minstrel: Re: minstrel digest, Vol 1 #129 - 11 msgs

[Corrie Bergeron]

Elaine wrote:  "A lot of inexperienced singers believe that being able to 
sightread equates to being able to look at a notated A and produce it..."

As I understand it, that skill is called "perfect pitch," as is its 
converse: hearing a note and being able to name it.  Recent research I've 
heard of tends to correlate this ability with early training in music.  If 
you learn to sing (accurately) at the same time you're learning to speak, 
you become natually able to identify pitches.  Seems obvious in retrospect 
when you consider that many languages are inflected - Chinese, for 
example.



Vivien wrote:"Now, it gets a little more complicated if you're looking at 
musica ficta or accidentals.  For the Aeolian, above, you'll need a sol 
sharp.  This is
normally sung as si.  You may also need a fa sharp, or fi.  So the melodic
minor scale, ascending form, is sung..."


Vivien is a mean, mean lady.  Smart, but very very mean.  My brain hurts 
now.


But since we're getting into a discussion of variant (deviant?) solfege, 
what syllable system is used in India?  I have a guitar student from 
Bombay, and the solfege he mutters to himself is something other than 
"do-re-mi."


Brendan