The verb 'to sol-fa' means to sing a passage in solfège. The generic term ' solmization', referring to any system of denoting pitches of a musical scale by syllables, including those used in India and Japan as well as solfège, comes from French solmisation, from the Latin solfège syllables sol and mi.

Italian 'solfeggio' and English/French 'solfège' derive from the names of two of the syllables used: sol and fa. 'do' is always 'C-natural') and 2) movable do, where the syllables are assigned to scale degrees, with 'do' always the first degree of the major scale. There are two current ways of applying solfège: 1) fixed do, where the syllables are always tied to specific pitches (e.g. The tonic sol-fa method popularized the seven syllables commonly used in English-speaking countries: do (or doh in tonic sol-fa), re, mi, fa, so(l), la, and ti (or si) (see below). Through the Renaissance (and much later in some shapenote publications) various interlocking 4, 5 and 6-note systems were employed to cover the octave. Syllables are assigned to the notes of the scale and enable the musician to audiate, or mentally hear, the pitches of a piece of music being seen for the first time and then to sing them aloud. Solfège is a form of solmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. In music, solfège ( / ˈ s ɒ l f ɛ ʒ/, French: ) or solfeggio ( / s ɒ l ˈ f ɛ dʒ i oʊ/ Italian: ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of Western music. For similar terms, see Solfeggietto and Solfege (manga).

Chromatic solfege hand signs pdf