Whether you are an ardent lover of music or you have decided to play a happy birthday song for your loved ones in solfege, you are on the right page. Playing a happy birthday song in solfege is such an arduous task; from getting the notes together and matching it with the lyrics to give the desired result. However, you can worry less because I am going to put you through how to play happy birthday in solfege. It is a known fact that solfege is the renowned SOL- FA syllable but before playing happy birthday in Sol-FA, let’s take a look at solfege and how to play the solfege.
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SOLFEGE AND HOW TO PLAY IT
Solfege is a very important musical tool used mostly by musicians and learners of music to reduce the task of singing, understanding, and importing their lyrics. It makes work easier for musicians and also helps students learn effectively.
It is a means where each note of a scale is given a special individual syllable, that is used to sing that same note every time it appears on the sheet music. The solfege note has 7 elementary syllables which are the do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti.
Singing a song with these syllables is easy as words can just be used to replace the scale.
HOW DOES THE SOLFEGE WORK?
The solfege substitutes the pitches in a key with syllables to allow musicians sing and discover the melody better. This will enhance a great sense of pitch and complement the intonation artfulness. It also helps musicians in pattern recognition and creating a melodic pattern.
Using the most popular example to illustrate the practice of solfege, we will have something like:
C D E F G A B C
do re mi fa so la ti do
With the C (do) appearing twice as the scale majorly has an octave and will continue into the next scale.
The illustration above however is only a part of the solfege, the Fixed do. The solfege syllable of the fixed-do never changes on the sheet music, however, the key you are singing since it belongs to a specific pitch. The other part is the Moveable do which is when the pitch accurately coordinates the key you are singing. Below are examples of the moveable do:
- In C major, C = DO
- In F major, F = DO
- In G major, G = DO
THE ‘’DO RE MI’’
Julie Andrews made the do re mi a universal component in The Sound of Music and virtually every kid around the world is familiar with this tune. It is a good practice for beginners learning music, gives the melody to songs, and lays the background of whatever lyrics that comes after.
PLAYING HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOLFEGE
Taking a step is having half of the work done. You can simply begin by getting yourself familiar with the solfege because you need to build your knowledge for the application of the scale. Once done, the listening exercise is prominent as you have to choose the note that goes with the kind of pitch you have chosen to use.
It is advisable to use the major scale as it is easy and effective for learners and beginners. Practice, apply, and ensure to recognize the solfege notes. Once you can identify the solfege tunes, you can easily play the happy birthday solfege and even make a newer pitch with different notes. This way, you have learned to identify the role of each musical note.
Happy birthday, song is sung in almost every part of the world but never changes its tone even with the countless numerous languages. It is known to have started among kindergarten teachers around 1893 in Kentucky.
It is better to use the F- major key which will automatically keep the song within C-C for the octave in the middle of the tune. Happy Birthday Solfege starts on a low sol and use the pitches low sol- low la- low- ti- do-re- mi- fa- sol. Here is a simple illustration of singing happy birthday solfege:
Hap- py birth- day to you
Do do re do fa mi
Hap- py birth- day to you
Do do re do sol fa
Hap- py birth- day to you my friend
Do do la fa mi re Sih Sih
Hap-py birth- day to you
Ti ti la fa sol fa.
USING SCALE F
C C D C F E
Hap py Birth day to you
C C D C G F
Hap py Birth day to you
C C C A F E D
Hap py Birth day Dear Han nah
A# A# A F G F
Hap py Birth day to you
USING SCALE F#
C# C# D# C# F# F
Hap py Birth day to you
C# C# D# C# G# F#
Hap py Birth day to you
C# C# C# A# F# F D#
Hap py Birth day Dear Ste lla
B B A# F# G# F#
Hap py Birth day to you
Other Notes For Happy Birthday Solfege
S S L S D T
S S L S R D
D D S M M F M R D L
F F M D R D
SSLSDT Happy Birthday to You
SSLSRD Happy Birthday to You
DDSM Happy Birthday
DDTL Happy Birthday
FFMDRD Happy Birthday to You.
S- L S D T S-
L S R D S- S M D
T L F- M D R D
These notes can be used to get different pitches of the Happy Birthday song.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOTE FOR A PIANO
Happy birthday is a great song that many individuals are been sung to every once a year. Conventionally, pianos add life to songs and make the best out of many different songs. Typically, a happy birthday song is played on a piano thus:
Hap py birth day to you
G G A G C B (Notes)
4 4 3 4 1 2 (Fingering)
Hap py birth day to you
G G A G D C
4 4 3 4 2 1
Hap py birth day dear John by
G G G E C B A
4 4 5 3 1 2 3
Hap py birth day to you
F F E C D C
4 4 3 1 2 1
The melody can also be played on several other instruments depending on what you are comfortable with or knows how to play best. I hope you find this very helpful.
