MUSIC RUDIMENT BY OGAN TAMUNOKURO OSWALD

Music is the art and science of combining sounds to form a melody or a harmony, we would
consider these 4 qualities of music. Breath Control, Pitch Attainment, Intensity and Diction
We’ll consider these 5 facets of music: Art, Exercise, Education, Entertainment and Worship.
We have 12 distinctive pitches in music comprising of 7 major pitches and 5 minor pitches also
known as the chromatics. They are symbolized by the first 7 letters of the Alphabets: A, B, C,
D, E, F, G. From A – G we have a total of 12 distinctive pitches which makes up our sounds.
We have 12 pitches (keys) in music. Seven pitch comprises the diatonic scale made up of 5
whole tones and 2 semi-tones; these makes up the Major or Natural Keys – hence 5
chromatic keys.
The Solfege (Sol-fa) is a method of sight singing that uses the syllabus sound to form a major
scale.
THE TONIC SOLFEGE (SOLFA)
SYMBOL SPELLING SOUND

d doh /doʊ/ - oh, go, over, older, phone, home, joke.

r ray /ɹeɪ/ - ray, ratio, rain, may, way, make, take, say.

m me /mi:/ - me, him, hymn, see, sea, these, be, need.

f fah /fɑ:/ - far, add, car, star, bar, arm, ram, father.

s soh /soʊ/ - soul, soldier, own, rose, moment, blow.

l lah /lɑ:/ - lack, card, bad, back, had, jazz, march, tap.

t tee /ti:/ - team, tease, police, green, believe, chief.

NOTES IN-BETWEEN (Ascending/Sharps)

SYMBOL SPELLING SOUND

de dee /ðiː/ - thee, deal.

re ree /ɹiː/ - reel, remain.

fe fee /fiː/ - feet, finish.

se zee /ziː/ - zeal, zea.

li lee /liː/ - lea, leave

 NOTES IN-BETWEEN (Descending/Flats)
SYMBOL SPELLING SOUND

ra raw /ɹɔ:/ - rore.

ma maw /mɔ:/ - more.

sa saw /sɔ:/ - sore.

la law /lɔ:/ - lord, floor.

ta taw /tɔ:/ - tore, taught, thought.

EXERCISES

1. d r m f s l t d’ t l s f m r d
2. d r m f s l t d’ r’ m’ f’ s’ l’ t’ d” t’ l’ s’ f’ m’ r’ d’ t l s f m r d
3. d de r re m f fe s se l li t d’ t ta l la s sa f m ma r ra d
4. d m s:- r f l:- s t r’:-:- m’ d’ l:- r’ t s:- d’ l f:- t s m:-:-
5. sop s:- m s f:- m:- r f m r d:- /d:- de:- r:- ra:- d:-
alto m:- m r d:- d:- l, l, t, t, d:- /l,:- li,:- t,:- ta,:- l,:-
tenor s:- d’ t l:- s:- f r s f m:- /fe:- s :- se:- s:- sa:-
bass d:- d d d:- d:- f, f, s, s, d:- /re:- m:- f :- m:- ma:-

Sop d r m f fe s l t d’ r’:-:- s:-:- d’:-:-

Mezzo-Sop d r m d d d d s s sa:-:- f:-:- s:-:-
Alto s, s, s, f, fe, s, l, r d t,:-:- r:-:- m:-:-
Contra-Alto s, s, s, f, fe, s, l, r d t,:-:- t,:-:- d:-:-
Contra-Tenor s, s, s, f, fe, s, l, r d t,:-:- s,:-:- d:-:-
Tenor m r d d re m ra r d d:-:- f :-:- m:-:-
Baritone m r d d re m ra s, d l,:-:- r :-:- d:-:-
Bass d t, ta, l, la, s, sa, f, m, r,:-:- s,:-:- d:-:-
 INTRODUCTION TO WORDINGS AND CHANTING
The measures indication are important factors to take note of while singing because they
determine how a word should be applied to their respective sounds, the bar lines are also indicators
of the measure distributions to their respective words while singing.

Chanting is a way of singing the psalms to a rhythmic setting, instead of using specific rhythm it
uses a text-speech rhythm to deliver the text over a repeating chord progression or pattern. It uses
a chant tune to a psalm text; from there you have all the information needed to sing the psalm. A
single chant tune is divided up into two-halves, and it will be uses to sing a verse of a song before
it will be repeated. Generally, we use single chant for short verses of psalm. A double chant tune is
twice as long as a single chant tune, and it will be used for two verses of a psalm before we have to
repeat them.

There are seven measures in a single chant tune, thus; there will be twice-seven measures in a
double chant tune. The 1st and 4th are called the reciting tone which doesn’t have a specified length
while singing; they can be long or short as the case may be, while the 2nd, 3rd, and the 5th, 6th, 7th
are called the cadence (a sequence of notes ending a musical phrase) this is where major of the
words are sang, although sometimes they may have few words, the 2nd, 5th, and 6th measures have
moving notes that take us between the reciting tones, this majorly has one or two syllables within
them although there are some exemptions, the 3rd, and 7th measures are the wall markers and the
end of the chant tune respectively. The reciting notes behaves one way and the cadential notes
behaves another way.
 The measures
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

m:- mr dt d:-

tl sf m:-
d:- ds sf m:-

tr d:- r d:-
m:-

mr [{ s f m:-}] dt d:- tl
d:- ds sf m:-

r d:- tr d:-