Finale Blog: Superfast Solfège

by Tom Johnson 27. October 2010 05:34

I was recently in Pottstown, Pennsylvania training both elementary and secondary music teachers. One of the questions I was asked was, “What’s the quickest way to create solfège?” Based on the response my solution received, I thought you might enjoy it too!

Let’s say you’ve entered some notes, and now you’d like to add solfège syllables. You could use the lyrics tool and simply type in Do – Re – Mi for each syllable, but there’s a better way:

1. Choose the Selection tool and indicate the area where you want the solfège syllables to appear.

2. From the Plug-ins menu select Scoring and Arranging > Chord Analysis, configuring the dialog box as I've done below. Specifically:

a. Under “Add chord symbol to:” select “All notes."
b. After “Show unknown chord suffix as:” delete the question marks “??” from the box.
c. Place a check next to “Allow repeated chord symbols.”
d. Click "OK."

At this point my piece looks something like this:


3. Next, select the Chord Tool and:

a. Drag the left-most positioning triangle down until the chord names appear below the staff.
b. From the Chord Tool select Chord Style > Solfeggio.

Voilà! Here’s my final result:

I hope that makes your day.

It would make my day to hear from you. Please click on “Comments” below to ask a question, share your Finale experiences, or to let me know what you’d like to read about in the future.

Tags: , ,

General | Tom Johnson

Comments

10/23/2010 6:02:25 AM #

Brian

This looks great!  Thanks for the tip.  Two questions about the Solfeggio tool:

1) Can you edit the names of the solfege syllables (ie: can you change Ti to Si, or So to Sol?)

2) Can Finale adapt to fixed-"do" solfege, or is it restricted to tonic-"do"?

Brian United States

10/23/2010 11:26:01 AM #

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10/23/2010 12:41:26 PM #

Janet Lanier

This is good to know.  Thanks for posting it.

Janet Lanier United States

10/23/2010 1:19:19 PM #

Shawn Degenhart

Another useful tool is the shape-note font found in the shape-note choral template. Identifying a scale degree by its shape is a great way to improve sight-reading and note-reading in general. The shape-note font automatically adjusts for the key (Do is always a triangle, Re always a semi-circle, Mi a diamond, etc.) You can still add the solfege as indicated above, but identifying the notes by the shape is yet another tool.

Shawn Degenhart United States

10/23/2010 6:46:21 PM #

Jean-Paul Gilles

Your tip is good but there is certainly a bug in Finale 2011 Chord Style > Solfeggio.

In solfegio your melody is : Fa, Sol, La, Fa .... and not Do, Ré, Mi.

The same example is correct with Finale 2010 and Finale 2009 : Fa, Sol, La, Fa

Jean-Paul Gilles France

10/24/2010 10:00:11 AM #

Scott Yoho

Hi Brian,

As Tom mentions, you can type in any solfège syllable names you wish, referring to fixed or movable "do," using Finale's lyric tool. The automated solution presented here is less flexible, but slick if it meets your needs.

That said, I can use Tom’s steps to arrive at a fixed “do” solution. Before running the plug-in I changed the key signature to C, selecting the option to “Hold notes to the same staff lines (modally).” Then run the Chord Analysis plug-in, then change the key signature back to F, again selecting “Hold notes to the same staff lines (modally).”  

Best wishes,

Scott at MakeMusic

Scott Yoho United States

10/24/2010 10:00:34 AM #

Scott Yoho

Thanks, Janet!

Scott at MakeMusic

Scott Yoho United States

10/24/2010 10:07:28 AM #

Scott Yoho

Hi Jean-Paul,

Unless I’m mistaken, there’s no bug, and Finale 2011 works the same as 2010 and 2009.

Because this example is in the key of F, the F is “Do”. If the key signature was C, the F would be “Fa” as you suggest.

Check out my reply to Brian if you’d like to try to use Tom’s tip to get a fixed “Do” result using this technique; that too would produce a “Fa” for F.

Best wishes,

Scott at MakeMusic

Scott Yoho United States

10/24/2010 4:26:21 PM #

Scott Yoho

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your comments! In Finale 2011 I beleive you'll find this in Templates > Church Templates > Shape Note Hymnal.

Scott at MakeMusic

Scott Yoho United States

10/25/2010 5:24:16 AM #

Jean-Paul Gilles

Hi Scott
Yes you are right, I answered a little too fast.... and thanks for your tip in reply to Brian.

Jean-Paul Gilles France

10/30/2010 2:58:54 AM #

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10/31/2010 8:21:31 PM #

Georg

Very useful.

Georg Denmark

12/11/2010 3:43:20 AM #

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2/21/2012 12:12:30 AM #

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