The syllables used to sing musical notes are called solfège (from the Italian solmisazione). The standard system uses seven syllables that correspond to the seven notes of the major scale:
Do – Re – Mi – Fa – Sol – La – Ti (or Si in many European countries)
You'll know it from The Sound of Music: "Do, a deer, a female deer…"
The two main systems
- Movable Do (common in the U.S. and pop/folk tradition): Do is always the first note of whatever key you're singing in. So in C major, Do = C; in G major, Do = G.
- Fixed Do (common in classical and Spanish/Italian/French traditions): Do is always C, Re is always D, and so on, regardless of key signature.
Chromatic notes
When you need sharper or flatter notes mid-phrase, singers add syllables:
The movable-Do tradition leans on Di, Ri, Fi, Si, Li (ascending sharps); fixed-Do traditions often use the chromatic solfège taught by Curwen — Daw, Ray, Me, Faw, So, Law, Tew with sharpened versions like Dey, Ray, Fay.
Commonly seen variants
- "Ti" vs. "Si": Sarah Grahame's conventions and the Anglo-American standard use Ti; much of continental Europe uses Si (except Spain, where "Si" is reserved for B natural and they say "Si bemol" for B♭).
- "So" vs. "Sol": Interchangeable in English; "Sol" is traditional, "So" is more common in hymnals and Sound of Music.
What's it good for?
- Ear training — singing intervals hands-on rather than calculating them.
- Choir teaching — gives every singer a common reference, even when sight-reading.
- Pop songwriting — many studio vocalists hum-do their way through a melody to find where it sits.
Want me to sketch out the solfège for a specific key (C major, G major, F minor), or show the movable-Do mapping for the circle of fifths?