Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Use of the sol-fa syllables to note the tones of the scale; solmization.
  • noun A singing exercise in which the sol-fa syllables are used instead of text.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In music:
  • noun Same as solmization.
  • noun A vocal exercise consisting of tones variously combined in steps, skips. or running passages, sung either to simple vowels or to arbitrary syllables, and designed to develop the quality, flexibility, and power of the voice.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mus.) The system of arranging the scale by the names do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, by which singing is taught; a singing exercise upon these syllables.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music a method of sight singing music that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the movable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a voice exercise; singing scales or runs to the same syllable
  • noun singing using solfa syllables to denote the notes of the scale of C major

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, from solfa, sol-fa; see sol-fa.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word solfeggio.

Examples

  • And take a look now at some of other words he had to handle during the finals -- something like "marmoraceous," "mistassini," "solfeggio" -- I really have no idea if I'm saying any of these right, but it sounds good for now.

    CNN Transcript May 30, 2003 2003

  • After the Mass and the reception which followed, Canon Lebocq gave an introduction to Gregorian Chant for beginners, underlining its historical origins as well as the rudiments of solfeggio.

    Report on ICK chant workshop 2009

  • She studied solfeggio with Professor Jacques Goulet and voice with Celine Marier.

    Personal Information for Sarah Fischer Jewish Women's Archive 2010

  • Caténaires is an unbroken perpetual-motion solfeggio, a fighter-jet-fast stream of equal notes (played, fighter-jet-fast, by Sandra Gu), and yet Carter still is shifting the time around in his usual fashion; it's like a pixelated version of himself.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • Caténaires is an unbroken perpetual-motion solfeggio, a fighter-jet-fast stream of equal notes (played, fighter-jet-fast, by Sandra Gu), and yet Carter still is shifting the time around in his usual fashion; it's like a pixelated version of himself.

    Magna Carter (4): Identity Politics Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • She studied solfeggio with Professor Jacques Goulet and voice with Celine Marier.

    Personal Information for Sarah Fischer 2010

  • Having finished her morning tea she went to the ballroom, which she particularly liked for its loud resonance, and began singing her solfeggio.

    War and Peace 2003

  • Think of a voice-trainer singing each solfeggio and song with his pupil during the lesson.

    The Child-Voice in Singing treated from a physiological and a practical standpoint and especially adapted to schools and boy choirs Francis E. Howard

  • No, it was solfeggio, horrid dry scales to sing, and rhythm, and notation.

    The Happy Venture Edith Ballinger Price 1947

  • A musical test was instituted at the examination for the Brevet superieur [252] which made the study of solfeggio a more serious matter in the Ecoles Normales.

    Musicians of To-Day Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944 1915

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • An exercise for the voice in which the sol-fa syllables are used.

    February 15, 2008

  • On this the gamester, finding that I had cut my teeth of wisdom sooner than suited his purpose, turned me off very coolly, saying: Go about your business, master Scipio, and speed as you may deserve. I do not like to play with folks who are in the habit of revoking. Get out of my sight, or I shall set your solfeggio in a crying key.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 10 ch. 10

    October 10, 2008