Which Solfa to Start with in Kodály Music Lessons

Let’s start with the uncontroversial young beginner

Whether it’s a music lesson or a piano lesson, I, along with many other Kodály practitioners, start with the descending minor 3rd so-mi – the fifth and third degrees of the major scale.

• It’s perfect for young children
• It’s the natural interval of childhood all over the world
• Think “ner ner, you can’t get me”
• Easiest for them to pitch
• Of course that playground chant is often heard with the note a major second above ner ner na ner ner – so mi la so mi

la is the next pitch to develop and there are so many songs with just that toneset, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Remember in Kodály music lessons it’s all about preparation presentation and practice so you need plenty of repertoire to prepare, tiny presentation, and then plenty of repertoire for practice. It’s rediscovering and applying the knowledge in different contexts that really develops the skills effectively and permanently.

Not too small, after all semitones are the hardest to pitch, they’re far too close

Imagine learning to write or draw… Think about the gross motor skills you need to develop in order to start to write or draw. Confidence and coordination grows and then you can develop the fine motor skills needed for precision.

It’s the same with the voice. First we need to develop that larger interval before we can focus in on the smaller ones. But of course, remember small children may only have a singing range of a 6th, so intervals much larger than a third will also be less stable as they approach the limits of their range. And we all know, even as adults, how much harder it is to write in larger print.

So finding that sweet spot is the aim.

For singing students I like G and E or A and F sharp

For piano students I’ll use F sharp and D sharp (or E flat) because that’s where we’ll be playing our pieces initially

What about older beginners, or adults?

Well here’s the controversial bit.

Lots of teachers, including some of the Kodály gurus advocate for starting with mi-re-do. They say that so mi songs can sound babyish and put off older beginners.

But here’s my problem. It doesn’t matter how old the beginners are. And I’ve taught all ages, from primary school, to teenagers, to working and retired adults.

If they can’t sing in tune, I want them to learn in the most positive way possible.

I want them to succeed as quickly as possible. And to do that I need two pitches. A higher pitch and a lower pitch.

It’s far easier to distinguish between two pitches than three. Even if all you’re doing is identifying if they’re getting higher or getting lower.

When we’re notating, even if they’re old enough to go straight to stave lines, it is still way easier to see high line and low line, or high space and low space, rather than a combination

And they still have that innate ability to sing the descending minor third from their childhood, so that’s going to set them up to succeed faster too

And remember my mantra – it won’t seem babyish if they have to concentrate to be able to do it. If it doesn’t come easily, then it won’t feel babyish.

Of course we might need to choose different repertoire but there are lots of so-mi examples in repertoire that is appropriate for teenagers and adults.

And once you have la so mi then there are loads of examples in pop music, as members of my adult musicianship classes will know

I actually have a mini course for members inside Doremi demonstrating how a simple song can be used in ways that are definitely NOT babyish. And today I’ve decided to open that up to you guys too. So just click here and sign up for free!