The short answer is that people who use some kind of solfège system (solmization), ANY kind of solfège, tend to gain fluency with pitch faster and more thoroughly than people who use no system. So, the first “rule” of ear training is that one should pick a solfège system and stick to it.
The long answer is that solmization is used in all parts of the world. Europe, China, Korea, Japan, India, and Indonesia all have solmization schemes. For example, the syllables in India are:
sa – ri – ga – ma – / / – pa – dha – ni – (sa)
The old syllables in Japan are:
i – ro – ha – ni – ho – he – to – (i)
In most cultures solmization is a way of naming pitches, identifying relationships between pitches, representing a modal scheme (an arrangement of the different sizes of musical steps), or a combination of these. People who use solfège syllables are associating a “word” with a pitch, or with a place on a scale, or with a relationship (interval). Though we can certainly learn to hear these relationships without a solfège system, most cultures have found that solmization is a way of becoming facile with pitch, of rationalizing sound. Imagine trying to represent colors to yourself and to others without words for those colors. Solmization gives words to pitch.
Learning solfège can be frustrating, especially in the beginning of aural skills. In Aural Theory I the melodies are so easy at first that the solfège just seems to get in the way. The ease with which you can sing these early melodies, though, gives you time to practice thoroughly the syllables that go with them. With time you will begin to associate those syllables with the pitches and intervals in these early melodies. It is important, therefore, that even if you CAN sing these melodies perfectly without the syllables, you should practice the syllables until they are fluent.
In schools of music in the United States and Canada there are primarily three systems of solfège: Fixed Do, Moveable Do, and Numbers. Each of these systems offers advantages and disadvantages.
Fixed Do makes the syllable “Do” always equivalent to C, no matter what the key, no matter what the accidental. Cb, C, C# are all “Do” in every key. Db, D, D# are all “Re” in every key, etc.
Do = C, Re = D, Mi = E, Fa = F, Sol = G, La = A, Ti = B
The fixed-do system is used in France, Italy, Spain, and much of Central and South America. In addition, Asian countries like Korea and Japan, which have been imperialized by Western music, have adopted the fixed do system. When the system is used in schools in the United States, it is often the case that the school in question once hired French, Italian, or Spanish instructors to teach ear training.
The advantage to the fixed-do system is that students who use it consistently begin to attain something close to acquired pitch (perfect pitch), the ability to identify pitch names without being given a reference pitch. The disadvantage of the fixed-do system is that students who use it often fail to hear the relationships between pitch that are so crucial to understanding tonal music. For example, I once had a student with acquired pitch who absolutely could not transpose a melody into another key. She literally could not hear the intervals between pitches.
Students fluent in the fixed-do system often exhibit remarkable musical abilities, including an advanced capability to sight-read. However, consideration must be given to the fact that in countries where the fixed-do system is in use, musicians often learn solfège at a very young age and frequently are required to sing pieces in solfège before they learn to play them on their instrument.
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