Home Terms movable Do

movable Do

Meaning of Movable Do in Music

Movable Do is a solfege system used in music education to teach and understand musical pitch relationships. In this system, the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Ti are used to represent the degrees of the scale, with Do representing the tonic or first note of the scale. The syllables are movable, meaning they can be applied to any key or tonal center. For example, in the key of C major, Do represents the note C, but in the key of A major, Do represents the note A.

The advantage of the movable Do system is that it allows students to develop a relative sense of pitch. By using the same syllables for each scale degree regardless of the key, students can focus on the relationships between the notes rather than absolute pitch names. This can aid in sight-singing, ear training, and understanding harmonic progressions.

It's worth noting that the use of movable Do is more common in some countries, such as the United States, while other countries, like France, Italy, Spain, and parts of South and Central America, tend to use fixed Do, where Do always represents the note C. The choice between movable Do and fixed Do can depend on cultural and pedagogical factors, as well as personal preference

Do is the first scale degree in solmization (doremi). A movable do means the pitch is always the same as the first scale degree of the tonal center of the composition. This is in contrast to a fixed do, meaning do always represents the pitch "C."

See more about syllables of solmization in the Appendix. 

Video on the subject: movable Do
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