Its easy to find the harmonies of Jazz standards on iReal Pro but not so easy to find the verses- those intros that set the scene in broadway musicals. Would it be useful to have a collection of verses in solfa that could be played in any key and conjured up on a mobile? Here’s the beginning of such a collection. Email me if there’s a particular verse you would like to be included. Likewise if any publishers would like their verses removed from this august collection just drop me a line.
The first in the collection happened to be Tea for Two. If you add the word “original” to your search on YouTube you’ll find that most of the verses in musicals were written with a steady beat. Usually jazz singers prefer to sing then out of tempo with the accompanist following their phrasing colla voce. To compare, search tea for two original, then tea for two dinah and frank. Consequently the the rhythm can be omitted from the verse in a jazz context. I’m experimenting with different layouts: comments welcome.
Reading this dialect of solfege. There are some familiar elements. The notes re mi fa so la are all as sung in Doh Deer. Different is do which is represented by its older name ut to avoid confusion with the note D . It is still sung as do. The note ti , the drink with jam and bread, is known as Si in Mediterranean countries. In this version of solfege the two names are combined into Tsi and can ve sung as tsi, si or ti. Lower case letters represent movable solfege whereas upper case letters represent fixed solfege.
The five “black notes” va, wu xe yu ze have names derived from the last five letters of the alphabet with added vowels that extend the beautiful contrasts between neighbours in solfege. The note xe can begin with the sound that ends the Scottish word loch. while ze can be pronouced as in Castillian Spanish so that it sounds like the English word they. In this way the first consonant of each note name also contrasts with its immediate neighbours.
The movement of the melody is assumed to be to the closest note. If the melody makes a leap (of 6 guitar frets or more) its direction is shown by a high or low tick e.g r ‘t a leap upwards while r ,s is a leap downwards.
The chord symbols use the shorthands used in jazz except that the letter m is avoided to prevent confusion with the note mi. So r- is used instead of r m. The major 7 chord is shown by a triangle, a shorthand often used in jazz. A note without any other marking is usually assumed to be a major chord but as solfege can be showing both melody and harmony the major chord is distinguished by its 3rd e.g s3. This is dropped when there any other markings to indicate that it is a chord symbol e.g s/t which meanis the major chord of s with t in the bass.
This dialect is called xrosol i.e chromatic solfege. To learn more of its background visit the page VW-XYZ. To learn more about the grammar of chord symbols visit the page Music Theory.
Bob Stuckey 