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