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The Silva Piano Method and Teaching Goals What is Solfege?
◆ Sound solfege skills result in more efficient learning, enhanced memorization, better long-term recall and sight-reading ability. It may be applied as part of the practice regimen for amateur and professional pianists. ◆ Nothing about using solfege is new! These skills and learning disciplines were exactly what many great artists and composers had as their training! Many top music schools in this country require students to take solfege classes. ◆ The solfege in the Gradus Conservatory Series© written by the Silvas is based on fixed do, just like c is fixed. Reading in solfege is easily transferable to naming notes in c-d-e for analysis purposes for the advanced high school or college student. ◆ Training in solfege after having had the c-d-e approach will have an immediate positive impact on the skills of an already accomplished musician and will manifest itself increasingly in his or her learning, memorization, aural and sight-reading skills. ◆ Singers and instrumentalists may also benefit greatly by learning and applying solfege skills since it will supply an added dimension to their musical reading skills, not to mention they will be able to learn their music by "reading" it in solfege with rhythmic articulation without having to play a note! |
Our goals for all students are:◆ To discover how to learn and how to practice, achieve results, solve problems and develop long-term memory. ◆ Shorten the beginner phase. ◆ To develop aural skills by listening to corresponding recordings that will translate directly and immediately to students' technique, musicality, and rate of progress. Lessons and student practice includes ear training exercises. ◆ To make the learning process as clear as possible, with each subsequent step a natural continuation of previously learned material. When it's "easy", it's fun! ◆ Experience playing for others in recitals held once each term. Additional Factors:◆ Parental involvement determines success. Please read an excerpt from a previous studio newsletter by Malcolm Gladwell. ◆ Previously learned pieces in the student's repertoire list will be systematically cycled in review. This process enhances long-term memory skills. Additionally, working on more advanced technical and musical nuances may easily be applied and explored when reviewing these pieces. ◆ Rote learning combined with listening, basic technical training and solfege will give the student a chance to play at more advanced levels sooner. Rote learning will show students in one moment how to imitate a movement to achieve a certain sound more efficiently than most anything else. ◆ Rote learning undergoes some adjustments as the student progresses. For more advanced students, the "rote" in the learning process will take place at the lesson after the notes are learned and memorized by the student, instead of during the note learning process introduced in the beginning lessons. The teacher shows the student advanced technical movements that are imitated by the student to achieve the same or similar musical effects. This method of teaching has been and is being used effectively in university and conservatory stages of training! ◆ Progression to note reading will be introduced at the keyboard immediately, and at each subsequent lesson. The student will become intimately familiar with the layout of the keyboard with exercises geared for reading on the staff, interval and ear training, and rhythm exercises. Until these skills are mastered, coupled with a more confident command of technical skills, no student should be forced to read music on the staff. ◆ Detailed practice instructions written in an assignment book or specially tailored assignment sheets will assist students to organize their practice activities and account for their time at the piano. This record will reflect their rate of progress and help reduce wasted time. Silva Piano Method Conservatory Series© Level One notes:◆ A progress chart is built into the front cover of the book with a list of skills for each of the pieces and it helps students see exactly what they have mastered and what their next goals are. ◆ Book One is sectioned into four comprehensive parts: Applied Theory, Pieces, Scales, and Rhythm. Each of the four sections are addressed during the lesson time. After the 20th piece is learned, the student is no longer a beginner, is developing solid reading skills with Beyer and Rose books, and is moving into the intermediate phase of playing. This level includes the study of Burgmuller Etudes Op. 100, Sonatinas and Bach Pieces (Minuets, Preludes, Two-Part Inventions). More advanced technical work is introduced, including various exercises, continuing scale study and writing, chord progressions, continuing ear training. ◆ This method is designed to be completed within a year or less. The rate of progress demonstrated by students over the years varies greatly depending on the discipline and practice habits of the student. Maturity, interest and parental involvement also have a tremendous impact on the rate of progress.
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Solfege is a system of identifying notes that can be fluently read or sung in rhythm much like reading a verse or a sentence in prose. The solfege note names, do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, are easily pronounced and flow well in any order and in varying speeds. This enables the student or artist to study the score away from the instrument. Learning the music away from the instrument has been advocated by many great musicians and pedagogues. Beginning piano methods are not addressing this skill, perhaps because the corresponding notes of c,d,e,f,g,a,b, are awkward to say and sing, either alone or while playing. Frequently, lyrics are used instead to help the student when learning or memorizing a new piece. Unfortunately, the lyrics do not provide a cognitive note-identification system that can be directly applied to the music at hand. A simple example to demonstrate the effectiveness of solfege syllables compared to the letter names would be to sing "London Bridge" with the letter names (g-a-g-f-e-f-g etc.) followed by singing the same notes with the solfege syllables (sol-la-sol-fa-mi-fa-sol...).