Exercise 1: Major Pentatonic Scale
The pentatonic scale is one that you may or may not be familiar with but have most definitely heard while listening to your favorite tunes. This scale is among the most widely used in Western music, which makes it important for any musician to learn.
Step 1: Find Your Key
For this exercise, first, find a key that you can sing comfortably and does not strain your vocal cords. This note should be somewhere in the middle ground and not too far toward one end or the other.
You can achieve this with our app. Change the syllables to alphabetic and scale to major scale, and sing a note. You can learn more about the app in our “Using the App” lesson.
Once you have found your suspected note, identify the closest note to the one you sang.
Step 2: Sing the Scale
The key you identified above will be the starting note of the pentatonic scale that you will sing. Remember, the pentatonic scale has the starting note, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th of the complete major scale. For example, C, D, E, G, and A are the C major pentatonic scale notes so you would sing Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La.
Here is the Major Pentatonic scale in the key of C:
| Syllable | Note |
|---|---|
| Do | C |
| Re | D |
| Mi | E |
| Sol | G |
| La | A |
After picking a suitable key, sing each note in the scale with the above syllables in an upward or ascending pattern, then down the scale when you reach the last note. Over time, with much practice, you will develop a good ear for the pentatonic scale, which help you learn some of the solfege sounds.
Exercise 2: Minor Pentatonic Scale
This exercise is similar to the first one. But instead of using the major pentatonic scale, we will use the minor pentatonic scale.
Minor pentatonic scales have the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th notes of the complete minor scale, which sound more melancholic than the major ones. It’s important to learn solfege in the minor pentatonic scale. This helps you improve your musical awareness and avoid getting too used to the sound of the major scale.
Use the same method to pick the root note, then sing the solfege syllables with the notes of the minor pentatonic scale. Take a look at the minor pentatonic scale and then pretend you are choosing B minor as your root note. What would be the solfege notes you sing according to our steps?
Here is the Minor Pentatonic scale in the key of B:
| Syllable | Note |
|---|---|
| Do | B |
| Me | D |
| Fa | E |
| So | F# |
| Te | A |
Were you able to figure it out? The answer is, if you were to choose B minor, the pentatonic scale would be B, D, E, F# (# equals sharp), and A because we are matching the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th notes of the complete minor scale. Therefore, our exercise would be to sing Do, Me, Fa, So, Te.
Exercise 3: The “Do, Re, Mi” Method
Exercise 3 is one of the most common practices for solfege, the “Do Re Mi” method. If you’re new to this kind of vocal exercise, it’s a great place to begin. This exercise starts with three rising notes and then progresses to have different notes and syllables. For example, we would start with “Do” and ascend as we sing the following: “Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.” The way the notes move in this exercise feels natural, and it shouldn’t take you too long to become familiar with the melody.
This simple exercise can help you warm up your voice when you’ve progressed to some of the more challenging solfege.