Tonic Solfa
It’s probably a couple of generations since tonic solfa was the predominant form for learning and singing music. Instead of using notes with ‘open’ or closed figures and different stems and tails, on lines or spaces, each sound is indicated by a syllable such as ‘Do, Re, Mi…..and the length of time is indicated by a dash on the page.
It is very simple and is well-explained in Wikipedia.
……..however, my main reason for mentioning it here is to tell about the recent request by e-mail which I had, following the posting on this blog about John Stainer. I conducted joint choirs in Crucifixion over 40 years ago, and some of the members used Solfa. This I mentioned in the posting. Anyway, someone noticed this and asked if I could still locate these copies. To cut a long story short , I contacted the church, and spoke to an old choir member of mine . She confirmed that the copies are still available, and they are now on their way to South Africa to help an RSCM member to teach local choirs to sing!
Good old internet!
STAINER, JOHN
There is probably not a single Church in the UK which doesn’t have some music of John Stainer’s, and most of this would have been dog-eared copies of ‘The Crucifixion’ (I even had a choir where they all used Tonic Solfa editions!)
He was born in Southwark in 1840, his father being a school-master, with a musical interest. Actually he could play piano, organ and flute. The house was full of music including a chamber organ, and John was taught from a very young age by his father. Things moved very quickly for him:-
- He became a probationer in St Paul’s Cathedral at the age of 8
- a full member at 9. He was also learning the organ and occasionally played at St Paul’s.
- By the age of 14 he had been appointed as organist at a local church in St Paul’s Wharf.
- at 16 he became Organist at Tenbury College, in Worcs for a couple of years under Ouseley
- at 19 he was awarded Batchelor of Music
- by 20 he was appointed organist at Magdalen College, Oxford
- by 21 he became organist to the University
- by 24 he completed a Batchelor of Arts Degree
- by 25 he got his Doctorate in Music after writing ‘Gideon’
- by 26 he got his M.A. from Oxford
- by 32 he became organist at St Paul’s Cathedral
- by 42 he was appointed, additionally, as Government Inspector of Music in Elementary Schools
- by 48 he became Sir John, but he felt that his eyesight was failing (just like Bach and Handel!) and he resigned as organist at St Paul’s.
- by 49 he accepted the professorship of music at Oxford, for 10 years, but he retired at 59 due to arguments with the authorities
- at 60 he went on holiday and in Verona he died of a heart attack. His body was returned to Oxford for burial…
AND YOU THOUGHT HE JUST WROTE ‘The Crucifixion’ !!
