The Origins of Solfeggio and the Importance of Musical Language.

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Studying music can be such a rewarding activity! It’s so much more than just a science. Although it’s true that there is a whole host of theoretical knowledge behind it, there is also art and feeling.

In addition, because there are so many different specialised aspects that professionals can work with, it can offer endless opportunities to give us satisfaction and enrichen our lives.

To understand everything related to this beautiful activity, we need to absorb the rules that govern it and to truly do that, we have to understand solfeggio.

Generally speaking, solfeggio is a musical training system aimed at teaching intonation with our voice or with an instrument. However, the same word is often used to refer to all music theory.

 

In general, solfeggio has two main objectives:

  • Firstly: to train the student to read any score of music faster.
  • Secondly: to help the student memorise the names, positions, and duration of all musical notes.

The development of these skills is not straightforward and can take any student several years of exhaustive practice to master.

 

However, it is worth taking the time to absorb and digest this knowledge.

What are the origins of solfeggio?

The musical writing system as we know it today has evolved dramatically.

The first signs of musical transcription date from almost the same time that writing appeared as a means of storing information.

Given it’s such an old activity, it’s hardly surprising that it has experienced so many changes.

Over time these gradual changes have created a consistent methodology, which now provides a structured and coherent way to represent any melody, which can be played by anyone who understands it.

What benefits does solfeggio bring to learning music?

It has already been said that solfeggio can become complicated and, on certain occasions, even tedious to grasp.

This raises the question of whether we can do without it. Truthfully, the answer is yes, we can.

However, doing without it, would mean sacrificing a huge number of musical benefits that this methodology provides us: if we know how to apply the theory thoroughly.

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The most important benefits that solfeggio brings are:

1.      Solfeggio allows you to read scores. This opens the door for us to be able to reproduce any melody that has been written using this notation. This means that in the case of a deceased composer, or the composer being unavailable to consult, anybody could easily reproduce a piece of work.

2.     It makes composing music easier. Knowing solfeggio is a great tool for those who enjoy composing. Not only because it serves to guide the composer in his melody, but also because it makes it easier to remember. Just take a look at sheet music.

3.     It expands musical knowledge, allowing us to understand, in a more visual way, the behavior of elements such as chords, intervals and scales.

As we can see, the benefits make this cognitive effort totally and completely worth learning.

Why is it important to learn musical language?

Before being able to answer this question, it is necessary to make it clear that musical language goes beyond solfeggio.

Musical language is made up of all the graphic tools necessary to compose a musical work.

Solfeggio, on the other hand, only focuses on the basic positions of the notes of a melody.

Bearing this in mind, it is now easier to focus on the importance of musical language.

 

To start with, we can say that music is a very effective means of communication.

It conveys not only messages, but also thoughts and feelings.

In addition, expressing ourselves through it, helps maintain our emotional balance.

As far as human development is concerned, musical language has been shown to activate important parts of the brain.

This is extremely important for children, because at an early age the cognitive abilities of a human being can be further enhanced.

This is reflected in the fact that it is acquired more naturally when we are young.

 

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Despite all this, it is a mistake to think that if we are adults, we will not achieve our goals.

Although not at the same rate as children, studies have shown that even in mature stages, we can fully develop our musical potential.

We just may need more discipline and patience.

In short, music is a science and an art that is worth studying.

It doesn’t matter what age we are, as long as we do it with discipline, dedication and, above all, passion.