months after we restarted

Background | 3
solfege classes, one student surprised her parents by secretly
auditioning for a solo voice part. During the performance, she
stepped off the bleachers to perform her solo. At the one year
mark, two students had begun to develop absolute pitch (meaning
without the aid of a pitch pipe, they could identify the pitch of a
note, the same way those who are not color blind can identify a
blue sweater). At the two year mark, a 5th grader played recorder,
ukelele, saxophone, and some piano. When asked what music
training they get in their schools, the universal response is crinkled
faces and “that stuff is so Easy!!”.

The French School methodology uses a fixed do system where

syllables are always tied to specific pitches, as opposed to movable
do. This is an approachable yet powerful four prong methodology
for gaining a deep understanding of music through singing /
sightreading on pitch while solfegiating the notes, conducting time,
ear training, and music dictation. Solfege can also be used as a tool
for studying improvisation and music composition.

The combination of piano lessons and solfege classes made success

possible for so many French School alumni. Those who take piano
and solfege lessons run through a thought process when a teacher
presents a new piece during a piano lesson. That process may look
something like this:

Focus on the right hand: treble clef, two sharps in the key
signature: fa and do. Take the last sharp which is do, go up one
note, re, so the song is in re major. Many French School alumni can
sing on pitch and figure out the timing, and will solfegiate the
music in their head. Maybe it sounds like a joyous Irish dance.
They would place the right hand on the keyboard and...

4 | Solfege Teaching Guide

That doesn’t sound too good. The piano teacher would then help
students develop whatever technique is needed to handle the more
challenging passages.

The joyous Irish dance students hear in their heads might not
sound quite right when they play it. And the piano teacher would
help students develop the muscle memory to fully express the
musicality.

This is what a piano lesson should be like. Solfege teaches

foundational elements of music so that students can spend their
piano lesson time focusing on technique and musical expression.

Not all alumni developed absolute pitch, but given a starting note,
most could mentally solfegiate a new piece they wanted to learn.
What occurs mentally for solfege students is the same thing that
occurs in a piano teacher’s head. Everyone is on the same page
when the fundamentals are nailed down, and students and
teachers can focus on refinement.

In the French School archives, one recital program mentions a 2 ½

year old student giving a recital. The French School solfege method
is accessible even to the very young, and students begin creating
music from day one.

While there are multiple ways to skin a cat, this guide will explain
the French School solfege methodology, as well as fill in relevant
gaps encountered in a conservatory environment. In addition,
students taking piano lessons may want to look at my dad’s book
Fundamentals of Piano Practice (see References at the end), which
explains Mlle. Combe’s methodology for efficient piano practice.
The piano practice and solfege teaching guides provide a

Background | 5
comprehensive treatment of her entire methodology.

In closing, here is an email from Grace Nocera Boeringer (one of

French School’s earliest students, now in her 80s in 2018 and still a
performing violinist).

Dear Eileen, Judy, Wayne and all the others,  

Thank you all for reviving this marvelous tradition (Solfege) that
I grew up with many years ago.  I am so thankful for the training
I had and want you all to know how much pleasure and ease it
gave me in my career in music.  

I remember well those classes with Mlle. Combe, Mlle. Pfeiffer

and Madame Seguin. Not only were they musically very
instructive, they were FUN!! We formed a great "support" group.
 I will always remember those days.

Very Best Wishes,

Grace Nocera Boeringer

If, like Grace, you would like to find a “pleasure and ease” that will
lead to a lifelong love of music, then let us get started.

Eileen Chang Sauer (French School ’72 - ’82)

6 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Preparatory Work
Start by assembling the proper classroom setup and supplies:

• Dannhäuser solfege book 1 and piano accompaniment book

• Dictation books / pencils / lapboards

• Folding chairs

• White board / black chalkboard with lines

• Markers / chalk

• Music stands around the piano

• Music flash cards to test pitches, note durations, sharps and

flats, etc.)

Preparatory Work | 7
Dannhäuser Solfège des Solfèges

Book one contains 171 short exercises that students can sightread.
Advanced students would progress to a blue book titled Solfege
d’Artiste but this is no longer in print.

The Dannhäuser solfege exercises are fun to sightread and sing.

They are not childish, boring, or non-musical.

8 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Accompaniment Book

The piano accompaniment book contains both the vocal melody

as well as piano accompaniment.

Accompaniment Book | 9
Dictation Book

Each student will have a blank music notebook for doing

dictation. Dictation is done once a month during the last solfege
class of each month.

10 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Whiteboard / Chalkboard

This is a whiteboard with music staff on it, and magnetic buttons

to use as notes. Another useful tool is a black chalkboard with
white lines painted on it.

Whiteboard / Chalkboard | 11
Seating

Having folding chairs in a range of heights is an efficient way to

run a classroom, with shorter chairs in front and higher chairs in
back. Students find a seat that is the appropriate height for them,
so that when they are conducting solfege or doing dictation, their
solfege or dictation book sits horizontally and stable on their laps
when their feet are flat on the ground.

Place folding chairs on the right far enough away from walls or
cabinets so that students don’t hit the wall or cabinet when
conducting time. Place chairs far enough apart for students to
conduct time without hitting each other.

12 | Solfege Teaching Guide

There are benches and chairs in the back of the class for parents
who want to stay during class. For very young students, the
advantage is that parents serve as surrogates outside of the school
so that their children won’t practice something incorrectly for an
entire week.

Seating | 13
Two Pianos
French School has two pianos in one room for ear training. The
instructor plays something on the first piano and the student
replicates what is played on the second piano.

This allows everyone - students, teachers, and parents - to

immediately assess who is good at ear training, and who is hunting
and pecking trying to find the right key. This system works well,
whether or not listeners have absolute pitch.

The following addition to the above process makes ear training

even more effective. Start with the do major scale, and specify a
base note and a simple interval. If the student is advanced and has
absolute pitch or is close to having absolute pitch, have them sing
the base note and correct second note for the interval, then play
the notes on the piano. If they are not as advanced, the instructor
can optionally play the base note on the piano for reference. For
example:

Instructor: do third

Student: sings do mi, then plays do and mi on the keyboard

Instructor: do fifth

Student: sings do sol, then plays do and sol

Advantages to this addition:

• Students who want more ear training or are serious about

developing absolute pitch can practice on their own.

14 | Solfege Teaching Guide

 • Unlike straight two piano ear training, students must
actively engage in mental play to hear the notes in their
head before they can sing them.

Students may be inaccurate for several reasons:

• Their mental play for the notes is incorrect, because they

don’t have absolute pitch yet.

• Their mental play for the notes is correct, however, the

vocal musculature is untrained enough, or they are not
warmed up enough yet, that physically the wrong note
comes out. If this is the case, students can indicate this and
try again. This is also why starting with a note in a
comfortable vocal range (like middle do) is advantageous.
This is much harder if the starting base note is very high or
very low.

Two Pianos | 15
Supplies
Place 3 - 5 music stands around the piano for each group of
students to solfegiate while conducting time. Ensure younger
students use music stands closest to the accompanist so that the
accompanist can monitor if they are beating time correctly, and
emphasize the first beat if necessary.

Use markers for the white board, chalk for blackboard, pencils for
dictation, and lapboards where students can place their dictation
books on their laps and write (since we use stools instead of
desks).

Have extra solfege books in case someone forgets or loses theirs;

students can also share with other students. Since dictation is only
once a month, students leave their dictation books at the school so
they don’t get lost.

16 | Solfege Teaching Guide

This is a picture of the award cabinet. Solfege students get 3 points
if they make a clear effort to improve. They can get 1 bonus point
if they do something perfectly. Students who reached a certain
number of points can get a prize.

Supplies | 17
Structure of Classes
General structure of classes:

• Run solfege class once a week. Students may schedule an

instrument lesson around solfege so they only have to come
to the school once a week.

• Assuming four solfege classes in a month, the first three

solfege classes are “regular” classes where students solo
their solfege number for the week, sing the next number
assigned for next week with the class, and finish with ear
training. The last class at the end of each month is a music
dictation class, where students retrieve their dictation book,
lapboard, and pencil to write down music an instructor
plays.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour long depending on number of

students.

Two instructors are ideal, one to accompany and teach, and the
other to walk the floor and stage to help students conduct time,
keep track of where they are in the solfege book, and sing on pitch.
During the ear training portion, the second instructor can guide
students.

Students may play different instruments other than piano, and

some may take solfege only. For those unfamiliar with a piano
keyboard, a second instructor can orient them on middle do.
Second instructors can orient new students privately while the

18 | Solfege Teaching Guide

class continues.

Further details:

• Aggregate new students in groups of 3 - 5 so they're not

singing alone.

◦ If someone misses a week, makeup both songs next

week.

◦ For more significant absences, catch the group below.

Students often have other interests - soccer, band, school
concerts - and they sometimes rotate in and out.

• Disperse new students among more advanced students and

have advanced students watch/correct new ones, e.g. beating
time.

• Once or twice a year, give a solfege concert somewhere (at a

school, community center, church, senior center, etc).

Specific structure of solfege classes

• Consider 30 minutes for beginner classes with younger

students (five or below), 45 minutes to an hour for advanced
and adult classes.

• Have each student solo the current assignment (marked at

the end of the music with a diagonal, see image below on the
left). Once completed, cross through diagonal and mark next
assignment (image below on the right). Award points based
on how well they did.

Structure of Classes | 19
 • Discuss any new concepts in next number (e.g. introducing
whole note/rest, half note/rest, dotted notes), then have the
class sing the next number.

• If there is time, review the growing number of concepts.

• Finish with ear training.

Specific structure of dictation classes

• Students have their own dictation books.

• Teacher plays a melody.

• Students determine: what is the time signature? (How many

beats per measure? Accompanists can firmly accent the first
beat guiding students in correctly conducting the first down
beat of every measure).

• Try to figure out if it’s major or minor and what key it’s in

• How many sharps or flats?

• Once the class has established the basics, start dictation on a

new blank staff and write the clef, key signature, and time
signature. The teacher then plays one bar at a time while
students figure out the pitches and note durations. The most
efficient system is to first write down the note heads, then the

20 | Solfege Teaching Guide

 correct stems and a bar line.

• Once students have completed their work, the instructor

reviews (or has advanced students compare their work in
pairs and address discrepancies).

• Order: Treble clef, key signature (optional), time signature,

notes / measures.

• Treble clef every line, key signature every line, time signature
at the beginning (and if changed later)

Structure of Classes | 21
Student Growth (long term)
1. Learn to sing / solfegiate, conduct time, sightread.

2. Learn dictation, develop the ear (ideally, absolute pitch)

3. Learn to sing without accompaniment (accompanist adapts

to beginner / advanced students)

4. Learn how to lead the discussion for the next assignment by

asking questions like: how many beats per measure?

5. Read bass clef

6. If piano student, learn to sightread treble and bass clef

simultaneously for simple pieces

7. Add to knowledge of what the right questions are to ask:

what is the pitch of the first note? What is the duration of
the first note? Major, minor? Key signature?

8. Advanced students learn to coach less advanced

counterparts. Coach advanced students to ask the right
questions, instead of give the answers.

9. Begin learning how to compose music, and how to use

solfege to learn to compose.

10. Accompany solfege class.

11. Go through this teaching guide, teach solfege classes, and

mentor the next generation of teachers.

22 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Teacher Growth (long term)
1. Starting out: quick meeting at the end of each class to
assess / refine

2. If things go well, transition to meeting monthly, then

quarterly

3. Start with initial teachers, include advanced students-in-

training later

4. Report on new findings (technologies, apps, music-as-a-

business, social media, strategic partnerships with other art
related organizations and the community, advocates,
conservatories - e.g. Juilliard)

Learn to accompany and sing / talk simultaneously.

Learn to adapt accompaniment to students (add in melody? Have

them sing acapella?).

Years ago when I worked in technology and branched into

technical training, I took a Langevin Train the Trainer course. Two
valuable quotes that came from this:

1. Learning is creation, not consumption.

2. Be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.

Teacher Growth (long term) | 23

Solfege Process Growth
By thinking in terms of “meta” levels, and coaching advanced
students (e.g. the 11 year olds) on coaching their less advanced
counterparts (e.g. the 7 year olds) on coaching their less advanced
counterparts (e.g. the 5 year olds), the possibilities are endless and
the knowledge space expands considerably - from learning about
music, to also learning how to:

• learn,

• identify and solve problems,

• be efficient

• become a leader and influencer.

24 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Running a Demonstration
Initial Preparation

• Recruit current piano/voice students and alumni/teachers

willing to participate in a demonstration.

• Choose a popular number from the Dannhäuser solfege

book to perform (e.g 39).

• Learn the basics of singing and conducting 4/4 time

• Practice until all recruits are somewhat familiar with

solfegiating, singing on pitch, and conducting time. If
they’ve never done this, it could take a little bit of time to
acclimate.

• Create an attendance sheet for audience members to give

their name and phone number / email address, as well as
list who might be interested in taking solfege.

• Create flyers announcing the demonstration.

Assure those who are concerned about the demo, that mistakes
during the demo are OK. One of the most important things solfege
students learn is how never to stop if they stumble, but to listen for
the accompanist who may accent the downbeat so that they can
conduct the first beat (down) and continue from there. Mistakes
shouldn’t be intentional during a demo but if they happen, they are
part of the demo and this will ease recruits’ performing concerns.

Running a Demonstration | 25
Lastly, make copies of solfege exercise one on card stock, and tape
them to a board so that the audience members could each have a
copy to place on their lap after the demo.

Structure of Solfege Demonstration

1. Give an introduction and some history, and explain to the local

community the benefits of solfege.

2. Have solfege recruits come on stage, and place their solfege

books on music stands around the piano.

3. Ask the audience: who is familiar with The Sound of Music?

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of it. Many will raise their hands,
which will make the demonstration that much easier since they
already know how to solfege, they just might not realize it.

4. Sit at the piano and run through for the audience: do, a deer, a
female deer, re, a drop of golden sun… while playing each note on
the piano. At “ti, a drink with jam and bread”, explain that the
French method is to use “si, a salty drink instead…”. That’s
because historically, it was si before England introduced ti in the
19th century so that every note started with a different letter of the
alphabet.

One note about using si: most Americans are familiar with the
alphabetic notation for music - CDE instead of do re mi. Si and C
sound exactly alike, but are different notes (because si is really B in
alphabetic notation). Asking what the note is using alphabetic
notation eliminates the confusion between si and C.

5. Introduce conducting 4/4 time, which looks like a cross. Make a

fist with the right hand and hold the fist up (12 o’clock position).

26 | Solfege Teaching Guide

The first beat is down (6 o’clock position), second beat is left
(across the body at the 9 o’clock position), third beat is right (out
at the 3 o’clock position), and fourth beat is up (12 o’clock
position). Solfege demonstrators then demonstrate conducting
time. Explain this isn’t easy to do initially, and if people get lost,
simply stop beating time, find where they are in the music, note
where the other students are (the accompanist will often accent
the downbeat), and catch up with the class on the next downbeat
and continue.

6. Accompanist and demonstrators then demonstrate both exercise

one, and whatever popular number they would like to perform.

7. After the demo, distribute solfege exercise one on card stock to

the audience and have the audience learn to conduct time and sing
the exercise. They will realize how challenging learning all of these
things can be. This helps parents of prospective solfege students to
develop some perspective and compassion for what their child will
experience when starting out.

8. Remind the audience that if they haven’t added their contact

information to the attendance sheet, please do so. Once they walk
out the door, it’s impossible to contact them again.

Follow up after demonstration

Go through the attendance sheet, call / email attendees, thank

them for attending, ask if they have any questions, and if there is
interest, take further steps to enroll students into solfege.

Running a Demonstration | 27
Launching a New Class
Start solfege class at the beginning of the month, so that the first
three (or four classes) are solfege and the last class of the month is
dictation. This chapter addresses the logistics of launching a new
class, but not the specific details. Those details come in the chapter
titled Foundation - Details.

First Solfege Class

Have an attendance sheet for the first class and any time a new
student starts to capture students’ and parents’ full names, and
contact information. Pick up where the demo in the previous
chapter leaves off.

If none of the students have done solfege before, they will be

completely lost, which is normal. A brand new solfege class will be
lost for about three classes before things start to click and they
begin to catch on.

For the first class - introduce treble clef (also called the G clef),
staff (with five lines and four spaces), and the notes. Since exercise
one is a simple do major scale, think about The Sound of Music,
look at the notes and also refer to the first page of Dannhäuser
Solfège des Solfèges where the notes are written out: do re mi, etc.

Explain that the C shaped symbol they see at the beginning is used
to denote 4/4 time (also called common time) and learn/review

28 | Solfege Teaching Guide

how to conduct 4/4 time.

Students new to conducting time consistently have trouble with

the third beat. The third beat should be out to the right, at the 3
o’clock position. Newer students will often skip the third beat and
go straight up to the fourth beat and lose track of time. Or their
third beat is “lazy” and more down at the 5 o’clock position. Expect
this in the beginning, and have them correct this sooner rather
than later. That 3 o’clock position is also why folding chairs and
stands need to be spaced appropriately so students can execute a
third beat properly without hitting the person, cabinet, or wall to
their right.

For very young students:

• If the instructor is facing the class and teaching students

how to conduct time, the really young ones will raise the
wrong hand. They haven’t figured out spatial orientation
yet, so face away from the class and demonstrate that
conducting time is done with the right hand.

• Gauge their attention span. They may only be able to

handle 15 minutes of solfege initially before they sit in back
with a parent. This is also why we start with the youngest
group.

Introduce whole notes, and that they have a duration of four beats.
Introduce barlines, and that each bar has four beats, and the notes
within each bar have to add up to four beats, so now we’re also
learning math!

Note the comma symbols - those are breath marks because singers

Launching a New Class | 29

can’t keep singing without taking a breath.

Sing exercise 1 while conducting time. The accompanist plays, and

one or two assistants are walking on the floor to ensure students:

• pay attention, focus on the music, and know where they are
in the music (point if necessary using a pencil). Students
who can’t sightread well often look at the accompanist for
reassurance, instead of their music.

• beat time correctly. Assistants/accompanist will need to

correct students periodically or say “down” to indicate the
first beat

• sing and solfegiate the correct notes

For a brand new class, almost no one will sing, or they’ll sing very
quietly. It’s a foreign class, and they’re surrounded by strangers.
That won’t last for long. By the third class, even normally shy kids
will have bonded and the class will start getting noisy.

Notes for the accompanist:

Here is the accompaniment music for exercise one:

30 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Play accompaniment with the melody as whole notes and the rest
of the notes played as repeated quarter notes. Why?

• New students will struggle with singing, solfegiating, and

conducting time simultaneously. Having a constant quarter
note beat helps students keep better track of time when
learning how to conduct 4/4 time. Clearly accent the first
beat and remind students when they hear that, move their
right fist down. Call out “down!” when playing the first
beat if necessary.

• This small change, plus the slow tempo (Lento) of exercise

one, turns this exercise into a regal march. And there is no
better way to celebrate a new student’s entry into the world
of solfege, than with a regally performed exercise 1.

• To start each exercise, play the first chord so students hear

the pitch, count 1, 2, ready, go! Then play and have
students sing together. For students working to develop
absolute pitch, have them hum the starting note they will

Launching a New Class | 31

 sing first, then play the first chord. Students will then begin
conducting time and sync up.

By the third week, students will understand the structure of solfege

class. Have assistants evaluate progress, and if necessary, repeat
the first three exercises until students are more comfortable.
Laying a solid foundation in the early days is important. The
second exercise will throw them off because of the half notes, and
the fact that new students tend to have trouble with the third beat.
After the first three exercises, jump straight to 11. Exercises 4 - 10
cover the intervals, and rather than go through these, ear training
covers learning the intervals. By jumping straight to 11, students
immediately begin singing real songs.

From exercise 11 on, establish a blueprint for how to evaluate new

music by asking:

• How many beats per measure?

• (For newer students) How do we beat time?

• What is the pitch of the first note? (Do, re, mi, etc.)

• (Advanced students: hum the first note before the

accompanist plays anything)

• What is the duration of the first note? (Whole note, half

note, etc.) Beat one may start with a rest.

Progress through the exercises and award points depending on

how well students do. The point is not to perfect the exercises,
that’s what instrument lessons are for. The point of solfege, week
after week, is to introduce students to a new exercise they’ve never

32 | Solfege Teaching Guide

seen before and have them learn to quickly break it down and
sightread it. Because new students start periodically, and a class
may have several small groups assigned a different exercise - that’s
where students will get their repetition, since the entire class sings
the next number to be assigned for the next week. If students can’t
continue until they have perfected an exercise, they might tune
out, and this defeats the primary purpose of solfege - learning how
to sightread new music.

This will usually take about 30 minutes. Assuming a 45 minute

class, leave the last 15 minutes for individual students to sit at the
second piano and do ear training. Because they’re new, start with
do, re, mi. Start with middle do, so that they can orient. Students
who are not taking piano lessons will need to be shown middle do.
Have them figure out do, re, fa. Initially they’ll have a lot of
trouble. Prompt by asking did this note go up or down? Discourage
them from guessing and slamming random notes. Ask them to
listen to the note and think about it before playing the keyboard.
Accuracy is more important than speed. New students tend to have
more trouble with descending notes, as opposed to ascending, both
in terms of solfegiating notes, and ear training. There will be
further detailed discussion on ear training later.

Because one student at a time goes up to the second piano, the rest
of the class can get unruly, which is understandable. Assistants can
keep newer students engaged with questions like: “can you identify
this note”? For the more advanced students, come armed with
training games like:

Quiz

Have the advanced students brainstorm three questions to ask

Launching a New Class | 33

 the beginner students. They could go to the chalkboard, draw a
note, and ask what the note is. Or ask what the duration is, etc.

Which is False?

Advanced students come up with three statements, and

beginner students have to figure out which of the three is
invalid. Examples: a whole note has 3 beats. Draw middle do
on a chalkboard and label it re. Draw an eighth rest and say it’s
a quarter rest.

The statements could even be bars of music. Examples: a 4/4

bar with a dotted half note and half note. A 2/4 bar with a
whole note.

There is a set of sample exercises at the end of this book that can
be distributed to the class to work on while other groups are
singing or students are doing ear training. The class won’t be any
quieter, but they will be fully engaged.

After a new group has completed three or four solfege classes and
is starting to gel - pull the rug out from under their feet. The last
class of the month will be their first dictation class.

34 | Solfege Teaching Guide

First Dictation Class
Normal solfege classes are analogous to teaching someone how to
drive a car. Learning to write music is analogous to teaching
someone how to become an auto mechanic. Learning to read music
involves learning about note pitches and durations, rests, etc.

A student trying to figure out a piece of music and write it down

must be able to determine how many beats per measure, conduct
it, identify if the song starts on the first beat, figure out the pitches,
the durations, and where the barlines go. Students learn for a four
beat bar, a whole note can fit in that bar, or two half notes, or four
quarter notes, or a half note and two quarter notes, or two quarter
notes and a half note…

This hacks the brain at a very deep level in terms of understanding

music, and ties together everything students started to learn in
their regular solfege classes. When the instructor plays a bar of
music and the class has to figure out the pitches - that’s ear
training. When students have figured out the pitches and have to
conduct time to determine the duration of those notes, this
reinforces conducting time.

The first thing new students need to learn is how to draw a treble
clef.

First Dictation Class | 35

Draw this on the board and have students draw an entire line of
treble clefs. Check after they’ve done three treble clefs, make
corrections, then have them continue. Have them do a second line
if it’s necessary. For truly young students (age 5 or younger) this is
really tough.

Truly young students may be a bit discouraged initially because

everyone around them is so much bigger and knows so much
more. Maybe older students are already doing fractions in school
so some concepts are easier for them. But younger students are
getting an earlier start, and that early start is priceless.

Continuing on, new dictation students must learn to write the time
signature, and then notes, starting with middle do. Show them
how to write whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and eighth
notes. Repeat writing do a couple times, then re, up to the do one
octave up. Then write a couple lines of middle do high do, middle
do high do. Then re and high re, up to mi and high mi. Learn to
write the rests, and the difference between handwritten quarter
rests and eighth rests. This covers the first dictation class.

After the basics, they’re ready to begin to figure out and write

36 | Solfege Teaching Guide

down what an instructor plays.

Have students start each new dictation assignment on a new staff,

and place their treble clef and time signature. Subsequent lines will
need a new treble clef but not the time signature. Show them how
to end their exercise with a double bar. Other useful information to
include: initials and a date.

Joining an Existing Class

Throw them in. An infant comes into this world not knowing how
to speak, and one day, assuming their hearing works and they are
surrounded by speaking adults, they simply begin to speak. All that
is necessary is to immerse them in a speaking environment. Solfege
works the same way, because from day one students begin creating
and understanding music. They will be lost initially, but they’ll
have more advanced classmates they can watch. Intersperse new

First Dictation Class | 37

students among the older students so that the older students can
correct things like conducting time.

This is also where the assistants are vital - for very young students
they can spend the time during the first class giving a new student
private instruction on the notes and durations, etc.

Teenage / Adult Students

Set up a separate class where older students are on equal footing
age/skill-wise. Adult classes tend to be inconsistent because work
schedules may interfere. Instead of going through one exercise a
week, individual adult students will randomly choose and go
through three exercises a week, meaning the class could sing 10
different exercises or more.

In addition to sightreading training, older students generally have

trouble singing on pitch, so going through exercises forcing them
to sing acapella is helpful. Watch for the tendency to sing
descending notes with too great an interval so that at the end they
are flat.

A serious note to prospective parents with no musical background:

at minimum, consider taking solfege lessons. This will enable you
to accurately assess the effectiveness of music instructors for your
children. Even if you yourself may not become a self-sufficient
musician, giving the next generation the greatest possible chance

38 | Solfege Teaching Guide

for success with music will not only yield better musicians, studies
show this actively affects brain intelligence. The information in the
Background section detailing how the lives of French School
alumni have unfolded over these decades bears this out. Also, read
the chapter titled “Mozart Effect DIY Kit”.

Taking A Step Back

What makes this solfege methodology effective?

Unlike private instrument lessons, solfege is a class. By

externalizing everything, students have no place to hide. They
know something or they don’t, and it becomes clear to everyone
immediately - students, parents and teachers.

• Singing on pitch or off pitch?

• Labeling the notes correctly in solfege form? Is do really

do? Or did a student say do when singing re?

• Conducting time correctly? With a class it’s easy to identify

someone who is out of sync.

• Two piano ear training accurate or hunting and pecking?

While this can be intimidating initially - having no place to hide -

students often discover everyone has different strengths and areas
to work on. The student who rises to the top for each of the main
categories becomes a high water mark for which other students
aspire, pushing the entire class. Different strengths will require

First Dictation Class | 39

students to build different sets of skills to become self-sufficient
musicians:

• Those with absolute pitch will usually be able to memorize

music quickly and can perform memorized music. This may
be a challenge to developing good sightreading skills.

• Those unable to develop a good ear will need to develop

excellent sightreading skills. They will tend to perform with
music (which can serve as a safety net against memory
blanks).

The piano accompaniment provides students with a framework.

That framework is pretty solid initially, but even by exercise 14
there are sections where students will begin to sing acapella. If
students are doing well, let them sing those areas acapella. If they
are having trouble singing on-pitch, also play the melody. If
students go off pitch, repeat the melody note several times and
focus their attention on it. This helps them learn to sing on-pitch
over time.

Administrative Considerations
Reminder: Capture contact information for all students.

Consider having parents sign an agreement before classes start,

that they will pay a monthly fee for solfege due the first of the
month. The fee is paid regardless of whether students attend or
not. Set the correct expectations up front.

40 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Initially, while I accompanied the class, and alumnus Yves Sukhu
and Judy Waters assisted, Yves would email a write up every week
of each student’s strengths/weaknesses and progress. This was
incredibly helpful. Here are some of the things Yves captured in
those early classes:

• Name of each student so that we could begin calling them

by name, plus their ages

• What kind of musical experience they have (can they read

music?), what instrument do they play?

• Was the length of the class appropriate for the number of

students?

• Was the breakdown of the class appropriate, e.g. enough

time to sing the numbers and do ear training?

• Age ranges - if the range is too great, do we run two 45

minute classes back to back? One for young students, and
one for older students / adult students?

New Solfege Instructors

Ideally, solfege instructors should have absolute pitch or absolute
relative pitch and be good sight readers (given a starting pitch, a
person with absolute relative pitch becomes indistinguishable from
someone with absolute pitch. A background in music composition
will make music dictation classes that much more effective.

First Dictation Class | 41

Accompanists should be able to play and sing/teach
simultaneously. For those who have never done this, this can be
challenging. Another neat skill to learn: play the melody with your
left hand while beating time with your right hand, and singing/
solfegiating the notes.

Those who compose will learn that they can adapt the
accompaniments on-the-fly, which is useful because accompanists
can then:

• play something simpler and pay more attention to what is

going on with the class.

• incorporate the melody in case a student is having trouble

singing on key.

• make the same exercise sound different, so that students

aren’t relying on the accompaniment for cues.

Don’t let students strain their voices if the notes go too high. For
students who are inexperienced singers, or male students whose
voices are changing, tell them they can sing an octave lower if
needed, until they get back in range.

Students will stumble right and left. Never stop playing the first
time around. Learning how to barrel through mistakes is learning
how to be a professional musician. A Juilliard string quartet
sightreading compositions for the first time can run into any
number of challenges if a composer’s sheet music isn’t crystal clear.
Do they stop and say “oh, sorry!” Absolutely not. They barrel
through as best they can unless they totally, completely fall apart
or the professor stops them. If everyone said “oh, sorry!” every

42 | Solfege Teaching Guide

time they made a mistake, everyone would have to stop and
regroup. That’s valuable time wasted in a 20 minute reading where
performers sightread and play while composers record the
performance.

Conduct solfege classes in the same spirit, and only when the
exercise is complete, review any challenging areas or concepts.
Students will need to learn:

• If they stumble while singing, stop singing but keep

following along in the music and pick up

• If they stumble while conducting time, stop conducting and

wait for the next first beat

When students are standing, have them place their left hand
behind their back. That way the arm isn’t dangling or wiggling
around, and it supports better posture when standing. Don’t have
them place their left hand behind their back when they are sitting,
because they need to hold their solfege book on their laps.
Discourage students from beating time by tapping their feet. While
tapping the foot is another way of keeping time, it does not tell you
which beat, whereas conducting time does.

First Dictation Class | 43

Mozart Effect DIY Kit
Start a musical education before a child is born. A segue into our
family history will both shed light and dispel myths.

We moved to Plainfield, NJ when I was two years old, and learned

about The French School of Music when I was seven. Dad’s boss
had two daughters who were taking piano lessons at French
School.

Dad took seven years of piano lessons with a mediocre piano

teacher and struggled to reach an intermediate level, and before
we were born, sis and I listened to him practicing Beethoven
sonatas. As a graduate student at Cornell who was strapped for
cash, he taught himself to tune a piano.

We have silent family video of my playing piano as a toddler, with

a children’s songbook on the piano stand. Mom taught me what
she could. From dad’s stories, she would try to teach me to read
music, but I was too slow to respond so she would simply show me
the notes. I must have learned to play by ear for five years.

When I started piano and solfege at French School, Mlle. Combe

quickly determined I had absolute pitch. My three year old sister
sat in back of the solfege class with mom.

One day during ear training, she asked mom: “why can’t he get
those? Those are so easy!” One of the mothers sitting in front of
her turned around and looked at her in complete shock. She told
Mlle. Combe, who stopped the solfege class and asked my sister to

44 | Solfege Teaching Guide

come up.

Mlle. Combe started doing simple ear training with single notes,
and my sister got them. Then she tried a few more things, and my
sister got them. She kept trying more complicated things, and my
sister kept getting them! Practically the next week, my sister
started piano and solfege lessons. She gave her first French School
recital at age 4 1/2.

This would seem to be a mystery. Our dad was a mediocre pianist

who back then was uninformed about the French School method.
Neither of my parents had absolute pitch, so it’s not like it was
obvious there was some genetic component that we were “born”
with. I am not a molecular geneticist and the field of epigenetics
with respect to music is likely in its infancy, but the right
environment and the French School solfege method taught at an
early age could very well be strong epigenetic influences.

If dad had sat down and mangled a couple of Beethoven sonatas

for Mlle. Combe, she would have said “oh, of course, this was
inevitable.” But he never did so she never knew. Had she ever come
to our house, she would have realized our piano was tuned, and
that dad tuned the piano regularly.

Anyone who wants to give their child the greatest possible musical
head start in life must do something similar. Today, electronic
pianos don’t have to be tuned. If parents don’t play, they can listen
to classical music by Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, etc. and attend
concerts.

One last story: A woman living in our building has two sons. The
older son went to Cornell, and the younger one gravitated toward

Mozart Effect DIY Kit | 45

music. She asked: why doesn’t my first son like music but my
second son does?

In two minutes we determined her first son had no problems

falling asleep at night. The younger son could never fall asleep so
even though she’s not a musician, she started singing to him so he
would fall asleep.

What myths did this dispel?

“Geniuses” aren’t “born” - well, they kind of are, but not in the way
many might think. The foundation building blocks are created
when the child is immersed in the right conditions early. This
doesn’t happen without intent, the “affinity” is really a skill that
must be cultivated like any other skill.

The earlier you start, the better. If you want your children to have
a chance of developing absolute pitch, set them up for success by
exposing them to:

• in tune music before they are born

• only tuned instruments

Why are tuned instruments so important? Because if they are not

tuned, even those with a predisposition towards developing
absolute pitch will be the last to think they have absolute pitch. It
would be like teaching them to add, subtract, multiply and divide
in octal, then letting them loose in the real world. They will think
they are math idiots.

The best way to develop absolute pitch is to focus first on one

pitch. My Sonicare toothbrush hums at middle do. I already knew
this because I have perfect pitch, and I also validated this against

46 | Solfege Teaching Guide

an iPhone mobile app called Cleartune. Start by listening intently
to the pitch when using a toothbrush (or any other appliance that
resonates at a tuned pitch). Then, try thinking of a middle do
before turning on the toothbrush. Do this long enough and at some
point you will tune in. By practicing the intervals, you can then
tune into any other pitch. Graduate from there by regularly
practicing both do and sol, without relying on intervals. Achieve
absolute pitch with all of the notes in the do major scale first, then
add the sharps and flats later.

Mozart Effect DIY Kit | 47

Foundation - Details
Now that solfege class has launched, the rest of the chapters in this
guide will cover:

• Further details of each of the main areas of solfege, using

the French School method

• Using this foundation to learn how to improvise and

compose

• Key concepts in piano practice that dovetail with solfege

• How this foundation together with music related apps and

technology lead to infinite possibilities

• Additional topics to help solfege students prepare for a

conservatory environment

The goal is for students to develop a consistent level of competency

with respect to the fundamentals such that they are self-sufficient
enough to continue broadening and deepening their understanding
of music.

Singing / Solfegiating
In the nineteenth century, Anglophone countries like Britain
changed si to ti so that each note started with a different syllable.

48 | Solfege Teaching Guide

This makes it possible to solfege the chromatic scale with raised
pitches (sharps) by using do, di (for do sharp), re, ri, mi, fa, fi, sol,
si, la, li, ti and do. The syllables for the flats are do, ti, te, la, le, sol,
se, fa, mi, me, re, ra, do. Changing si to ti means there is no
ambiguity with the chromatic syllables for sol and si. The French
method entails singing do re mi, and re could be re, re#, or re♭
depending on the key. There are pros and cons to each system.

French method:

• Even young children can pick this up easily, there are only
seven syllables to learn.

• Instructors can clearly hear every syllable (do re mi etc.)

• Do begins with a hard percussive consonant, and so does ti.

But si is softer and more lyrical.

• There are times you may want a do♭, which is si. This

system allows you to sing do (for do♭) even though the

pitch is si.

Changing si to ti and adding chromatic syllables facilitates greater

awareness of the chromatic scale and the enharmonic equivalents.

Check the References section at the end of this guide for

downloadable handouts for drilling students in the basics.

Basic singing techniques:

• Stand straight, like a puppet being pulled up on a string at

the top of your head. This is different from the military

Foundation - Details | 49
 stance of “chin up, chest out, shoulders back, and stomach
in”

• Breathe from your stomach, not high up in your chest

which can constrict your throat

• Yawn - do you feel how the space right behind your nose
opens up? Singing should feel like this

Sightreading
Drill the notes with flash cards and the solfege book so they
become automatic. Younger students may require separate one-on-
one attention for this.

A tip for mastering intervals is associating intervals with well-

known songs:

• Minor second - Jaws

• Major second - Happy Birthday

• Minor third - Greensleeves

• Major third - When the Saints Go Marching In

• Perfect fourth - Here Comes the Bride

• Tritone - Maria

50 | Solfege Teaching Guide

 • Perfect fifth - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

• Minor sixth - The Entertainer

• Major sixth - My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

• Minor seventh - Somewhere

• Major seventh - Take On Me

• Octave - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

At the end of solfege exercise 23, introduce the sharps and flats
(using the French method, this is a lyrical jingle):

• Sharps: fa do sol re la mi si

• Flats: si mi la re sol do fa

Break the sequence up like a phone number so it is easier to learn

and remember:

fa do sol - re la mi si

si mi la - re sol do fa

This jingle makes figuring out key signatures easy.

For major scales with sharp key signatures, take the last sharp and
go up one note. Three sharps? fa do sol. Take sol, go up one note,
the key is la major.

la si do# re mi fa# sol# la

For major scales with flat key signatures, go back one flat. Two

Foundation - Details | 51
flats? si mi. The key is si♭ major.

si♭ do re mi♭ fa sol la si♭

Practice engaging in musical mental play to hear these scales on

pitch without a keyboard and without singing.

At exercise 67, introduce bass clef (exercise 147). Do a few

exercises in bass clef, return to treble, and alternate back and forth.
Tell students to take the note in treble clef and go up two notes,
until reading bass clef becomes second nature.

Tips and tricks for more effective sightreading:

• Before the accompanist starts playing, look at the music -

how many beats per measure? What is the key signature?
Which notes will be sharp/flat? What are the first few
pitches? What types of notes are they (e.g. quarter rest
followed by quarter note, dotted quarter and eighth…)
Mentally play this in your head.

• Once the accompanist starts playing, continue looking

ahead. Looking ahead increases the chance of figuring out
the music before you actually have to sing it. During page
turns, those who look ahead already know what to sing and
can turn the page and read what comes next, without
stopping.

Cleartune App

Search online for the Cleartune mobile app, which is only available
on the App Store for iOS devices (Apple). This can be a useful tool

52 | Solfege Teaching Guide

for practicing solfege. After installing the app, click on the
information button in the lower right corner. This displays the
Settings, like Calibration, Temperament, etc. Tap the Notation
setting, and select Fixed Do Solfege (choose sharp or flat
depending on preference). Return to Settings, then tap Done to
return to the main screen, which will now display a wheel with the
solfege notes. Take one of the solfege numbers, and sing the
solfege notes slowly and clearly. The Cleartune app will swivel with
each note, showing the solfege note. This will allow students to
validate two things: the pitch, and that they are solfegiating the
correct syllable. This is a sensitive app, so if you breathe the wheel
will spin to the pitch it detects. Also, it’s accuracy has fluctuated at
times depending on changes to the iOS mobile operating system.

2-Hand Tapping

Once students can sight-sing a melody, how can they practice

sightreading multiple lines of music simultaneously and
coordinating different rhythms using two hands, the way a pianist
would? Search for William Wieland’s website and 2-Hand Tapping.
He has webpages with rhythms for right and left hand that start
with quarter notes and quarter rests that become progressively
more advanced.

The Absolute Pitch Loophole

Those who have absolute pitch and memorize music quickly by ear
may have trouble practicing sightreading. They will memorize all
of the solfege exercises as soon as they hear them. For more
advanced students practicing piano sightreading, go through a
book of Mozart sonatinas quickly. Short simpler exercises from Le
Carpentier (now out of print), Le Couppey, Burgmuller, and Czerny

Foundation - Details | 53
are good for sightreading practice.

Where students are advanced both in solfege and piano, tap them
as solfege accompanists for more sightreading training.

Instructors and advanced students who compose can compose

solfege exercises for the entire class to sightread cold.

Conducting Time
Students make a fist with their right hand. If they’re standing, the
left hand goes behind their back, otherwise if they’re sitting, the
left hand holds their solfege book while they beat time with their
right hand.

Beating time:

• 4 beats per measure: shape is a cross, down, left across the

body, out to the right, and up

• 3 beats looks like a triangle: down, out to the right (3

o’clock), and up

• 2 beats looks like a straight line: down, then up

• C with line through is cut-time, also four beats but two

down, then two up

• 6 beats: three down, then three up

• 5 beats looks like a triangle with 3 beats, followed by 2

54 | Solfege Teaching Guide

 beats down and up

When students understand how to beat time for the current

assignment, mention the bottom number in a time signature.

• C means 4/4 - four beats per measure, where a quarter

note gets one beat. This is also known as common time.

• 3/4 - three beats per measure, a quarter note gets one beat.

• 3/8 - three beats per measure, an eighth note gets one beat
(exercise 71 in Dannhäuser).

For Dannhäuser Book 1, the time signatures are mostly basic. 6/8
isn’t introduced until almost the end.

Download the handouts mentioned in the References section as

teaching aids.

Triplets are introduced in exercise 76. Ask students:

• Why do you need 3 for the triplet?

• What is the difference between a triplet and three eighth

notes?

Because conducting 4/4 time shows the quarter note beats but not
eighth note beats, teach students how to count those out loud at
first, then in their head:

• Eighth notes: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

• Triplets: 1 and and 2 and and 3 and and 4 and and

Foundation - Details | 55
 • Sixteenth notes: 1 and and and 2 and and and 3 and and
and 4 and and and

Also note that they have the same number of beats per measure,
whether they are counted

1234

or 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

For advanced students, cover the triplet / duplet pattern by having

students tap out a triplet several times with their right hand, then a
duplet several times with their left hand.

Teaching aids while tapping this pattern out include “hot cup of
tea” or “together, right left right” (or left right left).

The triplet / duplet pattern is fascinating because it alternates

between both hands being on the beat, and then alternating (right
left right or left right left). If it were always off the beat, it would
be chaos. And if it were always on the beat it would be completely
stable. But because the pattern alternates between on the beat and
off the beat, it feels as if it waddles like a penguin.

Debussy’s first Arabesque is a good triplet / duplet demonstration

to show how the pattern works in music (play this slow first, then
faster).

56 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Ear Training
This is how two piano ear training progresses over time. Keep in
mind this will be harder for students who don’t take piano lessons.

Single notes, always start with middle do.

For all new students doing ear training for the first time, determine
if they can discern between pitches going up versus going down.
Start off sequentially (do, re, mi, re, mi, fa, sol).

Then jump an occasional note to see if students can discern

between different simple intervals: do, re, fa, mi, sol, la, sol, mi,
re…

Short sequences

If they are proficient with single notes, progress to short sequences.

Don’t jump more than one note initially, and progress as they
develop competence.

Do re mi. Re mi fa. Mi do re. Etc.

Intervals

Test their ability to recognize intervals as two note chords (use

both chords and then a sequence of notes if they are having trouble
hearing the chords). The class can also try to guess the interval for
the sequence and/or chord. Start with do major scale and intervals
using white keys only.

Initially, stay with middle do as the bottom note, until they

recognize those intervals. Keep in mind, students who play

Ear Training | 57
instruments that generate a single note (clarinet, saxophone) may
have more trouble discerning chords during ear training. They
should still learn to recognize intervals, however.

Start testing for absolute pitch

Determine if students can identify a note that is not automatically

middle do. It could be re or mi. If they consistently say do, re, and
mi correctly, branch to fa and sol, etc.

Sing base note and interval

Give students a base note and an interval in the do major scale.

The instructor can optionally play the bottom note, and have them
sing the two notes before playing the notes on the piano keyboard.
Example:

Instructor: do sixth

Student: sings do la, then plays the notes

Top or bottom?

Continue testing intervals in the do major scale but now crawling

up and down the keyboard. Start with middle do and sol.

Then change only one note at a time - it could be the top or the
bottom note. Prompt the students with: “top or bottom?” and have
them figure out two things:

A. Did the top or bottom note change?

B. How did that note change? Did it go up or down on the

58 | Solfege Teaching Guide

 keyboard?

Even for more advanced students, they’ll initially determine that

the top or or bottom note changed, but they’ll have trouble figuring
out if that note went up or down. Here is an example sequence of
chords (remember to play the notes separately if students are
having trouble figuring out what is going on):

Do sol, do la, re la, re sol, mi sol, mi si, mi do, mi re…

Continue testing with a combination of two piano ear training, plus

having students sing intervals. Each method teaches something
different. Two piano ear training tests students’ ability to hear
chords - multiple notes that sound simultaneously. Having students
sing a base note with two, three, and four note sequences tests
their ability to engage in mental play and know what pitches they
intend to produce, without relying on the piano.

Familiar songs

There are any number of children’s songs which are ideal and fun
for ear training, by playing a small phrase at a time:

• Alphabet song

• Itsy Bitsy Spider

• Old MacDonald Had a Farm

• Take Me Out to the Ballgame

• London Bridge

Ear Training | 59
 • Mary Had a Little Lamb

• Yankee Doodle

• You Are My Sunshine

• This Old Man

• Ten In A Bed

• Twinkle Twinkle

• Happy Birthday

• Rock-a-Bye Baby

• On Top of Spaghetti

• Three Blind Mice

• Frere Jacques (canon)

• How Much is that Doggy in the Window?

• She'll be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes

• The Surprise

Chromatic scale

Once students become advanced enough in these basics, add in

first do sharp and re sharp until students become proficient. Then
add the rest of the sharps. Revisit some of the above exercises like
top or bottom, adding in chromatic notes. Continue to do both two
piano training as well as having them sing the notes before playing

60 | Solfege Teaching Guide

them on a keyboard. Refine their understanding of intervals -
instead of simple intervals in do major, now introduce major /
minor, augmented / diminished, tritone, etc.

Transposing

Review the sharps and flats regularly, then see if they can figure
out each scale.

Take each phrase of some of the popular songs above, and keep
switching keys.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas:

do fa - fa sol fa mi re, re

mi la - la si la sol fa#, re

si mi - mi fa mi re do, la

mi♭ mi♭ fa, si♭, sol, la♭…

Extra credit: what key was each phrase in?

Interesting Rhythms

Play with the seventh chord and add interesting rhythms:

One and two And three and Four and Five and have them play
variations like:

do mi sol si (for the first bar, using the rhythm above)

do mi sol la (for the second bar, back to…)

Ear Training | 61
 do mi sol si (for the third bar)

do mi♭ sol si

And repeat the pattern. Then go up to re fa la do, using the same

rhythm, and from there have students begin improvising their own
variations. If a friend plays the saxophone, they can now improvise
an accompaniment for the saxophonist and have an informal jam
session.

At this point some students are advanced enough to add in trills or

grace notes. As students progress, lengthen the segments used for
ear training.

R2D2

Students should be fairly proficient with three and four note

chords before teachers can go R2D2 on them jumping around on
the keyboard with completely atonal sequences and dissonant
chords.

Some Considerations

In the early 20th century the US standardized A, or la, at 440 Hz,

when previous tunings included 432 and 435 Hz. Given today’s
technology, it’s easy for people to chose their own tuning. Different
genres like house and techno often slide notes, or flatten the bass
while simultaneously sharpening the melody. These are cool
effects, and, this can impact a student’s ability to develop and
maintain absolute pitch.

While ear training will help students develop the best ear that they
can have, not everyone will develop absolute pitch (roughly half of

62 | Solfege Teaching Guide

our solfege class in the 70s either had absolute pitch or were no
more than half step off in either direction). The end goal is to be
able to write down something composed in your head. If what you
composed was really in the key of fa, and it was notated in the key
of mi, simply transpose the entire thing later.

What is really important is to develop accuracy with the intervals.

If there is a sequence of notes going up and the middle note is a do
and that same note occurs on the way down, it should still be a do,
the ear shouldn’t shift in the middle such that the listener now
thinks it’s a do# or re, because this makes it more difficult if not
impossible to capture sheet music accurately.

Solfegiating the notes correctly in fixed do doesn’t just mean

sightreading the notes correctly, but when doing mental play, no
slippage occurs either up or down when running through a
particular song, in the way the general public has trouble with the
Happy Birthday song:

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birth —

This is an octave jump, and most people aren’t accurate for one of
two reasons:

1. the starting pitch was too high and most people can’t
physically sing the higher note

2. they can’t accurately gauge an octave interval

The bottom line is that once they’ve made that incorrect jump,

Ear Training | 63
they’re in a completely different key, and because there is generally
a group of people singing, everybody is in a completely different
key.

If students have had considerable ear training, and still absolute

pitch in a fixed do system is not possible or accurate, at least have
absolute relative pitch down cold.

Synesthesia

Those who have synesthesia experience cross-wired senses. For

example, hearing the note re or something raspy may be
accompanied by the color blue. Check the section titled
Synesthesia for an interview with my brother-in-law who has
synesthesia.

Proprioception

Proprioception may provide yet another source of information

when developing or maintaining absolute pitch, e.g. when singing.
As a first soprano, when I sing the second sol higher than middle
do, this is the first note where I am forced to open my sinuses and
sing from higher up in my head as opposed to down in my throat.

The downside of relying on proprioception as a singer gauging the

feel of vocal chords occurs if you have surgery, e.g. to remove a
thyroid lobe or goiter. In my case, had I not had absolute pitch just
from an audio-centric standpoint, a reliance on proprioception
would have thrown my skills out the window. When doing ear
training, consider using proprioception as an additional
information vector, and a temporary stepping stone to attaining
true absolute pitch.

64 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Music Dictation
At the start of class, students will need to retrieve their dictation
book, as well as a lapboard and pencil. Make sure there are plenty
of erasers.

The instructor can compose something on the spot for dictation

based on what the class needs. Other ideas for dictation:

• Use a familiar song like Twinkle Twinkle (students have fun

figuring out familiar tunes)

• Take solfege exercises in bass clef, and have students

transpose to treble clef or vice versa

Have students transpose a familiar song like Twinkle Twinkle in

several different keys.

Starting a Dictation Session

• Play a song, accenting the first beat of each measure.

• Have students conduct time and figure out how many beats
per measure.

For beginner students, pick / compose songs that:

• Start on the first beat

• Are in do major

• Use whole notes down to eighth notes, including dotted

quarter notes

Music Dictation | 65
Work bar by bar. Play the notes for each bar and have students
solfege the notes using their ear training. Have them put the note
heads down on paper with the correct pitches.

Then have them conduct time to figure out the timing of each bar,
and add the correct type of note. Use pencils so that they can erase
and change noteheads (e.g. from quarter to half when they beat
time and realize the duration is a half note).

Explain the importance of knowing the time signature and how

many beats go into a bar. Have students work out some different
options that could work for a 4/4 bar:

• 1 whole note (or 1 whole rest)

• 2 half notes (or 1 half note, 1 half rest, etc.)

• 1 half note, 2 quarter notes

• Dotted half note, quarter note

• 4 quarter notes

• Etc.

When students cover the sharps and flats, have them write them in
their dictation book:

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Questions in the form of brain teasers can be fun:

• Can a whole note fit into a 3/4 bar? If not, what can fit into
a 3/4 bar?

• Here is a 4/4 bar with a half note. What kinds of notes or

rests can you use to complete this bar?

For more advanced sessions:

• Introduce pickup bars and have students try to figure out

on which beat the music starts. A pickup bar includes the
notes that are played, not the rests in front.

• Choose different keys and have students determine what

key the music is in, whether it’s major or minor, and what
the key signature is

• Add sixteenth notes, triplets, and dotted eighth / sixteenth

combinations

• Compose a shorter section of music, and have students

come up with lyrics and learn to notate lyrics in music

Considerations

While many people use music notation software like Sibelius and
Finale (or even free software like MuseScore), music dictation
classes must always start with learning to write music by hand.

When students are well-versed in handwritten music dictation,

introduce them to free music notation software like MuseScore.
This could be a stepping stone to Sibelius or Finale later if they

Music Dictation | 67
become serious composers.

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Improving Solfege Skills
Having established how solfege works, what skills do students
need to continue improving their solfege skills? The answer is to
draw on French School piano practice techniques and adapt them
to the solfege world.

This is just a cursory treatment of these methods. For more

information, check my dad’s book Fundamentals of Piano Practice.

Continuity Rule
While the goal of solfege is to learn to approach a new piece of
music and systematically break it down, these skills don’t become
automatic without practice. Efficient piano practice when learning
difficult pieces involves breaking music into short segments, and
using a technique called the continuity rule. Practice one bar of
music plus the next note with one hand, repeatedly, until the
segment can be played multiple times in a row proficiently. Then
move to the next bar plus the next note and repeat the process
until comfortable. Return to the first bar plus the next note (which
you have likely forgotten). Practice again to regain proficiency, and
repeat until each bar plus the next note can be played. Then string
them together - practice two bars plus the next note. Work on the
third bar, then string together the second and third bars, review
first and second, then string together first, second and third bars

Improving Solfege Skills | 69

plus the next note.

The continuity rule ensures that practice overlaps the music in a

comprehensive way so that students can eventually play a
complicated passage without stopping. Challenging passages
require the same targeted focus - one bar at a time plus the next
note, and stringing those bars into larger segments, until those
areas can be played proficiently. If the passage is so challenging
students can only handle half a bar, practice half a bar plus the
next note.

This efficient method can be applied to solfege as well. For

example, here is a tongue twister that is challenging to sing
quickly:

fa la re fa mi sol do mi fa re do si do mi do

Break this down in a similar manner starting slowly: fa la re fa mi,

and repeat this until we’re comfortable.

Then mi sol do mi fa (note the repeated last note from the first
pattern). Now string them together. Then try speeding this up,
breaking down any problem areas.

This is a great way to identify problem areas and common patterns

and practice them. When encountering another new piece of music
with similar types of patterns, the brain is liable to break them
down during a sightreading session much more quickly.

While it may seem that doing this form of practice will take a lot of
time, either for piano practice or for solfege, targeted practice in
this manner will yield greater results far more quickly than singing
or playing the entire piece over and over again from beginning to

70 | Solfege Teaching Guide

end. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect,
meaning practicing using an effective method.

Got It, Forgot It

By breaking down music into segments, and oscillating between
practicing different segments, students discover what they grasp
and don’t grasp quickly. Forgetting and relearning challenging
material repeatedly becomes easier over time, and reinforces both
the material and the brain’s ability to learn and relearn more
quickly. Over time, learning becomes jogging the memory.

This also means practicing solidly for an hour is usually less

effective than multiple 15 - 30 minute sessions. From the brain’s
perspective, having a chance to forget and relearn multiple times is
equivalent to having multiple practice sessions, as opposed to a
single practice session. This gives the subconscious time to mull
over what occurred, and students will be surprised that what was
difficult or impossible to practice in a previous session may be
easier in a later session, even within the same day.

Tackle the Hardest First

When evaluating a new piece of music for the first time, break
down the basics to immediately process how the piece starts, then
rapidly scan the rest of the piece for challenging areas. At Juilliard,

Improving Solfege Skills | 71

performers may have a few minutes to try out challenging areas,
before doing a first official read. This is taking the concept of
reading ahead a little further.

Mental Play
Mental play means running through music in your head, without
using an instrument or your voice. Other people may also visualize
the sheet music in front of them.

Not only is this useful, for example, in a subway system where no

one will realize you are practicing solfege or a song you would like
to sing, this is an essential skill to develop. Together with absolute
pitch and sightreading skills, those adept at mental play know how
a new piece of music will sound, and can immediately focus on
challenging areas, even shaping the musicality, without singing a
single note or touching a keyboard.

Anyone who is a vocalist must become adept at mental play.

Pianists can simply plunk a piano key without thinking about the
note or having absolute pitch. Violinists need to do a little more
work, because they will need to play a tuned note proficiently, and
tune their playing with respect to the ensemble or orchestra.
Vocalists, on the other hand, must generate their music 100%,
without aid from any instrument. This requires that they know
what note they will sing before they sing it.

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Adding to the Foundation
Students who master the foundational aspects of the French School
solfege methodology will have all of the tools needed to study any
music-related subject and any musical genre - as a performer or
composer. And, solfege training as outlined in this book gives
students the ability to discern which courses, books, instructors,
and conservatories are effective.

Here are some additional topics to help bridge the transition from
foundation to higher learning opportunities.

Church Modes
These are also called Gregorian modes:

Dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, and ionian.

While much of western music uses familiar major or minor scales,

the other scales sound different. A dorian (D or re) scale is created
by starting with re and playing all of the white keys up to re. A
phrygian (E or mi) scale is created by starting with mi and playing
all of the white keys up to mi.

You can transpose them. First evaluate a basic mode, e.g. dorian
starting with re, and determine where the whole steps (w) and half
steps (h) are between each of the notes.

Adding to the Foundation | 73

 re mi fa sol la si do re

whwwwhw

To create a dorian scale starting with fa, replicate the pattern of

whole and half steps for dorian, but starting with fa instead of re.

whwwwhw

fa sol la♭ si♭ do re mi♭ fa

Even though these scales may be different, the accidentals still

follow the rules:

fa do sol re la mi si

si mi la re sol do fa

Notice in F dorian the flats are still si♭ mi♭ la♭

Music that sounds Celtic tends to be in dorian, and music that

sounds pastoral could very well be lydian.

Meter Lesson
Understanding straight time vs. compound time can be a challenge.
French School alumnus Robert Taub once hosted a Juilliard
doctoral forum about Beethoven’s composition sketchbooks, noting
even Beethoven sometimes started a sketch with straight time and
later switched to compound time, or vice versa.

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For time signatures, e.g. 4/4 or 6/8, the top number indicates the
number of beats per measure (using these examples, 4 or 6), and
the bottom number refers to the type of note that has one beat
(here, a quarter note or eighth note).

For straight time, the top number could be 2, 4, 5, 7 and the

bottom number will be 4. Metronome markings for straight time
will be quarter note = tempo (half note or different duration if the
tempo ends up being too slow or fast). General rule of thumb:
tempos range between 50 and 200. Anything slower than 50 is
slower than a human heartbeat, making this difficult to track
accurately.

The important elements to consider for both straight and

compound time are: beat, division (primary breakdown), and
subdivision.

For straight time:

Beat: quarter note

Division: 2, so eighth notes

Subdivision: 2, so sixteenth notes

For compound time, the top number could be 6, 9, 12, 15 - some

division of 3.

Beat: dotted quarter note

Adding to the Foundation | 75

 Division: 3, so 3 eighth notes

Subdivision: 2, so (2 16th, 2 16th, 2 16th)

When do you use straight time vs. compound time? Music that is in
3/4 time could also be written in 6/8 time. Here are some
guidelines:

1. If a new composition in straight time has a lot of triplets, this is

an indication to convert to compound time - e.g. 12/8. 3/4 may
become 9/8.

This is also part of a larger principle - the principle of least ink

used. This tends to clean up sheet music, which is helpful to
performers. Carillon Fantasies, a Juilliard exercise, is a good
example of switching from straight to compound time (otherwise
beyond the double bars, a lot of triplets would pop up). In this
case, the tempo did change, but you can see the transition from
quarter note = tempo to dotted quarter note = tempo.

76 | Solfege Teaching Guide

2. To switch between straight time and compound time signatures
where the tempo remains the same, notate the change from
compound to straight time using dotted quarter = quarter note or
vice versa.

3. A musical work can be written in 4/4 or 8/8 depending on what

the music does. Use 4/4 straight time if the feel of the beat is 1 and
2 and 3 and 4 and. Use 8/8 if the feel is more 123 123 12 (or 123
456 78 123 456 78).

5/4 and 10/8 work in a similar way. If the beat is 1 and 2 and 3
and 4 and 5 and, use 5/4. If the beat feels more like 123 123 1234,
use 10/8.

One last brainteaser. What is 6/4? Is this straight or compound

time?

Answer: This is still compound time because the top number is

divisible by 3. However, because the denominator is 4 instead of 8,
the beat is now a dotted half note, as opposed to a dotted quarter

Adding to the Foundation | 77

note. Added exercise: determine how the division and subdivision
would break down for 6/4.

Beaming Notes
Always show the beat (at minimum, the first and third beats for a
4/4 bar, or the midpoint of each bar). This makes the music easier
for performers to read, whether they are pianists or
instrumentalists in an orchestra.

This is especially true when using professional music notation

software like Sibelius, while composing works in unusual time
signatures like 5/4. These tools don’t always beam the notes
correctly. You can also beam over rests, like in another part of
Carillon Fantasies below. For pianists, this makes it easier to see
how the left and right hands coordinate. For orchestras, this allows
the conductor to easily see how the different instruments will work
together.

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Lead Sheets
Lead sheets are different from Western classical music notation in
that they specify only the essential elements of a song. They can
contain a melody line, lyrics, and chord symbols. Fake books
contain a collection of lead sheets.

Having a classical piano background, I thought lead sheets were a

watered down system of musical notation so that non-musicians
who couldn’t read sheet music well could still learn to play popular
tunes. Boy was I wrong.

Famous classical music not only has everything notated by the

composer in terms of all of the notes and dynamics, it has a history
of performances that lead to standardized expectations for how the
music should be performed.

When only the essence that defines a song is specified, this leaves

Adding to the Foundation | 79

performers with many different options. Do we:

• use chords? Broken chords?

• use a sequence of notes? A different sequence of those

notes?

• syncopate the rhythms?

• play the song in this key, or transpose it?

In other words, lead sheets are a great way to study music theory,
improvisation on the fly, and arranging music. Specifying the
essence of a popular tune means the music will still be
recognizable by the audience, and yet the performer can make
each rendition uniquely their own interpretation.

Lead sheets are prevalent among instrumentalists, vocalists, and in

some genres of music like jazz.

ABRSM
ABRSM stands for the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music.
This is an organization that has a national certification system to
gauge where music students are in their progress. They can test
proficiency in instruments, music theory, singing, jazz, etc. This
started in England in the 1890s and is now available in 93
countries.

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Using Solfege as a Tool
Once solfege students master the fundamentals to a point where
nothing stops them, the possibilities become endless. They can
learn an instrument, study music theory, and use solfege as a tool
to learn about improvisation and composition. Granted, people
have different strengths and weaknesses, and as an example, those
who have a good ear may find themselves relying on that a lot and
slowly and painstakingly writing down the sheet music for their
latest composition. That’s fine, as long as all of the fundamentals
together give them enough information to bring their sheet music
to an audition at a music conservatory.

What will often happen at that audition is that the interviewers

may say things like: why did you write this in 5/4? This should be
10/8. Or yes, this is 6/4 but the notes in this bar are beamed
incorrectly, and you’ve used the incorrect enharmonic equivalent
here.

That’s perfectly fine, as long as students have the basic ability to

write sheet music that accurately reflects what is going on in their
heads. Because then and only then can they begin to embark on a
useful discussion with professors who can see exactly where they
are, and help them.

Those who master solfege can sing in a choir, and be paid by a

choir to help others who can’t sightread as well but can pick things
up by ear and memorize. They can arrange music for a quartet or
band.

Using Solfege as a Tool | 81

So how can solfege be used as a tool?

First, learn the fundamentals of how music works. The solfege

methodology enables this.

Learn an instrument, and if that instrument is not piano, at least

develop basic keyboard competency with the piano. Instrument
ability will usually dictate the level to which a composer can
aspire.

Read The Study of Counterpoint from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus

ad Parnassum, first published in 1725 and translated into English
by Alfred Mann in 1965. I did things the hard way, meaning I
simply went by what "sounded good" and what didn't. That's
awfully vague and it took me decades to get to where I am today.
Fux's work was studied by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt,
etc. He begins with what intervals are consonant versus dissonant,
and describes how music moves. With a few starting rules
(analogous to training wheels on a bike), you won't be able to help
yourself, you will begin composing and experimenting. Long before
we knew about using the S.M.A.R.T. acronym (Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) to fashion
measurable, actionable goals, Fux did exactly that with Gradus ad
Parnassum. I can validate this statement because I created an
exercise explaining these starting definitions and rules, and the
response from my solfege students was jumping up and down and
screeching because they immediately got it. By week two they were
composing.

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Improvisation
Introducing a young solfege student to improvisation on the piano
can be fairly simple. Improvisation is first and foremost about
learning patterns.

1. Start with the Twinkle Twinkle melody only. Then add a left
hand accompaniment using three note chords like (do mi
sol) and (do fa la).

2. Show how some chords in the end of Twinkle Twinkle seem

related - (si fa sol) (sol si fa) (sol re fa) - like cousins or
siblings. And they can be substituted in to give the song
more variability or make it slightly different each time you
play. Students can learn about concepts like inversion in a
more advanced solfege class or music theory class.

3. Transition to repeated broken chord patterns: (do mi) sol

or do (mi sol)

4. Then the do sol mi sol pattern.

5. Then the do mi sol mi do pattern.

6. Switch from 4/4 to 3/4 time and turn it into a waltz,

adding little ornaments to the melody.

7. Here’s the “I dropped my ice cream cone” pattern. Make it

minor, sounding a little sad.

8. Transition back to a happy French-style march since I

bought myself another ice cream cone.

Using Solfege as a Tool | 83

 9. Get serious and throw in a little Bach-like left hand
wandering around.

10. Add little Mozart ornaments ending with a typical Mozart

flourish and little trills (granted, Mozart actually did a set
of variations for Twinkle Twinkle).

Now, start with the Happy Birthday melody, and guess what?

Three note chords. Broken chords. Do sol mi sol pattern, etc up to

Mozart.

Basic improvisation involves applying patterns to different

melodies. In addition, performers need to develop the muscle
memory to transition to different key signatures and transpose
these different songs and patterns.

On the jazz side, there are patterns like Boogie Woogie, blues,
Joplin ragtime, and standards like Ain’t Misbehavin’, Georgia On
My Mind, etc.

From there, keep building a database of patterns - both classical

and jazz - in increasing complexity. Cross over patterns, as an
example, starting with serious Bach and blending into a warm and
rich jazz landing.

This is the additional fifth prong to solfege, and ideally every

student should be able to riff Twinkle Twinkle at least 20 different
ways, whether they are studying classical, jazz, or both. This is the
core foundation that leads to being able to play at a piano bar for a
few hours in the evening, entertaining friends, family and
customers, taking ad-hoc requests for favorite songs and riffing on
them. How might Beethoven do Itsy Bitsy Spider? What would

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Debussy have done with the “A” Train?

Beginning improvisers can improvise up to a certain level of

complexity and then they start to stumble or go a lot slower. This is
because being a really good improvisor entails knowing all of the
scales, arpeggios and finger exercises down cold in different keys.
This requires a lot of drilling, to be able to improvise at full speed
on the fly and transition from one key to another. While endless
mindless hours of Hanon exercises are not a productive use of
piano practice time, those who want to learn to improvise will
need targeted, mindful practice to build a solid database of
patterns that they can play in all keys, and can transition easily
from one key to another because it is imbued in their muscle
memory.

The key to understanding “improv” is that it’s “practiced improv”,

based on building a core set of fundamentals. Having said that,
what is detailed in my dad’s piano practice book, and this solfege
guide, can all work together to facilitate building this core
database of patterns.

Composition
What is your relationship to music? Are you a listener? Performer?
Composer?

Listeners can appreciate many things about music and develop

preferences, even if they are not performers or composers.

Performers can appreciate music as listeners, can also appreciate

Using Solfege as a Tool | 85

that something is easy or difficult to play, and can appreciate all of
the intricacies associated with learning the music from the
perspectives of technique and musicality.

For those who embark on a journey to become composers, famous

composers now become teachers. Are you trying to write a violin
solo for a composition class when you’ve never played the violin?
You might begin to ask:

What is the range of a violin?

What kinds of things can a violin play? Can it do arpeggios, can it

handle large leaps?

A listener might appreciate a Beethoven violin concerto. A violinist

understands the intricacies involved with performing that
Beethoven concerto. The composer writing a violin solo for the first
time, having never played the violin, might hear Beethoven
laughing gleefully.

“Finally! You begin to ask the right questions. Range, you ask?
How about this?

What kinds of patterns can the solo violinist play? How about
that?”

And so on. Being a listener, performer, and composer is the best

way to develop a mindset for asking questions others might not
normally ask, and gain a deep understanding of music from the
greatest composers.

What kinds of techniques facilitate learning to compose?

One TED talk with Jennifer Lin and Goldie Hawn shows Goldie

86 | Solfege Teaching Guide

randomly choosing notes and Jennifer improvising something on
the fly. Try doing the same thing, even daily, to improve composing
skills. Study different styles, randomly pick notes, and try to
compose in that style. Progress by:

• trying varying time signatures.

• trying chords, sequences of notes.

• trying to pick just white notes randomly.

• later adding the entire chromatic scale.

Solfegiating Improvisations to Music

Start singing with the radio using solfege skills. Start with
solfegiating the melody, then harmonizing and solfegiating in
thirds. Huge leap: try harmonizing something completely different
without ever singing the same note as the melody. Expect to sound
like a train wreck for an entire month, but doing this on a regular
basis will improve the ability to improvise on the fly.

Last: try harmonizing to music you've never heard. This is possible

(musicians, especially jazz musicians, will often come together and
create informal jam sessions) because those who practice long
enough begin to understand the general structure of music and
realize it's like crossing a river. If you try to cross the entire river
you won't get there, but if you realize there are three possible
options (stepping stones) in front of you, then you can hop on one
of them and continue hopping down the trail until you realize
there are three more options. Choose one, and continue until you
have to make another choice. Eventually you get to the other

Using Solfege as a Tool | 87

side. 

If you're not sure where the music is going, add a rest instead of a
note for the first beat. As soon as you hear the first note or chord,
you immediately know where the music is heading (your choices
are visible again) and you can choose your stepping stone and
continue hopping from stone to stone.

If you guess wrong, going off kilter is perfectly fine if it resolves

later in that bar, or further down the line once you grasp where the
music is really going.

Back to the flash card system of randomly choosing notes, I use

this in two ways: to spark ideas for a composition, or to jog myself
out of a creative block. I generally need at most three flash card
draws to break out of a creative block. This is how effective the
flash card technique can be.

More deliberate composing sessions:

• When starting out, you won’t have good control. Explore

different chords, sequences, chord progressions.

• You usually have no coherence and will jump from one

thing to another. Melodies will be short and wander
initially.

While earlier works may be less refined, sometimes they're a much

more honest window into a composer's psyche, because
inexperienced composers lack the control to both compose and
filter/polish their work simultaneously. Later it gets easier and
more polished, but maybe also more mainstream. This is both good

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and bad.

The goal is to experiment and begin building your own database of

patterns, of harmonies, progressions, and transitions that you like
that make sense, things that you can begin to string together. As
time passes, work to make those patterns longer and less
repetitive.

Random Tips and Tricks

Don’t end a day of composing by sticking a temporary bandaid on

a composition. It’s difficult to unthink a bandaid ending. Leave it as
ambiguous as possible, maybe it's an up or down sequence that can
lead to many different options. Then sleep on it, or take a long
walk and it will usually resolve itself. One theory is that ear worms
occur if we hear part of something, and it will continue to loop and
jangle in our brain until we mentally play the ending. If this is true,
this explains a lot. If you’re composing and stop in the middle, this
is probably like creating an ear worm for your subconscious to
work on.

Stencil composing: Instead of repeating the same pattern of notes

over and over again, pretend you drew that pattern of notes using
a stencil, take that stencil and move it up a fifth, down a third, etc.

Music progresses from start to finish and people may assume that's
how it's composed, but many times composers may want to go
back to the beginning or to some expansion of what was played at
the beginning, or maybe they wrote the ending first. Learning to
compose something that joins up with the original melody or some
future melody is a good thing to practice.

Using Solfege as a Tool | 89

When I first started composing, I had a bunch of cassette tapes
with nothing but endless wandering around as I tried to compose
something. Fast forward decades later, and I no longer worry about
losing something. True, this has bitten me two or three times over
these decades, but if I forget an idea, one of three things will
happen. If it’s worth keeping, it will resurface. Capture it in sheet
music form. If it’s not worth it, it won’t reappear. If it’s a half-baked
germ of an idea, it tends to resurface later in a more mature form.

Fusion is another great sparker for creativity. Punk Bach or Punk

Polka. Beethoven done in Ragtime. The possibilities are endless.

How can composers avoid stagnation? One solution is to do what

the Philip Glasses of this world do. Play with every conceivable
musician under the sun. Each new musician can introduce a whole
new world of notes, rhythms, culture, etc. And this infuses into and
expands the database of patterns.

Having a story in mind may facilitate creativity.

Deus ex machina refers to a plot device where a seemingly

unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with a
contrived and unexpected intervention or some new event. The
same thing can happen in music, especially with inexperienced
composers who paint themselves into a corner. Learn to recognize
this, how it is the crutch that it is, and eliminate it by learning how
to make smooth, coherent transitions that make sense.

Improve your piano or instrument skills. Instrument skills, more

than anything, will inform the level of technicality and musicality
at which a composer can compose.

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Having said that, performers never have enough time to practice
and rehearse. Pushing the edges of the envelop and keeping
compositions playable requires careful balancing. If performers
can’t devote a reasonable amount of practice time and play your
compositions, how will you build communitas with performers and
fans?

Composition at Juilliard

A good composition professor has the ability to give technically

precise enough information, without imposing any particular
viewpoint. Composition classes in a conservatory offer an
expanded world in learning to write for other instruments. Hearing
Juilliard performers run through a 20 minute reading is
illuminating in terms of learning what kind of music works for
different instruments.

Students learn to notate music properly for performers and

conductors, so there is no time wasted during a rehearsal or
practice session. Different instruments have unique notations; for
more information, the Samuel Adler orchestration book is a good
reference.

Music can seem highly subjective, so how do you teach and

critique about music? Have every student in the class refer to a
specific measure or measures and provide one positive and one
constructive comment.

The comments need to be precise and not fuzzy opinions or

judgments (use the S.M.A.R.T. acronym to craft feedback that is
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound). Our
professor will often ask questions and help us rephrase our

Using Solfege as a Tool | 91

feedback. After we are done, our professor will give his positive
and constructive comments, often both agreeing and disagreeing
with other students. This is invaluable. Instead of worrying about
whether someone giving feedback is biased, soak in the totality of
everyone’s feedback, and choose which to consider.

Because each instrument has different characteristics and timbre,

this can help composers to remain creative since the different
characteristics will influence what composers write.

Constraints are another fun way to shake things up. Pick your
favorite jazz chord structure and compose an entire piece around it
(e.g. The Tarpit Dance).

What if you have a commission from a school band with very

young, inexperienced members, so that you can only use quarter
notes and longer duration, and a limited range in pitch?

What if the pianist can only perform with the left hand? Google
Paul Wittgenstein.

Try writing a piano piece where the left and right hands play in
different keys (Sibelius allows composers to choose different key
signatures).

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Music Notation Software
In solfege, students learn to deconstruct music that they hear and
write it down in their dictation books. Once they’ve learned to do
this proficiently, they may want to explore free music notation
software like MuseScore. Notation software is useful both for
creating printable music scores as well as playing those musical
scores. Prior to studying at Juilliard, I used MuseScore and this
served me well enough in a non-conservatory environment.

Once students land in a conservatory environment studying music

composition or orchestration, they will likely discover their
professors will mandate students use professional music notation
software such as Sibelius, Finale, or Dorico (next generation
Sibelius, created by the same development team that created
Sibelius). The software is fairly expensive with a rich set of
features and WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”)
capabilities for laying out a score exactly as you want it to appear.
This is appropriate for those who are in a conservatory
environment or truly serious about wanting professional scores and
possibly instrument parts for ensembles or orchestras.

After three semesters taking music composition classes in the

Evening Division at Juilliard, I compiled a checklist that my
professor found useful. Feel free to download the PDF, and I’ve also
included the checklist here. One item requires some explanation,
and violin will serve as an example. Violinists understand slurs in
music to indicate that notes should be played legato with one bow
stroke. So the question is: how do violinists know the difference
between slurred notes and tied notes? Our composition professor

Music Notation Software | 93

discouraged the use of slurs over repeated notes, because it can be
difficult to distinguish between tied notes and repeated notes with
a slur over them.

We learned from our orchestration professor, who works in a

publishing company, that the music industry is standardizing on
notating slurs versus ties. Ties go from the end of the first
notehead to the beginning of the next notehead. Slurs go from the
center of the notehead to the center of the next notehead. While
Sibelius doesn’t do this automatically, it’s possible to configure
Sibelius to notate slurs and ties in this manner.

What is listed in this checklist is specific to Sibelius. If anyone else

uses Finale, feel free to create an addendum for Finale users. This
checklist is not meant to be comprehensive, but lists critiques that
arise consistently in our composition classes. As of December 2017,
the assessment from Juilliard classmates is that Dorico will have a
full-featured release soon.

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Sibelius Notation Checklist
Basics - Score (including Juilliard-specific)
☐ Tempo markings in correct bold font (Text > Styles >
metronome mark)

☐ Ideal: stick to metronome values (Google metronome wiki for

values, e.g 126 vs 123)

☐ Wide enough margins so performers can write notes

☐ Each staff system doesn't have too many bars (in general 1 - 2
less bars than Sibelius default)

☐ Enough space between each staff (in general 1 line less than
Sibelius default)

☐ Title, composer name, exercise number on each page, page

numbers on pages 2 on

—————————————————————————————

☐ Instruments in correct order (in general use orchestral order?)

More on parts later

☐ First line of music has correct instrument names? e.g. Violin I,

Violoncello

☐ Subsequent lines of music have correct abbreviated instrument

names?

Sibelius Notation Checklist | 95

☐ Measure numbers at the start of each line, large enough?

—————————————————————————————

☐ If accidentals are crowded, use (Sibelius) Appearance > Note

Spacing

☐ Correct fonts? If too small or not bolded performers may not

see. (use Text > Styles to get right format and placement)

☐ <ctrl e> for expression markings, highlight l (ell) for line

markings like rit and accel

☐ Oddball last line? Use page breaks or system breaks to create a

last line with a few bars

Basics - Music
☐ Correct key signature (or no key signature if chromatic)?

☐ No more than 4 sharps or flats in key signature? If so, re-key

(e.g. from D# to D) or set to no / atonal key signature

☐ Pickup bar must only include beats with notes, e.g. 4th beat
pickup will show one quarter note, not dotted half rest and quarter
note

☐ Don't start piece with a fermata

☐ Correct meter? (e.g. straight or compound time?) If lots of

triplets, consider converting to compound time, or vice versa

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☐ Correct marking for tempo changes with respect to meter, e.g.
straight time quarter note = x, compound time dotted quarter = x

☐ Correct marking if no tempo changes? e.g. quarter = dotted

quarter, or dotted quarter = quarter, etc.

☐ Tempo range between 50 and 200? e.g. change from quarter =

200 to half = 100

☐ Double barline to denote all key and time signature changes

—————————————————————————————

☐ Correct clef for each instrument? e.g. viola is in tenor clef

☐ If strange time signatures (e.g. 5, syncopated times) do notes

need to be re-beamed and tied to show beats?

☐ Beam over rests to show beats?

☐ For time signatures like 7/4 or 13/8, consider breaking down,

e.g. alternating 3/4 and 4/4

☐ Enharmonically correct? If a mix of sharps and flats, see if

changing some will clean up the score

☐ Cautionary accidentals? Especially if sharp in one hand and

natural in the other hand (piano)

☐ Where can the principle of "least amount of ink used" be

applied? e.g. change quarter rest eighth rest to dotted quarter rest
(while still obeying the "show beat" rule)

☐ Avoid ending with 16th rest, e.g. turn 16th note 16th rest into

Sibelius Notation Checklist | 97

8th note

—————————————————————————————

☐ Not too many tempo changes (unless this is a conductor

challenge)? Each tempo change results in a minute lost during a 20
minute reading

☐ Final tempo marked at the end of every rit or accel?

☐ If there is a fermata, fermata must show in all parts, on the same

beat in all parts (e.g. break up rests if necessary)

Dynamics
☐ In general, don't start with mp, use mf or p or f

☐ Are dynamic markings in the right place? e.g. expression

markings / hairpins etc below music (in the middle for piano),
tempo / rit / accel / pizz etc above the music. If not, performers
won't see them.

☐ If creating multiple voices, use voices 1 and 3 they will line up

perfectly. With voices 1 and 2 you'll have to mess with the score to
line things up

☐ Sibelius can split key signatures in score, e.g. violin in G and

viola in D

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Strings
☐ Bow markings (or mark legato)

☐ Correct markings for arco, pizz, legato, etc.

☐ Make sure enough time to switch from arco to pizz, etc.

☐ Glissando marked from notehead to notehead?

☐ Valid double and triple stops?

☐ Short, choppy passages go against the strengths of using

stringed instruments

☐ Sibelius may not show glissando if crowded, create less

measures per line

☐ Double bass notated one octave higher

☐ Double bass is slower speaking instrument, bass has more

opening on start, don't write fast. Everyone else can play fast

Piano
☐ If pianist is amenable, deliver fully notated PDF score
beforehand, and MIDI playback as well

☐ In general avoid adding pedal markings (or notate “pedal

freely”), leave up to performer

Sibelius Notation Checklist | 99

☐ Change clef if too many ledger lines

☐ Test to make sure notes work with hand positioning (especially

cross over)

Winds
☐ Clarinet score notated in B♭? Marked on the score as notated in
B♭?

☐ Keep track of what happens with key signature when you

transpose - get fa# do#. Sibelius - no key option

☐ Clarinet low notes are warm and soft, high notes are loud and
piercing. Not possible to do high notes pianissimo

☐ Note: You Can write long passages, if you know that the
clarinetists can circular breathe

☐ Legato - need slur, otherwise they will tongue the individual

notes

Conducting
☐ No GP (general pause) during a page turn (it's noisy during the
silence)

☐ If there is a GP, also put a fermata so that the conductor isn't

forced to conduct time during the GP

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Vocal
☐ Avoid really weird intervals, keep as diatonic as possible. Other
instruments are easier to play, or you may have to tune (e.g.
strings). Singer has to generate sound from scratch

☐ High notes? Create an ossia, the singer will treat this as a

challenge

☐ Dynamic markings above the staff for singers because lyrics are
below

—————————————————————————————

☐ Lyrical extension lines (extend to tied notes)

☐ Comma in lyrics comes before extension line

☐ Sibelius won't always show extension lines, may need to have

less measures per line

—————————————————————————————

☐ Tenor - treble clef but small 8 - written an octave down

☐ All female voices written at clef

☐ Singers never change clef

—————————————————————————————

☐ Possible to write outside normal range if you write for a

particular singer, e.g. sopranos can sing lower (belting)

Sibelius Notation Checklist | 101

☐ Voice tends to get richer and darker with age

☐ Range from low - belting, weak area, golden area (can sing
strong and loud), up to high

☐ Keep high notes as climax, and sparse, don't burn out singer

☐ High notes: consonants much harder to vocalize

☐ High notes nothing less than f dynamic

Instrumental Parts
☐ Each instrument part clearly notated at beginning of part score
with instrument name in large font? e.g. Violin I

☐ Correct format depending on context? Parts for string quartet,

piano with voice - piano has the full score

☐ Large enough for performer to read from afar (e.g. while

holding a violin)?

☐ Collisions eliminated (e.g. double slurs, cue names above note,

rehearsal marks)

—————————————————————————————

☐ Correct clef for instrument? (Cues may mess up clef.)

☐ Clef for viola depends on ledger lines and what they can
comfortably read. Violinist may not be able to read tenor clef. If
lots of ledger lines, re-clef. Clef changes should a minimum of 2

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bars, avoid lots of clef changes.

☐ Enough cues (or small staves) for performer? (you can never
have too many)

☐ Cues all stem up?

☐ Cues in correct clef?

☐ Cues correctly transposed? (e.g. If horn part, flute cue needs to

be transposed)

☐ If intricate interplay between instruments, consider cue staff

(small staff with blank lines hidden)

—————————————————————————————

☐ Parts printed single side, not stapled or bound so performers can

do what they want (e.g. tape them accordion style)

☐ Does music account for page turns?

☐ Parts marked solo or tutti where appropriate?

☐ Are you using a fermata where the fixed number of beats would
be better? e.g. fermata or GP followed by everyone trying to
synchronize is hard

☐ Analyze performer markings on parts after class

Sibelius Notation Checklist | 103

Reading
☐ First to arrive are first to be performed. Place parts on correct
stand behind and underneath parts that are already there (pros/
cons: first reading may be warm up, players fresh. Later readings
they may be tired)

☐ Do the performers bounce around to look at other parts? May

indicate a need for more cues, etc.

☐ Pianist: can have double sided in 3 ring binder, make sure music
accounts for page turns. If single pages or page turns are a
challenge (music dense, or pianist cannot read ahead enough), can
lay out 2 or 3 and page turner can overlay on top. Future (and
present options): iPad with foot pedal to turn pages

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Advanced Students
In our solfege classes, not only do we ask questions to see if
students grasp basic concepts related to time signatures, note
pitches, durations, and key signatures, we ask questions to see if
they understand what the right questions are to ask, and why. The
goal is for students to develop deep knowledge by learning how to
deconstruct new music on their own, as well as mentor other
students.

Coaching Leaders
Teach the class to ask the right questions.

When looking at a new assignment, ask the class: “what is the first
question that I ask?”. The response from the more advanced
students will be: “what is the time signature?” This sets the stage
immediately for beginner students to start thinking at a meta level.

Also ask questions like: what is the first note, what type of note/
rest is this (duration like half note).

• What are the sharps and flats?

• Given these two sharps, what key is this in?

• Is this major or minor? Etc.

Advanced Students | 105

Ask them what other questions should we ask?

Enlist advanced students as teaching assistants.

At French School, advanced students play the role of teaching

assistant by asking 2 or 3 questions for a new assignment, and
determining whether the beginner group gives correct answers. If a
beginner is one note off, coach the advanced student to say “close!”

Coach the advanced students to monitor beginners and ensure they

keep their eyes on the music and follow along.

During dictation (simple exercise first for the beginners), have one
advanced student up at the chalkboard, writing clefs, time
signatures, key signatures, and notes if necessary. Have other
advanced students monitor the progress of the beginner students,
validate their work, and indicate when they have finished so the
instructor can continue.

Forcing students to think at a meta level will also expedite learning

an instrument. They will begin to think automatically the way all
great musicians think, so that their teachers can focus on technique
and musicality. Given that modern musicians rarely have enough
time to practice, the efficiencies laid out in my dad’s piano practice
guide and this solfege guide are not a luxury, but a necessity in
order to be a good musician. We attended a Game of Thrones live
concert experience at Madison Square Garden, and learned from
the composer that he has two weeks to put together the music for
each episode. And that is a luxury, normally he has one week.

Pair beginning and advanced students.

Drill by having an advanced student and beginner student go to

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the blackboard. Have the advanced student say a solfege note, and
low or high if necessary, and the beginner student has to write that
note. The advanced student says whether the answer is correct or
not.

Teach students how to divide and conquer.

What we do in solfege is a metaphor for life itself. Big problems are

often just a number of little problems masquerading as big
problems. A big problem often isn’t a tiger that is going to eat you,
it is really composed of a bunch of kittens that need your help.

What is the big problem that we are trying to solve?

“Can you pick up a piece of music you've never seen or heard

before and figure it out?”

What are the little problems that help us to solve this big problem?

• What is the time signature?

• What is the top number and what does it mean?

• What is the bottom number and what does it mean?

• Is this treble or bass clef?

• How many sharps or flats are there?

• What key is this in?

• Is this major or minor?

• Do we start on the first beat? If not, what beat?

Advanced Students | 107

Teach students to think cross-functionally.

We often treat subjects in school in a siloed manner, where we

think we are learning music, math, science, and English. These
subjects are often intertwined. In solfege, we are using our math
skills.

For example: If we have a time signature of 4/4, and turn each

quarter note into a triplet, how many triplets will be in this
measure?

4 x 3 = 12: 1 and and 2 and and 3 and and 4 and and

or

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Advanced Exercises
Chose a random easy exercise from Dannhäuser book 1 which is
likely in do major. Have students transpose and solfege this in
another key on the fly. First ask them to determine how many
sharps / flats the key would have, and what they are. Yes, this
means the accompanist has to transpose on the fly as well… This is
great practice for improvisation drills. Also, start with keys that
only have one sharp or flat. Then two, etc.

Chose a random exercise, and have the accompanist play the

exercise with the melody. Have students solfegiate an improvised
secondary voice. Initially, solfegiate in thirds, either above or below

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the melody line. Once they reach a level of proficiency, have them
improvise a secondary voice without singing the same note as the
melody.

Ear training: prior to repeating the notes played by the teacher,

have students call out the solfege notes that were played before
playing them on the second piano. This will reinforce solfege
mental play.

Advanced Students | 109

Performance Preparation
Many solfege students also take instrument lessons and perform, so
these previously published blog posts are included.

History
Saturday afternoon on 4/30/2016, there was a benefit concert for
The French School of Music. I sat on a bench with the other
performers, next to a French School alumnus, waiting to play.
What unfolded during the concert had me flashing back to an
experience in 1973, so I’ll start there first.

In 1973, during my first MEC (Music Education Council) NJ State

piano competition, I was waiting in line with other competitors in
my age group to perform (I was eight at the time). I looked to my
left and saw a boy slouched back in his chair, his arms wrapped
around his stomach. He looked pale and upset. I asked him if he
was OK, and he groaned: “no. I don’t want to go up there and play,
I have butterflies in my tummy!” Well thanks. Once I learned he
had butterflies in his tummy, I had butterflies in my tummy.

He went up and played before me, since we were playing in age

order (oldest to youngest) from left to right. He wasn’t a student at
my piano school so he played differently than my piano teacher
had coached me, but he did OK and walked off. Then it was my
turn. After I was done, my mom and piano teacher wanted to know

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what the heck had happened. They said I was so nervous everyone
could see it, and my left leg was shaking badly while I was on
stage. My poor teacher had trained me well but she didn’t
anticipate being blindsided by a non-French School competitor
who had accidentally (?) stumbled on the perfect method for
derailing a fellow competitor. That year, the student with
butterflies in his tummy came in first place, and I came in third.
The next year, I came in first place and he came in fifth. 

But the performance anxiety never left me, and most times I
performed at around 80% of what I was capable of doing when I
was playing privately without an audience. While I played at
Carnegie Recital Hall nine times as a child, most of those were as a
second place winner. It wasn’t until years later when, as a software
developer branching into technical training, I thought about my
past experiences as a pianist, and decided it was silly for me to
suffer from stage fright. By using my early music education and
gaining consistent experience doing technical training, I got over
my fears and taught well over 1000 people Sybase, Java, and
object-oriented technology.

Fast forward to this benefit concert in 2016. The performer sitting

next to me said: “I am so nervous!!” I’m thinking wait, you’re in
med school and you practice three hours a day, why are you
nervous?! And given my experience in 1973, this wasn’t helping
me one darn bit. I hadn’t performed musically in years, or
consistently musically in decades, and I was supposed to end the
performance program with a world premiere of my own
composition. He bemoaned how, when performing another work,
he completely blanked on how it started, and if he could get
through the first four bars of his piece, he thought he’d be OK. This

Performance Preparation | 111

was a much younger alumnus and I used this rationale to gently
persuade my fist of death not to try and land a solid punch.

I told him something I’d learned years ago, to try and help him
reframe his perspective. What we may register as fear - e.g.
increased, rapid heart rate - is our body’s way of preparing us to be
maximally effective when we need to perform. The heart is
pumping more blood, which means more oxygen to the brain
helping us stay alert, and more fuel to our muscles to move
effectively. His face lit up and he appreciated that tip. It didn’t fully
stop him from continuing to voice his fears, and in spite of my
knowing this little gem, my anxiety was starting to increase to a
point where even these types of tips were not fully effective. But in
retrospect I’m grateful this happened, because this led to concrete
insights and methods for slaying this particularly nefarious dragon
when it rears its ugly head. Here is what I added to the above gem
that allowed me to short circuit a challenging situation.

I thought about the various breathing techniques in yoga classes,

and settled on one where I closed my eyes and took a slow deep
breath in through my nose as far as I could, then held it for five
seconds. I then exhaled slowly through my mouth as far as I could
exhale, holding it for five seconds. And then I kept repeating the
process until my heart rate had slowed to a more manageable
pace. This, together with the reframing technique, worked for me.

I’m glad this alumnus brought up the fears that he brought up.
They can be addressed with the correct practice techniques and
prior preparation.

The best way to address fear is to practice thoroughly before the

concert. This, plus the two above techniques, maximize your

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chances of having a performance where you are able to play to the
end without stopping. This means using the continuity rule,
working on the hardest parts of the piece first, working on the
beginning and ending first (since this is what audiences and judges
remember the most), and having informal dry run performances
prior to a competition.

To address fear of blanking when starting a piece, practice clean,

cold starts regularly. Wake up, go to your keyboard, start your
piece (or see if you can play straight through). Grab breakfast, then
do another cold start. Before you leave the house, try another cold
start. The goal is to be able to start playing your piece, cleanly and
without stopping and restarting multiple times ("stuttering", which
is a bad habit that disciplined cold start practice can eliminate). 

If you’re waiting to play and wondering if you can still remember

how to play the first few bars, play them on your leg. This is
another good technique to learn - how to practice without a
keyboard that gives you audial and tactile feedback.

Because I have absolute pitch and pick up music quickly by ear, I’ve
always done my performances by memory and that is another
source of reinforcement. This particular alumnus started lessons at
French School after solfege classes had stopped (this is difficult to
do if there aren’t enough students, and requires younger teachers
able to keep up with often energetic, young students). As a result,
while he was a performing beast, he hadn’t had ear training and
didn’t always know all of the intervals, and while he heard music
in his head, he didn’t know enough to write it down. Our solfege
classes at French School gave all students a consistent foundation
in singing on pitch, solfegiating, sightreading, ear training,

Performance Preparation | 113

conducting time, and music dictation.

Conversely, performers who have excellent sightreading skills and

a large repertoire may prefer using music during a performance. In
this case, music can also serve as reassurance against blackouts.

The last tip I will discuss ended up being a challenge for me. Since
our new solfege class was also singing at this concert, we had a
rehearsal at the concert location (a church) the day before the
concert. As a volume test I played part of my composition. The
mistake I made was not running through the entire piece when I
had a chance, and the piano had just been tuned and I thought
everything was just fine.

The next day, I was puzzled when another French School alumnus
mentioned the action was difficult to play, as the other performers
had 2 hours prior to the concert to acclimate to the environment
and grand piano. I played part of my composition again, at half
speed, as we were taught to end at medium speed prior to our
performance. This is a great way to prevent strange glitches from
popping up just prior to your performance.

With all of these techniques I was as well prepared as I could be,

but as I viewed the video afterwards I realized with the adrenaline
I’d played at a pretty good pace, and nearly derailed at the tougher
parts toward the end. That’s because I have an electronic keyboard
at home (due to urban space constraints) so I didn’t have full
endurance for a grand piano with a mellow upper half, and when I
finally played the difficult parts at full speed, I realized this
alumnus was right in saying the action was hard to play. It was fine
for less technical and slower playing, but for those of us doing

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challenging works at full speed, the action wasn’t quite up to snuff.

In cases like this, several things come to mind. If you are not a star
performer who can request, for example, which Steinway grand
you will rent for your upcoming performance, it would help to
know your environment well prior to the concert. If it’s early
enough, it may even influence what kinds of pieces you choose to
perform. If you learn during a dry run (or worse, during the
performance) that the instrument isn’t up to snuff, professional
musicians know how to adapt on the fly - to breathe more
frequently, slow down and add stylistic rubatos to navigate areas
that become too challenging with an unregulated action. That
happened with most of the performers at this concert.

Playing at the end can be a challenge, as this can increase the

anxiety. Or, it may actually help. When other performers have
trouble with the action, and they bemoan their missed notes and
flubs, it’s nice knowing you’re all in the same boat and that can
actually relieve some of the pressure. It did for me, and made me
that much more aware when I had to adapt on the fly. As a result,
while I had missed notes, I was able to start and get to the end of
the piece without stopping.

I survived the very first world premiere of one of my compositions.

And sometimes, that’s all that counts.

Performance Preparation | 115

Tips and Tricks
1. Tune your piano.

If you don’t have absolute pitch, practicing on tuned instruments

can help you develop absolute pitch. If you have absolute pitch,
playing on out-of-tune instruments can cause you to lose your
absolute pitch.

2. Try playing on different pianos periodically.

Having said #1, at Juilliard, I was able to test my ability to play on

different pianos. On one I would notice the lower half was out of
tune. Another felt like it hadn’t been regulated in a decade. A third
would have a more muffled upper half and brilliant lower half.
Another would have these lovely bell tones in the higher octaves.
This trains both your muscle memory and your brain to deal with
different playing conditions and still be able to adapt and perform.
You don’t need to do this too often, just enough to get a feel for
how you react and adapt. And you certainly don’t want to practice
for very long on an out of tune piano or you risk losing your sense
of pitch.

3. Be careful about learning new material prior to performing.

Have you ever had this happen to you? You have a stable
repertoire of pieces to perform. Then you try to learn something
new and your muscle memory and repertoire suddenly
destabilizes, you can’t play it flawlessly anymore, and you have to
work to re-stabilize it. This is normal. Once you understand this,
you’ll want to plan your piano practice carefully, making sure you

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can work on a stable repertoire prior to a performance.

Plan B: recognize that last minute changes prior to performing will

require its own kind of practice so that you’re not derailed.

Plan C: learn to adjust around hiccups during performances. I

suspect in this day and age, classes in improvisation are required,
not just for a well-rounded education, but for getting around
hiccups without visibly stopping, backing up, and restarting.

4. Repeatedly "get it", "forget it", "get it", "forget it"...

Give yourself enough prep time to be able to periodically stop

practicing for a week or long enough to forget, and pick it up
again. This may seem counterintuitive initially, but relearning
reinforces deeper understanding, and makes you more aware of
where the problem areas are (where you “forget”).

5. Learn how to perform (separately from learning how to

practice).

There are many tips and tricks to learn, think about, and rehearse
so they become automatic the day of the performance. For
example:

• What will you say if your piece has a description? 

• When will you bow? 

• When you sit, do your hands sit comfortably on the

keyboard? Where are your elbows relative to the keyboard?
Practice adjusting the piano bench to the correct height.

Tips and Tricks | 117

 • Is the grand piano set up correctly (closed? Short stick?
Long stick?) 

• If this is a formal concert and you are wearing a long gown

or tuxedo, do a dry run performance. 

◦ Is the gown so long that you walk awkwardly to get

on and off stage? Do your heels catch in the hem?

◦ Do your shoes have a hard bottom (do they click

when you lift your foot and hit the pedal)? Are the
soles rounded such that your foot slips off the pedal
easily?

◦ Do your long sleeves / jacket interfere with the

keyboard?

◦ Are your clothes so restrictive they hamper your full

range of movement?

• Did you trim your nails so they don't get caught in the
keys?

Know the environment in which you will perform. Ideally test your
whole performance at full speed to test keyboard action. Adjust
your playing and musical expressiveness if necessary.

If a group is performing:

• How will you file on and off the stage in an organized

manner? 

• In what order will you enter and exit the stage? (If

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 performers are different heights, what layout works
aesthetically?)

• How far apart do the performers need to be? For example,

if this is a solfege demo, is there enough space for
performers to conduct time? 

Maintain awareness to the very end of your performance, even

(especially!) if you mess up. You are not done until both hands
have left the keyboard. Don’t daydream, go into autopilot, or think
you’re done prior to this. At one competition a student was upset
with his performance. He simply stood up at the end of his piece
with his hands still on the keyboard, and walked off stage quickly
while looking down and shaking his head.

For public speaking engagements, some of the more valuable tips

are not to look directly at the audience but above their heads (they
won’t be able to tell). Pan your gaze from left to right and front to
back to give the entire audience a sense of personal engagement.

6. Record yourself, both audio and video. 

You’ll be surprised to learn what quirky habits you have, nervous or

otherwise. Garageband is great because you can slow the tempo
and analyze your playing in detail, and check the volume of
individual notes.

7. Nip the yips.

In a television episode of Nip Tuck, Dr. Sean McNamara suddenly

developed a “yip” - an involuntary uncontrollable movement,
making it impossible for him to safely perform surgery,
endangering his career. The same can happen to musicians. They’ll

Tips and Tricks | 119

be practicing as usual, and just prior to their performance they’ll
suddenly develop a strange “yip” and wonder where it came from
and how to get rid of it.

The best way to prevent yips is to end your piano practice by

playing half speed. My theories for why this works:

• You’re less likely to make mistakes, and this leaves your

subconscious with “homework” to do that involves correct
play.

• Playing half speed is the equivalent of enunciating clearly,

whereas if you played fast all the time, eventually you
would begin to slur and lose the details.

• If you did encounter a yip at fast speed, practicing correctly

at slow to half speed would retrain your fingers, and
finishing at half speed would allow your subconscious to
flush away the yip.

• Studies have shown that "ear worms" are caused by

listening to part of a song, instead of the entire song.
Taking a challenging part of your piece and playing it at
half speed may be a way to use the "ear worm" trick to your
advantage.

8. Even veteran performers who have never had problems may

suddenly develop performance anxiety.

At one French School recital, a “veteran” who had performed

flawlessly since toddlerhood blacked out during a recital (she
might have been 14 at the time). Her world suddenly flipped, and
things she’d never needed to pay attention to in the past now had

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her flummoxed. For a number of recitals after, she continued to
have blackouts until she finally found her way out of the jungle,
probably in a similar manner to what I had to do.

You never know when something may happen, and all of the
sudden this information becomes relevant. Don’t think because
you’re a seasoned veteran who has never screwed up, that you’re
immune. 

9. Don’t dwell on the negative. 

Clearly, this is easier said than done. Someone could say “don’t be
nervous” and gee thanks, now you're nervous. The performer
sitting next to you could be nervous, and that's not going to help
you one darn bit.

This is why the tips like reframing your perspective and breathing
techniques are important (previous section). These are concrete
things you can do to keep yourself mentally, emotionally, and
physically engaged to prevent / short circuit vicious spirals into
fear and outright panic. Here is another tip: smelling a peeled
orange and flowers will naturally calm you down. The human
brain has a finite amount of bandwidth. If you are focusing on
something else you cannot become or remain fearful. Consider
these tips to be a start. Each person is different, and will need to
find what works for them.

10. Control what you can within your environment.

If you get cold easily, bring a jacket. Temperatures in performance

halls are often cold because during a packed performance, there
are a lot of human batteries heating up the place. Consider

Tips and Tricks | 121

carrying a set of gloves, hand lotion, handkerchief, etc.

I’m writing this last part after attending a 10-hour Chopin

marathon in June 2016 with a number of different performers, at
least 10 from Juilliard. After our experience with the benefit
concert where we all seemed to have problems with the piano (I
learned after our French School benefit concert one veteran was in
tears after her performance), I wondered if the artists in the
Chopin marathon ran into the same problem with their piano. Most
had problems until one artist nailed her Chopin Fantasie, and then
I realized it was possible to play on that piano. The performers
seemed to do better as time passed, and I wonder if, like us,
enough feedback had to get back to the other performers so they
were aware and could figure out how to compensate. I was dying
to walk up to the piano and test my theory but a. I didn’t want to
be the one all-day pass holder to get thrown out of the marathon
midway and b. by the end of the marathon I was so wiped out I
just wanted to go home. So we would need to hear from the
performers to validate any of this. Seeing this many performers, it
was interesting to note how each adapted differently to the
environment. Some pulled it off and some didn’t.

The other indications I had to support my theories: midway

through there was an unscheduled delay to retune the piano
(which isn’t going to help if the issue is an unregulated piano, and
even my husband noticed there was a strange resonance when the
tuner played some of the lower notes). At one point the
spokesperson mentioned how true professionals hide the pain,
complexity and messiness of organizing these types events behind
closed doors, showing only a calm, professional exterior. But you
wouldn’t believe what is going on behind closed doors right now,

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with all the behind-the-scenes activity… And I’m thinking:
“aaayup. I bet I know exactly what’s going on back there, especially
if they know this piano is not regulated for optimal performance…”

“We had the piano tuned three days ago” isn’t enough. The
organizer has to give the tuner enough time to check if the piano
needs to be regulated as well. An intermediate level pianist may
not notice it but the Juilliard Ferrari gunning for Mach 10 will.

Tips and Tricks | 123

Curriculum
This is a proposed curriculum for music students to progress from
beginner to advanced to beyond. This lists everything that is
needed, from the perspective of the French School method, for
students to become self-sufficient learners capable of stepping into
a conservatory environment.

Depending on the student (and the teacher), a level could require

anywhere from one to three years to achieve mastery. The
curriculum isn’t necessarily divided into even chunks of material
designed to be accomplished in, for example, straight two year
time periods. Rather, it is designed with certain cut-off points in
mind that enable students to demonstrate they have reached
another level of proficiency. Because students have varying
capabilities, they will likely demonstrate proficiency at multiple
levels for varying competencies.

This curriculum is designed for competencies regardless of how

genetics may influence a student’s capabilities, e.g. the ability to
develop absolute pitch. While a number of French School alumni
developed absolute pitch or were close, I know a few excellent
pianists and piano teachers who are tone deaf.

To become self-sufficient musicians, students will want to strive to

master the first three levels. Levels four and five are more
specialized, for music students wanting to become composers or
become self-sufficient pianists.

In addition to covering music-related topics and competencies, an

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additional goal is to help students learn how to learn, and how to
navigate a world in which VUCA (an acronym that describes
volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) accurately
describes the general conditions and situations that are now the
norm rather than the exception.

Curriculum | 125
Level 1
Demonstrates basic competency in sightreading, ear training,
conducting, music dictation.

• Understands the solfege pitches using the French method

(do re mi fa sol la si).

• Understands durations of notes and rests including whole,

half, eighth, sixteenth, triplet, dotted notes.

• Can successfully two-hand tap quarter note and quarter rest

rhythms.

• Develops absolute pitch for middle do, re, and mi. Or, given
a starting pitch, becomes indistinguishable from someone
who has absolute pitch. Both groups can identify all notes
in the do major scale and can successfully navigate two
piano ear training.

• Can sing a base note (optionally played on a keyboard) and

simple do major interval before playing the notes on a
piano.

• Understands and can describe the basic process for

breaking down new music.

• Demonstrates the ability to coach beginning students in

learning how to break down new music.

Students can begin learning this from age five or younger, and
some students may learn to read music before they learn to read
the alphabet. At French School, we don’t water down the

126 | Solfege Teaching Guide

curriculum, rather, expect that students age five or younger may
take a year of reinforcing material before things begin to “click”
from an awareness standpoint.

Level 1 | 127
Level 2
• Knows how to read bass clef.

• Knows the sharps and flats and all key signatures.

• Understands the concept of chromatic solfege syllables (do,

di, re, ri, etc.).

• Understands the concept of fixed do vs. movable do.

• Understands terms like tonic, dominant, diatonic, major,

minor, relative minor, triad, inversion, etc.

• Understands the intervals (major, minor, augmented,

diminished, tritone, etc.).

• Can successfully navigate ear training through all of the

sharps and flats.

• Can successfully navigate two and three chord two piano

ear training.

• Can successfully sing a root note (optionally played by the

instructor) and notes of a triad or inversion before playing
on a keyboard.

• Can transpose from one key to another.

• When singing up, then singing down, if the middle note is

do, it remains do. It does not slip into do# or re.

• Able to successfully two-hand tap more complex patterns

128 | Solfege Teaching Guide

including the duplet / triplet pattern.

Level 2 | 129
Level 3
• Demonstrates basic proficiency with MuseScore (free music
notation software) or Sibelius, Finale, or Dorico (if students
have the money, time, desire or need to use professional
music notation software).

• Understands alto and tenor clef and how to read the notes.

• Understands the church modes (e.g. dorian, phrygian,

lydian).

• Transposes church modes (e.g. dorian in fa)

• Has read through Study of Counterpoint, from Johann

Joseph Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum

• Understands lead sheets.

• Understands the difference between straight and compound

time.

• Understands the importance of beaming music correctly,

and always showing the beat.

• Demonstrates the ability to do completely random, atonal

two piano ear training.

• Demonstrates the ability to sightread a solfege exercise

from Dannhäuser Book 1, transpose mentally, then sing in
another key.

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Level 4
For music students wanting to become composers:

• Uses solfege as a tool to learn about composition and

improvisation.

• Demonstrates various ways to compose: flash card method,

stencil composing, harmonizing, and creating variations on
a theme.

• Can compose given an assignment with specific parameters

to follow.

• Can solfegiate an improvised, secondary voice from a lead

sheet, on pitch and using correct solfege notes.

• Uses music notation software to correctly notate own

compositions.

• Composes solfege exercises for solfege class to sightread.

• Can compose and notate their own composition as a lead

sheet.

Level 4 | 131
Level 5
For music students interested in becoming self-sufficient pianists:

• Demonstrates ability to accompany solfege class.

• Demonstrates ability to adapt the accompaniment to

students of different skills.

• Improvises from lead sheets.

• Can play a melody with left hand, conduct with right hand,
and solfege.

• Can accompany a Level 3 student in singing a transposed

Dannhäuser solfege exercise.

• Can take a composed exercise from a Level 4 student and

improvise a piano accompaniment.

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Exercises
When groups of students are singing their number, or students are
doing ear training individually at the second piano, keep students
sitting in their seats engaged with exercises they can write in their
music dictation book. Since the class is usually varied, having
exercises that start at the beginner level and progress to
intermediate and advanced level will allow students to work at
their own pace. Over time, more advanced students can start with
the intermediate level or advanced level exercises.

• Beginner exercises test students’ knowledge of pitches and

note durations.

• Intermediate exercises can test concepts related to sharps

and flats, figuring out notes with ledger lines, key
signatures, etc.

• Advanced exercises tend to run the gamut in terms of

concepts discussed, and creativity of the exercises.

Exercises | 133
Sample 1
Everyone write the number, then the note in your dictation
booklet:

1. re (whole note), 2. high mi (quarter note), 3. do (half note), 4.

la (eighth note), 5. high do (dotted half note), 6. mi (dotted
quarter note), 7. si (whole note), 8. fa (quarter note), 9. hi fa (half
note), 10. sol (dotted quarter note)

If you finish, and this is correct, intermediate level using all

quarter notes:

1. fa#, 2. si flat, 3. do#, 4. re flat, 5. la natural, 6. mi flat, 7. la

sharp

Question: which pairs of notes will sound exactly the same, and
why?

Advanced:

Listed are a base note, and an interval. Write the correct chord
using quarter notes.

As an example:

do third is the chord (do mi)

1. re fifth, 2. mi third, 3. do fourth, 4. low si (octave), 5. fa fifth, 6.

sol sixth, 7. la fourth 8. mi flat fifth, 9. do seventh, 10. do ninth

134 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Sample 2
Everyone write the number, then the note:

1. la (whole note), 2. low si (quarter note), 3. middle do (half

note), 4. hi re (eighth note), 5. mi (dotted half note), 6. si (dotted
quarter note), 7. low la (whole note), 8. hi mi (quarter note), 9. re
(half note), 10. hi fa (dotted quarter note)

If you finish, and this is correct, intermediate level:

1. Write the solfege notes for the sharps by memory

2. Given a key signature of one sharp, state the sharp, then state
the rule to figure out the major key, and use whole notes to write
out the major scale. Note: put the correct key signature

3. Given a key signature of two sharps, use whole notes to write

out the major scale

Advanced: Writing bass clef - note what middle do is in treble and

bass clef. If you’re new to bass clef, you can start from middle do
and work your way down the scale.

This is Mary Had a Little Lamb in both treble and bass clef, where
bass clef is one octave down.

Sample 2 | 135
Neat trick: Look at the first note for bass clef, it looks like do in
treble clef. In your mind, say do, then find the third – do re mi. The
first note is mi, but an octave down from treble clef.

Exercise: Rewrite solfege exercise 11 in bass clef.

136 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Sample 3
Write the number, then the note:

1. sol (whole note), 2. low si (quarter note), 3. hi re (half note), 4.

fa (eighth note), 5. low la (dotted half note), 6. hi mi (dotted
quarter note), 7. re (whole note), 8. la (quarter note), 9. hi do
(half note), 10. hi sol (dotted quarter note)

If you finish, and this is correct, continue to intermediate level.

Practice counting ledger lines. Write the number, and then figure
out what each note is.

Advanced:

Look at the first page of Debussy's String Quartet. This is a very

bad xerox copy and you can't even tell if something is sharp or
natural!

Even worse, the third line says Alto and has a funny looking clef!
The rule there is the line at the center of this clef is middle do. If
that's true, then what normally looks like si is now middle do. For
the third line, read the note, then think up one note. Si is do. Do is
re.

1. What are your two flats?

Sample 3 | 137
2. Check the third line – do those two flats make sense here?

Now go through the marked areas and identify the almost invisible
music marking, and explain why it must be what it is.

Notes for marked areas:

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

4. ______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

5. ______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

6. ______________________________________________________

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Sample 3 | 139
Sample 4
To begin learning to compose, we need to work step by step,
starting with definitions. End goal: create a second harmonizing
voice to a solfege exercise (candidates: 16, 17, 24, 25).

Intervals – unison, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,

octave

1. Consonance – sound “agreeable”. Unison, third, fifth, sixth,

octave.

“Perfect” consonance: unison, fifth, octave.

2. Dissonant - “lacking harmony”. Second, fourth, seventh

Music motion – direct, contrary, oblique

• Direct – two voices go up or down in the same direction

mi fa sol – give an example of a second voice going in

direct motion, starting with do, then sol

• Contrary – one voice goes up while the other goes down

si do re – give an example of a second voice going in

contrary motion, starting with fa

• Oblique – one voice moves while the other stays the same

sol la si do – experiment and find a note that sounds good

when it stays the same

140 | Solfege Teaching Guide

Basic rules (“training wheels” to start composing):

• First rule: From perfect consonance to perfect consonance,

use contrary or oblique motion.

• Second rule: From perfect consonance to imperfect

consonance, use any three motions.

• Third rule: From imperfect consonance to perfect

consonance, use contrary or oblique.

• Fourth rule: From imperfect consonance to imperfect

consonance, use any three motions.

Use the rules as guidelines to create a counterpoint both above and

below the melody.

Sample 4 | 141
Additional Background
Some experiences pertaining to the French School methodology
may lend additional insights to the material presented in this
guide.

Back in 2003, I accidentally picked up a 16 year old piano student

because his father heard me playing the piano and strong-armed
me into helping his son. This student was highly intelligent, but
because he was missing so many fundamentals he had solfege
training privately along with his piano lessons. This was one of the
saddest experiments I have ever conducted, and firmly reinforced
why at French School we had solfege classes, not private solfege
training. The importance of creating a safe and rich environment
where students can build communitas, make mistakes, learn, and
mentor one another, cannot be overstated. And, having said this, I
am currently working on a LMS (Learning Management System)
version of the Dannhäuser exercises that will enable remote
learners to feel as if they are in our solfege classes.

***

While we started with students who had varying capabilities when

doing ear training, after 2 1/2 years, all are able to sing in tune
with the piano accompaniment. This required constant attention
from an accompanist who would repeatedly emphasize melody
notes when they were sung off-key. For those who don’t naturally
have a good ear, expect that this could take a year longer than
other students to achieve, and will require dogged persistence on

142 | Solfege Teaching Guide

both the student’s and teacher’s part.

***

When I first started classes at Juilliard, a professor once played a

video of a Bach Partita in D with the sheet music, but the Youtube
video played this in E. In our modern digital world, anyone can
retune recordings to any pitch. I transposed furiously the entire
time, and when the video ended I exhaled and went “whew!!”.
When I told everyone the partita was played in E, the professor
said “what?!”, marched to the piano, played an E, and said “well
I’ll be darned…”

First, any instructor who plays a video for a class should validate
pitches, since students may have absolute pitch. Second, this
illuminates one of the downsides of having absolute pitch using a
fixed do system. Also, when studying orchestration, students may
encounter different clefs like alto clef and tenor clef, and some
instruments sound one octave higher or lower than what is notated
in sheet music. Students with absolute pitch using a fixed do system
will need to learn how to adapt accordingly by focusing on the
shape of the music (intervals), instead of specific pitches. This is
also why advanced solfege training involving transposing existing
solfege exercises on the fly to another key is vital, and why more
advanced Dannhäuser solfege exercises introduce clefs other than
treble and bass.

***

At French School, beginner students would start with other

teachers in the school including Mme. Seguin, Mlle. Pfeiffer, or
Mrs. Tsuzuki. If they showed promise or reached a certain level

Additional Background | 143

they would audition with Mlle. Combe. Solfege training could
work the same way, by having those with a good ear in one class,
run by a teacher who is versed in the French School method, has
absolute pitch, and ideally is a composer which would lend
richness to the dictation classes.

This idea of creating a hierarchy of teachers, or segments of

teachers with different strengths, is a powerful concept.

***

While I never had lessons in music composition as a student at

French School, many French School alumni began composing on
their own thanks to solfege (especially music dictation) training,
including Carol Comune, Vince Di Mura, Liz Du Four, my sister and
myself. Some of them, including Liz Du Four, my sister, and others,
performed their own compositions in French School recitals.

In 1981, I was one of eight selected to join the pilot Gifted and
Talented program at my high school. I decided to try music
composition and wrote half of what eventually became Snowflakes
in 2008, then promptly quit the program because I was terrified of
having my teachers and classmates poking around in my brain
when I had no control over what I was creating. New composers
cannot both compose and control / productize the end result, so
early compositions can be a bit like a Rorschach test.

My little sister began composing around the same time that I

started. She progressed much faster than I did, and by age 16 she
wrote this jaw-dropping Toccata which, to this day, is one of my
favorites. When she was a student at Cornell studying technology,
she took a music composition class. She didn’t do well, saying the

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professor would complain that Bach wouldn’t have done this or
that. Granted, she may have taken a class focused on music
appreciation around Bach’s style, but still, that kind of feedback
isn’t helpful. This impacted her ability to compose for quite awhile.
After that happened, I vowed never to step into a conservatory
environment, and I kept that promise for over 30 years, until Judy
Waters tapped me to restart solfege classes at French School. This
makes me one of the rare data points among French School alumni
who can claim everything accomplished as a self-sufficient
musician and self-taught composer represents a pure French
School methodology baseline, without conservatory influence.
Grasping the power of this methodology after decades has
prompted me to write this book.

While one might think a conservatory like Juilliard would be

steeped in pure esoterica, composers in the Evening Division run
the gamut from self-taught to having significant conservatory
experience. Our professor developed a language devoid of much
musical esoterica, yet which is technically precise, to help us think
more analytically. He's thinking of starting a class called Rehab for
Composers, designed specifically for those who encountered a
traumatic experience with music instruction and vowed to go it
alone. So far I have found that what he does works for
everyone; he is able to make constructive suggestions that make
us better composers without assuming knowledge of music theory,
harmony, counterpoint, etc. My classmates and I have learned to
follow this same spirit in our reviews.

Additional Background | 145

Archives
Several documents from the French School archives may also lend
insight into the material presented in this guide. The first was
written by the founders of French School, and the lecture was read
at a recital on June 9th, 1928.

What is Solfeggio?

It is the science of music. Solfeggio is a science useful for all,

for adults as well as for children, very pleasant to study when it
is presented and taught according to a good method.

We do not ask pupils to do any homework. With one lesson

each week, however, they will learn to read music at sight, to
transpose at sight any melody whatsoever, to distinguish each
tone of an instrument, of a voice or of an orchestra,
immediately recognizing the notes, being able either to name
them or to reproduce them on another instrument, or even to
write them on paper ruled for music. All this is accomplished
perfectly, the harmonies and time being an exact copy of what
they have just heard.

We succeed in having any pupil accomplish this even if he

shows no ability at all with special exercises for the training of
the ear.

In our courses in Solfeggio we also teach our pupils, in addition

to what we have just explained to you, style, musical
interpretation, lives of composers and practical theory.

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 Of What Use is Solfeggio?

When one takes lessons in Solfeggio by this method, if the

pupil is studying singing, the piano, the violin, the flute, the
organ, or any other instrument whatsoever, he can read the
most difficult musical passage without effort, as easily as if he
were reading a book in his own language. In a word he actually
enjoys musical complications! Why do children almost never
like music or their music lessons? It is because of the great
difficulty which they have in reading music. Why does one not
read it as easily as his newspaper? And why should we not feel
and understand music as easily as the printed statements which
we read each day? You realize, we are sure, that the study of
an instrument is easy if one has taken lessons in Solfeggio.

A pupil is capable, if you put any piece of music in his hands,

simply by looking at it for the first time, to hear it with the ear
of his imagination as well as if it were being rendered on a
musical instrument - he hears through his eyes!

In a word, Solfeggio gives to pupils the right to call themselves

musicians; even if they do not study any instrument, they
acquire a musical culture sufficient to enable them to conduct
an orchestra or a choir extemporaneously. If a pupil who has
studied Solfeggio is one of an audience at a concert, he is at the
same time one who enjoys the music, one who can evaluate it,
and a critic of the first order. Is not the ability indicated by
these names worth the trouble of studying Solfeggio?

These same pupils whom we have mentioned, while listening

to a concert, are able to select and isolate and write down any
instrumental or orchestral theme which they have especially

Archives | 147
 liked and which they wish to remember - just as one takes
notes while listening to a lecture.

This method of teaching Solfeggio is that of the National

Conservatory of Paris and is used here in Plainfield in our
courses.

These same courses, which we give in Plainfield, were given

with great success in Paris during eight years and then in
several cities in Switzerland during twelve years. At Montreux
alone we had one hundred pupils with whom we achieved
surprising results.

We take children as young as four years and organize for that

age a sort of “Kindergarten of Music” which admirably begins
their music education.

The courses commence on the first of October, although pupils

may begin at any time in the year; for in each course there are
varied degrees of ability, and each time a part of the lesson is
especially reserved for the beginners.

The courses in Solfeggio are taught in French or English

according to the desire of the parents, and we repeat that they
will necessitate no homework and that each pupil will be
greatly interested since he will feel the charm of the method
which we have described.

Yvonne Combe

(Graduate cum laude of the National Conservatory of Music, Paris)

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 Hélène Pfeiffer

(Pupil of Mlle. Combe, formerly teacher at the New School of Music,

Montreux)

***

First part of an article in a 1950 New Jersey Music Magazine.

French School’s Founders

Two musicians who reside and pursue their art in Plainfield,

are Mlle. Yvonne Combe and Mlle. Helene Pfeiffer, founders of
the French School of Music. Both have had colorful careers.

Yvonne Combe was born in Paris. Her grandmother (La Caiva)

was a famous prima donna, who sang dramatic soprano
leading roles for twenty-five years at the Paris Opera House
before going on concert tours in all the great cities of France
and other European countries. Yvonne’s father died when she
was a year old and she traveled with her grandmother for six
or seven years, imbibing the tradition and atmosphere that
surround a noted artist. She received her musical foundation
through the teaching of her mother (the late Madame Louise H.
Combe), a well-known vocal instructor. Madame Combe was
an authoritative writer upon musical subjects. Her latest book,
“Method of Vocal Education,” was presented at the Beaux-Arts
Institute of Paris and the manuscript of it was exhibited in the
summer of 1937 at the International Exposition in Paris.

At the age of nine, Yvonne Combe entered the National

Conservatory of Paris and continued her musical education
there under the direction of Theodore Dubois (director of the

Archives | 149
 Conservatoire) and Gabriel Faure. She advanced far in piano-
virtuoso work with Marguerite Long, Paul Drop and Roger
Ducasse.

Mlle. Combe gave me a signed copy of her mother’s book: Méthode

- Éducation Vocale - Louise H. Combe. At the end it says:

LOUISE H. COMBE, Officier d’Académie

École Nouvelle de Musique,
Montreux (Suisse)

***

I will close these sections of background and historic material with

one of several letters written to the “Tantes” at The French School
of Music by Seymour Bernstein. The M.E.C. refers to the NJ Music
Education Council, which held annual piano competitions. Two of
his letters are typed (including this one), and the other is
handwritten.

Nov. 17, 1964

My dear Tantes:

At last I have a chance to write to you.

I was at the M.E.C. concert last Sunday and was there, I must
say, out of duty to the organization. But what I heard,
especially from your pupils, was something so astonishing, so
inspiring, that I feel it would have been a great loss to me had I
not gone.

Perhaps Jim Correnti outplayed them all with his unusual

sincerity and sensitivity and probably Robert Taub is a genius

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and will become a great pianist. And what are we to say of that
incredible girl, Julie Jacobson? Amazing!

But now, what can we say to my dear Tantes who were

responsible for such refined and mature playing. You must be
truly great teachers. Your pupils testify to this fact and I am so
proud to know you. You are the ones who should present the
master lessons and set an example to all N.J. teachers. I can’t
recall ever hearing such musical values coupled with technical
excellence from young N.J. pianists and my heart goes out to
you in bravos and congratulations.

Sincerely,

Seymour Bernstein

Archives | 151
Synesthesia
I was surprised to learn my brother-in-law has synesthesia, and
since I was curious as to whether or not synesthesia could be used
as a tool in developing or refining absolute pitch, I emailed him a
series of questions. These were his responses:

I think I can answer a few of these. First of all I don't think

there's just one kind of color synesthesia. I did a bit of research
into it when I first learned it was not an ordinary experience
and I found some accounts that matched what I experience and
many others that don't. Most of the academic treatments of it
seem quick to associate the responses with changes in pitch.
That's not what I experience. When it happens to me it's a
function of changes in tone, timbre, sound texture, etc.
Sometimes pitch change can trigger it but only if it also results
in a change in the sound quality in some way. For example I
dabble with synthesizers quite a bit and I've noticed that if I
play say a pure sine wave and steadily lower the pitch through
the octaves it will take on different characters due to the the
inconsistent way the electronics(filters)+speakers(resonances)
+room(reverbs) render the signal over the range. That can
evoke some subtle synesthesia experiences for me, and I
wonder if that effect is sometimes wrongly attributed to simply
the pitch changing within studies that don't take all aspects
into account.

Also I don't think the colors are created by the brain. I think it's
just a memory phenomenon where memories of sounds
somehow get cross-referenced with memories of colors at a

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very deep level. Like maybe when there's an unusual sound, the
brain does a query to gather as much information about what it
might be as possible, and for some reason color information is
a response that overrides the others. The reason I think this is
the case is because the colors I most often experience are the
ones most common in the world around. Greens, blues,
oranges, browns, violets and "metallic" colors like silver and
gold. Noticeably missing are the purer shades of red. I've never
experienced a red sound. Maybe if I wreck into a stop sign
sometime that might change.

1. How do you manage the extra sensory information? Does

this overwhelm people with synesthesia? How do you learn to
deal with this?

In my case it's not an overwhelming experience. Just

noticeable. I liken it to when you smell some kind of odor,
good or bad, and it instantly reminds you of a situation, a
place, a person, etc. It's not a conscious effort, it's just that
somehow an experience has been associated with that
particular odor in the memory banks, and it leaps out. That
seems to be common with people and is probably a form of
synesthesia itself. In the case of the color synesthesia
sometimes when I hear certain sounds what I can only describe
as color textures come instantly to mind. Like watercolor
smudges. It's not an unpleasant thing and I don't really give it
much thought although every once in awhile it does grab my
attention in stronger ways (see below). I don't know why that
is and I haven't found any consistent pattern to it.

2. Are you able to listen to music while you work, or is that

Synesthesia | 153
 distracting? Is it distracting if you drive and listen to music?

No it's not distracting in any way. When I listen to music I'm

frequently thinking about other things anyway so it's just part
of the noise.

3. Can you speak to what happens to people who have

tinnitus?

No, but if I ever got tinnitus and it was "synesthesized" to a

particular color that never changed then I could see how that
might be frustrating.

4. What happens with people who have synesthesia who are

color blind? And what is it like dealing with a greater level of
information (ear) that maps to a lesser level of information
(color blind eye).

That's an interesting question. I suspect they would recall

whatever colors they are familiar with since they would be the
colors that get cross-referenced in memory.

5. Do people who have synesthesia see the exact same things?

For example, do is red, re is green, mi is blue, etc. Or do they
differ? Someone else sees do is purple, re is pink, mi is teal.

That's another interesting one and I'll share a particular

experience that makes me wonder. I was in a Barnes & Noble a
few years ago and they were playing a song over the speakers
that gave me a stronger than usual synesthesia episode. My
thought was it was the orange-est song I'd ever heard. Like
bursty multiple shades of orange. I was intrigued and I wrote
down some of the lyrics and then looked it up when I got home

154 | Solfege Teaching Guide

(search on Youtube for “Junip Tide”.) Advance to 3:50 where it
starts a long sustained crescendo of piles of interesting
textures.

Now notice the album cover. A sunset! Total coincidence?

Maybe. Or maybe the cover artist experienced the same thing I
did. By the way just about every song on the album sounds
orange-ish to me. So there's something about the band's style,
choice of instruments, arrangements, or something that they've
knowingly or unknowingly reliably reproduced with respect to
color synethesia.

The buzz sounds to me like a sawtooth wave from a synthesizer

and that seemed to be the trigger in my mind. So I think the
effect can be triggered on demand under the right
circumstances and maybe these guys are being clever with that.

6. What about sharps and flats? And what is the unit of

measure for color change? Is it whole steps, half steps, quarter
steps? What happens when you hear a flat la flat? Are the
changes gradual or discrete?

Again, for me it's not a function of pitch. Not directly. It's about
tone and texture. Although I'd bet that by intentionally mixing
a few pure waveforms together and then detuning some of
them the result could evoke some syneth responses since it
would create unique timbres. After all, that's the basis of
additive synthesis. I'll try it sometime.

7. What happens when a car horn honks, someone clinks a

glass, or a train rolls by?

Synesthesia | 155
 All sudden very high frequency sounds are bluish-white to me.
Cymbal crashes, breaking glass, whistles, etc. That's pretty
much a constant. As are just about all sounds that stimulate
ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). Very low
frequency sounds have no color. Maybe they are unusual
enough that I have no color memories to associate with them.

His summarized assessment:

I don't experience pure high saturation colors like in some of

the reports. It's more like low saturation ambient lighting
against smudgy backdrops with occasional flashes of brighter
color. Like what you might see if you ran some slow motion
video through an image processor that applied an extreme blur
effect to it. The images would degrade to just one or a few
dominant color smudges at any point in time. So my theory, for
what it's worth, is that the effect is involuntary memory recall
of imagery that's so poor that only a few colors bleed through.
The defect is the involuntary recall that's stimulated by
different sounds.

As for the correlation with pitch changes I don't understand

that. Like Kanye West describes, the effect for me is consistent
with the kind of sound maker involved. Piano has dominantly
blue-ish tones no matter what note is played. Something about
the timbre or harmonics or whatever of that instrument evokes
that particular color experience. Collections of many rich
sounds like in an orchestra can have a dominant color
depending on what piece is being played. Different collective
timbres at different moments I suppose.

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Piano Practice
This section will augment both Fundamentals of Piano Practice and
this solfege guide with relevant history and material related to
piano practice, to show how solfege classes and piano lessons
reinforce one another.

New Students
These instructions were given to me by Stephen Waters back in the
late 1980s when I wanted to pick up a few piano students on the
side, probably written by Mlle. Combe.

Piano Lessons for Young Beginners (How to Start)

1. Learn by heart: do re mi fa sol la si do / do si la sol fa mi re

do (and C, D, E since that is the norm in the US...)

2. Find the notes on the keyboard

a. in the order of the scale

b. then jumping around

c. focus the attention on the order of the black keys,

two close together then three, alternating two and
three. Every time there is a set of two black keys,
find the do in front, then find all the dos, all the res,

Piano Practice | 157

 all the mis etc. (1 chip every three notes)

3. Reward every good answer or exact exercise with colored

chips

4. Position of the fingers - very important - slightly curved,

playing with tips.

a. Little finger and thumb, being short, on the edge of

the key. The three longer fingers where they
naturally fall.

b. No motion of the wrist, level with the arm, adjust

seat accordingly with cushions or telephone books.
Better yet, use an adjustable stool.

5. Playing

a. Count slowly one-two for each finger to give time to

concentrate on good position

b. Do not hop or let go of the key until playing the

next note

c. Start on the high do next to the middle do for the

right hand

d. then the left hand on the next do down

e. Several times, give a chip for each hand to reward

the effort

6. Le Carpentier

158 | Solfege Teaching Guide

a. Page 10, #3 first, reading the notes, point to all the
dos then all the res, then all the dos and the res,
reward, then point to all the mis, then all the fas,
then all the sols, then all the notes as they come in
order, reward. (Name the notes as the teacher
points to them)

b. Play the notes and sing naming each note as you

play, trying hard not to look at your fingers. Feel
them keeping steady position, this becomes a must
at the third lesson. (Do not mention position too
much while the pupil concentrates on reading and
playing these notes, one thing at a time.)

c. On the second week, if #3 is good, proceed the

same way for #1 exercise, then #2 on third week
and so on. Go to page 11 through treble clef
exercises before starting bass clef exercises. Explain
why middle do is above the staff with bass clef and
below the staff with treble.

d. Page 7 - Insist on counting out loud, focus attention

on whole notes having 4 counts or beats, and
quarter notes having only one each. Explain bar
lines separating measures, each measure getting
four counts whether there is one note or four notes
to play. Then explain that each finger has a number
and make the pupil show which one is #1, #4, #3,
#2, #5 with each hand and refer to small black
numbers above or below each note, or fingering,
which they have to read mentally along with the

Piano Practice | 159

 notes while counting regularly aloud 1, 2, 3, 4
(indicated in first measure in red).

⁃ First - right hand 5 times every day, second -

left hand 5 times

⁃ At the second lesson, try both hands

together

⁃ Go on from there only if the hand position is

right, giving one line hands together and
one line hands separate, every week

Encourage by praising any effort, and give chips as a reward. Have

the pupil count them at the end of the lesson, giving stars. Keep
star book dated and in order, just like a report card. Give prizes for
solfege and piano.

Le Carpentier
This is now out of print, so the following pages with markings
show how with an efficient number of exercises, new students
could immediately begin building piano playing skills.

Piano students at French School worked on two things

160 | Solfege Teaching Guide

simultaneously:

1. Short exercises from Le Carpentier, Le Couppey, Czerny, etc.

to slowly build skills, analogous to climbing up a ladder one
rung at a time. The point wasn’t necessarily to perfect the
exercises, although many were musical enough they were
performed at French School recitals.

2. Students would also be assigned a longer piece to learn

(almost immediately).

This approach yields benefits over just playing pieces, or just

focusing on exercises:

• Each exercise builds a new skill one rung at a time on the

ladder. If students targeted the top of the ladder
immediately without scaffolding their way to the top, this
would be frustrating and counterproductive.

• Tackling a new short, self-contained exercise every couple

weeks forces students to quickly evaluate and break down
new music, reinforcing what is learned in solfege class.

• Tackling a larger piece builds skills related to endurance

and discipline, and encourages students to learn effective
strategies like working on the beginning and end of the
piece first, and tackling the hardest parts first.

• After a number of exercises, when students have achieved a

new level of competence, the number of pieces a student
can play expands.

Piano Practice | 161

162 | Solfege Teaching Guide
Piano Practice | 163
Students are assigned one or two lines each for a short exercise
and a larger piece, to practice for the following week’s lesson.
Students would be assigned the new lines first H.S. for “hands

164 | Solfege Teaching Guide

separate”, then H.Tog for “hands together”. Students quickly learn
the material by using the continuity rule, and rotate between
practicing the exercise and piece so that they can periodically “get
it and forget it”.

Piano Practice | 165

Some helpful handwritten comments in these pages:

• Count out loud

• Name notes

• Don’t pump arm or jerk wrist

• Don’t drop wrist

• Play / sing

• Do not look at your fingers

• Don’t rest non-playing fingers on keys

• Pretend play left hand (an excellent way to scaffold from

hands separate to hands together)

166 | Solfege Teaching Guide

As the exercises progress into short pieces, some may have B.H. at
the end of the assigned portion, short for “by heart” or by memory.

Piano Practice | 167

They may also have “fast”, to indicate full speed.

The entire process unfolds as follows:

• Hands separate, learn slow using the continuity rule

• Hands together slow, pretend playing left hand with

continuity rule to scaffold to hands together

• Memorize

• Hands separate to build up speed, using the continuity rule

• Hands together at full speed

As to what references to use for today, since Le Carpentier is out of

print, Alfred’s has books for children and adults. They use
alphabetic notation (CDE vs. do re mi).

168 | Solfege Teaching Guide

References
Adler, Samuel. The Study of Orchestration. New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, Third Edition, 2002,

Chang, Chuan C. Fundamentals of Piano Practice. Florida: Third

Edition, 2016.

Dannhäuser, A. Solfège de Solfèges. New York: G. Shirmer, Inc.,

1986.

Mann, Alfred. The Study of Counterpoint - from Johann Joseph Fux’s

Gradus ad Parnassum. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1965.

Miyazaki, Ken’ichi. Learning Absolute Pitch by Children: A Cross-

sectional Study. Music Perception Volume 24, Issue 1. 2006.

Downloadable material
See EileenSauer.com under the Projects > Solfege Guide for the
following links:

• Solfege Note Types

• Solfege Note Types Accompaniment

• Solfege Review and Brain Teasers

• Sibelius Notation Checklist

References | 169
Online References
William Wieland, music instructor: https://www3.northern.edu/
wieland/index.htm

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Acknowledgements
I want to express my deepest gratitude to Bob Marcus, who was
my dad’s boss when my dad was a physicist working at the AT&T
Bell Laboratories think tank in Murray Hill, NJ. His daughters,
Karen and Suzanne, took piano lessons at The French School of
Music, and Bob’s recommendation to my dad changed the course
of our family’s history. I can’t begin to grasp how our lives would
have unfolded without French School.

Mademoiselle Yvonne Combe, founder of French School, and her

student, Stephen Waters, affected many lives over an almost 90
year period. When Mlle. Combe passed away in 1990, alumni in
our generation were still in our 20s and we were nowhere near
reaching our full potential. Mlle. Combe, I wish you could have
seen how our lives have unfolded.

Judy Waters, this journey wouldn’t have happened if you had not
kept the school open. The French School of Music celebrated its
90th anniversary in October 2017 because of you, and the events
that have unfolded since we restarted solfege classes helped us to
understand how impactful the school was, and understand that
what we learned from Mlle. Combe is worth passing along. Your
family’s sacrifice over many decades kept Yvonne Combe’s legacy
alive for new generations of music students.

Conrad Cummings, my composition professor at Juilliard, has been

instrumental in adding to my French School foundation, enabling
this guide to give insights into conservatory environments. Thank
you for creating a safe and rich environment within which we

Acknowledgements | 171
could all learn. Walking into your classroom was like coming
home.

My conversations over the years with French School alumni Grace

Boeringer, Louis Cyrille Martin, Carol Comune, Robert Taub, Vince
Di Mura, Wendy Jaffe, Karen Zereconski, Suzanne and Tim Waters,
Matthew Chow, Janet Borgobello, Yves Sukhu, and Arhant Rao
have been extremely insightful.

Al Pendleton, my Chorale director at Governor Livingston Regional

High School, started me on my journey as a composer through the
Gifted and Talented Program. He studied music at Westminster
Choir College, as did Stephen Waters, and he is an outstanding
musician. He once told me that while he understands the value of
solfege, he has never used solfege. So while the French School
methodology is all that I know, this conversation is a reminder that
there are multiple ways to skin a cat. Having said that, neither he,
nor my Juilliard professors, have absolute pitch. The French School
solfege methodology is designed to help students develop absolute
pitch or absolute relative pitch.

My solfege students may not have realized they were guinea pigs
in the research needed to write this solfege teaching guide. All of
you have surprised me more than you will ever know. Thank you
for joining me on this amazing journey.

I’m grateful that our Chang family (dad Chuan, mom Merry, and
sister Sue-Lynn) has enjoyed decades of interesting dinner
conversations around music and French School. My brother-in-law
David Hinson has had some interesting comments about
synesthesia. And thank you to my husband Frank Sauer, for your

172 | Solfege Teaching Guide

support during one of life’s most unexpected detours.

Acknowledgements | 173
About the Author

A New Jersey-based composer of contemporary classical music and

some jazz, Eileen's work spans piano, string, and wind
instrumentations. She studies composition and orchestration in
The Juilliard School's Evening Division.

Eileen has worked as a technologist and real estate investor, (B.S.

in Math - Computing from University of Notre Dame), and lives in
Jersey City, NJ with her husband Frank and cat Cassie.

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