SOL-FA, TONIC SOL FA, or MOVABLE DOH, SYSTEM, a modern scientific method of classifying, ex plaining and teaching the facts of music, of especial value in the acquisition of the art of sight-singing. The system proceeds on the principle of giving the chief prominence to the fact that there is in reality but one scale in music, which is raised or lowered according to the pitch of the key. The seven notes of the diatonic scale are represented by the solfeggio (q.v.) syllables, or rather modifications of them — DOH, RAY, ME, FAH, SOH, LAH, TE ; DOH standing for the keynote in whatever key the music is written. In the early exercises the pupils are accustomed to a scale or dia gram, called the Modulator, representing pictorially the exact intervals of a key, with the semitones in their proper places. In written music only the initial letters of the sol feggio syllables are used— d, r, m, f, s, 1, t; the higher octaves of a given note being distinguished by above, as d', r*; and the lower by a , or , below, nil, m,. The name of the key is prefixed to a tune as its signature, as °Key B floe — the keynote being, in all the major keys, Doa. To indicate rhythm a per pendicular line precedes the stronger or louder accent, a colon: the softer accent and, where necessary, a shorter perpendicular line I the accent of medium force. A note immediately following an accent mark is sup posed to occupy the time from that accent to the next. A horizontal line indicates the continu ance of the previous note through another pulse or beat. A dot divides a pulse into equal sub divisions. A dot after a mark of continuance indicates that previous note is to be continued through half that pulse. A comma indicates that the note preceding it fills a quarter of the time from one accent to the next; a dot and comma together three-quarters. An inverted comma ' is used to denote that the note pre ceding it fills one-third of the time from one ac cent to the next. An unfilled space indicates a rest or pause of the voice. A line below two or more notes signifies that they are to be sung to the same syllable. The following example of the tonic sol-fa shown alongside of the ordi nary notation, illustrates most of the features named.
In modulating into a new key the note through which the transition is taken is indi cated by a combination of the syllabic name which it has in the old key with that which it has in the new — me lah, for example, being conjoined into m'lah, and in writing this note (termed a bridge note) the initial letter of its syllable, as a member of -the old key, is placed in small size before and above the initial of the syllable of the new, as ml ds. In the case,
however, of an accidental, where the transition is but momentary, a sharpened note changes its syllabic vowel into e, and a flattened note into aw, spelled a, as fah, fe, soh, se, te, ta. In the minor mode lah is the keynote; the sharp sixth is called bay and the sharp seventh se. The signature of the key of A minor is °Key CG; lah is A.
The method of teaching is of equal impor tance with the notation itself. For a full ex planation of this system, consult Curwen, `Course of Lessons and Exercises in Tonic Sol-fa.' Its advocates maintain that it pos sesses advantages over the common system in the facility of its acquisition; the distinctness with which it indicates the keynote and the position of the semitones; the cheapness with which it is printed; and the manner in which, they say, it explains the proper mental effects of notes in harmony and key-relationship and em ploys them in teaching. It has, however, been objected to by others, from its withdrawal of the direct indication of both absolute and relative pitch to the eye which exists in the common notation, from its limited applicability to instrumental music and from its acquirement not being, like that of the ordinary notation, an introduction to the world of musical literature. It presents, however, no barrier, but rather a road to the acquisition of the older notation; and its widespread use and the testimony of the general body of practical teachers are eloquent arguments in its favor.
In the history of music various attempts have been made to introduce a musical nota tion in which the staff with its lines and spaces is dispensed with. Jean Jacques Rousseau sug gested, but afterward discarded, a notation where the notes of the scale were indicated by the Arabic numerals — a principle which is the chief feature of the Cheve system, largely used in France, the time-names of which have been adopted by the Tonic The latter system; similar to Rousseau's in its leading fea tures, has been promoted chiefly by the Rev. John Curwen (q.v.), who obtained his main principles about 1840 from Miss Glover, a teacher at Norwich. It was brought into al most general use in the singing schools of Great Britain and her colonies and later into the United States with moderate success. The London Tonic Sol-fa College was founded in 1869.