ALTERNATIVE TONAL SYLLABLES             posted  February 16, 2015

(for other posts in English see Posts in English scrolling down the Categorías list on the right of the page)

This post is for those readers who are interested in one of the main ideas of this blog: how to adapt Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory to a musical system where the tonal syllables Do,re,mi…  are note names (used instead of letters) and therefore it is impossible to use them for singing tonal patterns since the same syllables refer to two different things (absolute notes and relative pitches).

Tonal syllables are a valuable tool for developing the ability to “audiate”, or think and comprehend music. Used in patterns belonging to different tonal (ie. harmonic) functions which students learn to differentiate and sing by imitating the teacher, the syllables allow them to acquire a “musical vocabulary” that can be used to create their own music, and help them comprehend from a very early age how these functions are used to create musical discourse – all this, aside from educating the voice and pitch differentiation, a requisite for playing an instrument in a truly musical way.

However, in countries like Spain, France, Portugal and many others, the traditional tonal syllables do,re,mi… are used as note names, making it very confusing to use them as tonal syllables. In my teaching in Spain, while searching for a way not to confuse my students I discarded the idea of using letter names for the notes, as it is a foreign system to the students (I explain my reasons in more detail in a different post in Spanish). I also preferred not to use numbers, for reasons Edwin Gordon explains very well in his book Learning Sequences in Music and which I summarize (also in Spanish) in another post.

After searching unsuccessfully for a different set of tonal syllables that would work in the same way as the traditional ones, I decided to create my own set of alternative syllables to use in applying Gordon’s ideas with my students without causing confusion. The syllables, which I explain in this post, have proved to be functional and have worked very well with my students, who have accepted and learned them easily and progressed enormously in musical understanding and ease of playing due to the use of Music Learning Theory, aided by the alternative tonal syllables. These syllables are now increasingly sparking interest in teachers who students are accustomed to fixed Do syllables for note names.

The requirements I considered necessary for the syllables were:

• They should be pleasant and easy to pronounce in the languages they will most likely be used in.
• They should not contain any of the traditional fixed Do syllables do, re, mi…
• They should not contain any of Gordon’s rhythm syllables.
• When they are combined, they should not form words with undesirable meanings in the language they will be used in.
• They should be easy for teachers to remember and learn.
• They should be modifiable in a coherent way in the case of wanting to use chromatic syllables.

These alternative tonal syllables are To Ke Ni Sa Lo Na Ti. They work in the same way as the traditional syllables in the moveable Do system used by Gordon, where Do is the tonic in major mode and La is the tonic in minor mode. That is, in the alternative syllables To is the tonic in the major mode and Na is the tonic in the minor mode.

Tonal syllables in major mode (where traditionally Do is the tonic)

Tonal syllables in minor mode (where traditionally La is the tonic)

As you can observe, the alternative syllables maintain the same vowels as the traditional ones, changing the consonant to a phonetically similar one (as far as this was possible) so as to aid teachers in remembering them. Of course, any syllables could be used – these are simply the ones I opted for. However, in my opinion it is essential that the aforementioned requirements be met (if anyone finds syllables that work better and meet all of the requirements, I would encourage them to share them with others – including me!).

These tonal syllables have achieved highly positive results with students: they learn them easily and enjoy singing them, teachers can memorize them easily because they are similar to the traditional ones, and after working with them as well as with Gordon’s rhythm syllables following the learning sequences established in MLT, in a short time there is a notable increase in musical comprehension in the students, which leads them to much better reading and understanding of written music, much more natural musical interpretation, and an ability to improvise and transpose that most other students find difficult, to say the least.

If you are interested in learning more about how to use these tonal syllables with your students, please leave a comment or email me at kraymond@oidomusical.com. I will be happy to respond. I also offer the possibility of connecting online via Skype for consultation – email me for more information.