John Moriarty's Thoughts On Solfege

Initial Inspiration: What notes are diatonic to C as a tonic? Should it depend on your choice of mode? I don’t think so. I think that the six fifths above and below C are all equally “diatonically related" to C, which I think lines up with how we already think about “mode mixture”.

With a Tonic C, then, the “diatonic” notes are:

C Db D Eb E F F# Gb G Ab A Bb B

So let’s make our solfeggio all about whether we’re using the major or minor interval above the tonic instead of all about a single important mode and modifications thereof!

Let’s name those notes diatonic to C as follows:

Do Ra Ri Ma Mi Fa Fi Sa Si La Li Ta Ti

Where single-sized generic intervals (unisons and octaves) and their chroma shifts are named diminished, perfect, or augmented and have the endings -e, -o, and -u, respectively, and then two sized generic intervals and their chroma shifts are named diminished, minor, major, or augmented and have the endings -e, -a, -i, and -u, respectively.

Lydian- Do Ri Mi Fi Si Li Ti Do (All -i endings because they’re all large steps above the tonic.)

Ionian- Do Ri Mi Fa Si Li Ti Do

Mixolydian- Do Ri Mi Fa Si Li Ta Do

Dorian- Do Ri Ma Fa Si Li Ta Do

Aeolian- Do Ri Ma Fa Si La Ta Do

Phrygian- Do Ra Ma Fa Si La Ta Do

Locrian- Do Ra Ma Fa Sa La Ta Do (All -a endings because they are all small steps above the tonic.)

Harmonic Minor- Do Ri Ma Fa Si La Ti Do

Melodic major- Do Ri Mi Fa Si La Ta Do

Harmonic Major- Do Ri Mi Fa Si La Ti Do

Double Harmonic- Do Ra Mi Fa Si La Ti Do

Lydian aug2- Do Ru Mi Fi Si Li Ti Do

Aeolean dim6- Do Ra Ma Fa Sa La Te