nto, re mi or c, d, e

Category: Jam Session

Post 1 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Friday, 23-Sep-2005 18:49:29

Hi.
In my country and i believe in the most countries people name the notes as nto, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. But in England they say c, d, e, f, g, a, b. Does this happen to America and Australia as well and why some countries are different than the majority?

Post 2 by UnknownQuantity (Account disabled) on Friday, 23-Sep-2005 21:31:05

Hi,

I don't know why some countries are different, but this happens in Australia, too.

Post 3 by melodica (Account disabled) on Friday, 23-Sep-2005 22:32:10

Here in America, they say both things. One is used more for warm-ups when you're singing, to practice vowels, dooooo reeeee miiiii etc. but the actual notes are c d e f g etc.

Post 4 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Saturday, 24-Sep-2005 6:36:35

Very interesting.
And another interesting thing is why the first note in English is c and not a for example they say c, d, e, f, g, a, b and not a, b, c, d etc.
Does anyone know why is that?
Thanks
Nikos

Post 5 by Telemachus (Death: the destroyer of worlds.) on Saturday, 24-Sep-2005 17:54:27

I think it has something, though I'm not sure what, to do with things being based around middle C. Bah, I should have listened more in my music survey class.

Post 6 by UnknownQuantity (Account disabled) on Sunday, 25-Sep-2005 20:09:45

I don't know why, either, but I think it could have something to do with Middle C, too. Any other ideas?

Post 7 by Resonant (Find me alive.) on Tuesday, 27-Sep-2005 3:24:46

*raises hand* It's all to do with the relative pitching of the western, 12-tone scale. The solfa system refers to pitches in a major scale, not specific notes. For example, for a piece in A major, do = A, re = B, mi = C sharp, fa = D, etc. If you are in B major, then do = B, re = C sharp, mi = D sharp, fa = E, and so on. The solfa system is useful for sorting out the pitching of a melody, for sight-singing, and for sorting out intervals, but it's not a constant pitch indicator. Does that help at all?

Post 8 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 27-Sep-2005 7:47:37

I didn't understand it very well but it sounds interesting.
If you could explain again that would be nice.
Thanks

Post 9 by Resonant (Find me alive.) on Tuesday, 27-Sep-2005 13:09:51

Sorry, I sort of rushed that last one. Basically, which note is Doh and which is Rey, will change depending on what key you're in. If you're in G, then G is the central note of the scale, so G is called Doh. If you are in the key of E, then E is the central note of the scale, so E is called Doh. If E is Doh, then F is Rey, and G is Me, and so on. The point is, that which note is Doh and Rey and Far and La and Tee, all changes depending on what key you're in, but using A, B, C, D, E, etc, is the same whatever key you're in. I don't know if that's a better explanation, but it's the best I can do at 1 am.

Post 10 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Thursday, 29-Sep-2005 3:49:20

Thanks.
I can understand it now.