<p>I hesitated to post this here, but you all have been such a wealth of information and so incredibly supportive, that I had to try as I'm a little desperate. lol - If anyone is familiar with fixed-do solfege, could you pm me? I am searching for some audio files going through all the major, minor, and harmonic scales. I am only familiar with movable. :(<br>
And note to all those searching for a college: make absolutely sure you are happy with the materials you will cover in your college theory class at your prospective schools. I don't like to say anything negative, but I do think it would have at least given us pause had we realized S would have to be thrown in the deep end with this fixed-do stuff. It wouldn't be such a problem if it was just a normal grade, but if one doesn't get at least a C on the solfege exam, they fail ALL of theory. Doesn't seem fair to me... Some of the other schools we considered, stressed theory and gave solfege only a minimal importance and the remaining used movable. S doesn't mind hard work, but with all his other classes, this is something that might have given us pause. Or we would have studied it ourselves (I love to teach! lol) the summer before he left.</p>
<p>I’m surprised fixed versus movable do hasn’t come up here much. Can only offer sympathy. Is he able to work with a tutor? It can be a hard adjustment going from one to the other, for sure. (My daughter says that going from movable to fixed might be harder than the other way around.)</p>
<p>Thanks. He could get help from one of the 2 grad students, but because of his scholarship, he’s required to carry a huge load and so far, their schedules haven’t lined up. It’s crazy - today he started with an 8 oclock class, he has 30 minutes at 12:30 and then he won’t get back to his dorm until 9:45 tonight. Tomorrow is almost the same. I was going to be a music major back in the day, but I realized very quickly I couldn’t handle all that! lol So I switched to theatre. I still slept in the theatre like music majors sleep in the music building, but I didn’t have to take science, so it was all good. 
I was thinking if I could find audio files, I could drill him on weekends on the phone. I’d rather not make them if I didn’t have to, especially as I don’t really know what I’m doing.</p>
<p>Ah shellybean, DD would feel your S’s pain. She has had moveable do her whole education before grad school. She lucked out though and found the one professor that did not insist on fixed do to do her theory class. She was kind of in a panic until she found that one. </p>
<p>My S has to use it at Eastman. The entire theory track there is extremely intense. They pride themselves on it. He has mentioned it’s difficult but it’s an important part of any music program. I think your S should do what he can to meet with the grad students. Teachers often look positively upon students who look for extra help in struggling areas. As for the hours he is putting in, that is normal. Mine usually won’t leave school until the building closes which is 11pm I believe. </p>
<p>Thanks guys. I want to clarify about the time - I didn’t mean that he has a problem with the time. He has class until he comes back to the dorm at 9:45 but he’s in the music dorm, so he still practices and does his work much past then. And he loves it. It’s just hard getting together with the tutors with the crazy hours. The hours they can meet he’s actually in class. I don’t want to seem like he’s complaining, though. I couldn’t have stood it, but he loves it.
As for the fixed vs. movable, I checked with my old violin teachers, piano teachers, my old orchestra director… they were all a little stunned that he was doing fixed. I’ll have to tell him they use it at Eastman, @bigdjp. He’s in good company then! :)</p>
<p>Shellybean, whether the solfege is fixed or movable and emphasized or not, I think theory often kicks kids butts at some schools, and I don’t know that I’d preclude a school over it ;)</p>
<p>My own kiddos’ school had been mind-bendingly rigorous on this front, and his first theory prof had a thick accent that he had trouble processing. He failed his first sequence, which at the time, seemed like the end of the world because we worried he’d lose his scholarship, be out of sequence, etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>But he got an A next time around, and while he’s always the type to seem on the edge of imminent catastrophe, he didn’t lose his scholarship and he got to where he needed to be. Sometimes the classes that were hardest for him turned out to have a later, very meaningful impact for him. </p>
<p>So don’t fear the struggle…the struggle is what can make your son stronger. Its natural to worry (or so I tell myself…) but trust that your son will prove resourceful in getting the help he needs 
Learning to clear the stones in their own paths is just part of the gig, despite our parental impulse/urges to help them move those rocks :)</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of fixed do at all. When I was a freshman music student, a few classmates and I switched to a different ear-training class because we did not want to do fixed do. We found a Kodaly class that replaced the ear-training requirement. It was a smart move. We were music ed. majors and I am so glad I had the Kodaly /moveable do background. Thanks for bringing this up, though. I’m not sure if d will get into Eastman, but if she does, it might become a factor. I’d be interested in knowing what other schools use.</p>
<p>Juilliard uses a fixed do. My daughter says it was easier for her, probably because she has absolute pitch, but harder for others. </p>
<p>Thanks guys. @kmcmom13 I know you are right. I just hate to see this kid who knows more theory than I ever learned in 20 years of music feel like he now knows nothing. It doesn’t help anything that he’s the type of student who ever since 1st grade has thought he was a failure if he misses one out of a hundred problems. @glassharmonica I think if he could remember the words, he’d have no problem. He can sing and recognize the notes - his ear is remarkable to me. I can play anything from sheet music, but absolutely nothing by ear. He’s almost the opposite. Hear something once, play it perfectly. Put sheet music in front of him and he has a panic attack. I hear that’s a typical guitarist! lol
@W2BeHome I’m not a fan either. I don’t understand the purposes, I suppose. In his guitar lessons, the prof is having enough trouble reinforcing with all the guitarists how to read music and call notes by A, B, C, etc… why mess that up by in theory class NOT calling them A,b,c, but instead by la, ti, do??? It seems counter-productive to me. I get it for singers, but not for jazz musicians, who need to be able to call the actual real name of the note.
But I digress. I really signed in just to thank you wonderful folks!!! </p>
<p>@shellybean my son is tutoring theory if your son wants to look him up.</p>
<p>My son actually chose his school based on the way solfrege was taught. Well not entirely, but his decision to not attend Berklee was largely based on that. He has found it challenging as he does not have perfect pitch but feels the work he has put into it to master it has definitely helped him as a musician and with his musicality. </p>
<p>This discussion is all new to me and I am following it with interest. So NEC uses fixed or moveable? We never considered this as a limiting search and evaluation tool before. S, a percussionist, is taking theory at the CC now so as not to be as swamped with theory next year going in. I have no idea what system(s) they use though.</p>
<p>My son, a composer, feels that the only way it should be taught is as fixed do. (Not that he’s much of a fan of solfege at all.) He feels that focusing only on intervals rather than the actual notes betrays the intent of the composer. I had an interesting conversation with him about this, because of this thread!</p>
<p>My daughter agrees with your son, Spirit Manager, and wholeheartedly. (Her mind does not work in intervals.) NEC Preparatory used fixed but her university used movable. Again, I am surprised that I have never seen this topic here on the music forum!</p>
<p>Oh great, now you all have given me something new to worry about, because becoming a music major is not stressful enough LOL My daughter hates solfege and now I learn there are two completely different types? OH NO! Hmm, now I shall have to harass her and find out what type she is currently learning and then see what type her preferred colleges teach…it never ends :)</p>
<p>It would be interesting to compile a list of colleges/conservatories and whether they use fixed or moveable do.</p>
<p>Wow, easy people. It’s solfegio class. I’d never have a kid pick a school based on that class. All schools are aware of the struggles it gives students. Any decent musician should have little trouble with that class. My son personally whines way more about string tech class then theory or sightsinging. He’s a performance/ music ed double major. </p>
<p>I didn’t mean that people should use solfege to pick a school. It’s just an interesting data point. Also, I don’t think it’s fair to say that “any decent musician should have little trouble with that class.” It was super-easy for my daughter because she has absolute pitch. But many of her friends who are fantastic musicians with relative pitch struggled. There is nothing innately superior about absolute (“perfect”) pitch. It’s just a different way of hearing.</p>
<p>As a non-musical parent, I didn’t know there were different types of solfege. Son says SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music uses movable which he thinks is the best method.</p>