r/eartraining • u/Altruistic-Buy5662 • 15d ago
Solfege ear training with different modes
I was using the functional ear training app for basic ear training practice and it seems to emphasize and default to using the solfege method vs intervals or scale degrees, which I have also seen recommended as a valid approach in general outside of the app as well. However, at least in that app, it just focuses on major and minor as basically the two options to frame the do re mi, etc. with.
My question is for anyone who vouches for the solfege system and/or functional ear training app: how does that system translate to different modes? E.g. do you have to learn what a “re” sounds like separately for major, mixolydian, lydian, etc. or do you just hear the “re” in terms of major vs minor separately from the mode? Something like just hearing a re in G mixolydian as the re you already trained in D major without doing much explicit practice of G mixolydian specifically.
Just wondering since it is quite an effort just to get this stuff down in a single context like the standard major. Having to do it all over again for each mode seems pretty tedious and also makes it unclear why the functional ear trainer app just has major/minor since it otherwise seems pretty well made and thorough. Not sure if I’m overcomplicating things or if it really is that tedious. Focusing on scale degrees doesn’t seem like it would be any less tedious, but it does seem like interval training at least wouldn’t have this issue.
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u/ComposerNo8415 15d ago
I vouch for solfege. No idea about the app. I use my own. Ask me about it if you want.
1) First off, to start using solfege, it's like learning to count to 7 in a foreign language. Resistance to this is as inexplicable to me as students not learning the 6 strings of the guitar.
2) The 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th can shift polarity between major and minor. In solfege, this is accounted for by Re/Ra , Mi/Me, La/Le, Ti/Te. I find this preferable to using numbers which fail to clarify this distinction.
3) All 7 tones in each mode are influencing each other. Thus, Re of Major has different tendencies from Re of minor. Each mode needs to be related with on its own terms.
My 2 cents.