Joelfege
I’ve been ruminating on a system of note names that copies solfege, but is easier to remember for english speakers and solves the problem that notes like “C-sharp” take too long to say when reading scales.
There are two systems: one for note names and one for scale degrees.
Note Names:
The basic idea is that sharp notes end with the “ar” sound and flat notes end with the “ad” sound. (”ad” is easier to say than “at”.)
- A ar ad
- B bar(really C) bad
- C car cad
- D dar dad
- E er(really F) ed
- F far fad
- G gar gad
Scale Degrees:
Same system, but minor intervals, diminished and augmented intervals. Flat intervals use the open “ah” sound.
- One
- Two - tad(flat 2), tar(#2)
- Three - thray, thra
- Four - fay, far, forg (aug 4th)
- Tri (for tritone),
- Five - fav, fige (augmented)
- Six - sax, sig(augmented)
- Seven (sev) - sav(flat 7)
- Eight (could be one)
A natural minor key would read “one, two, thray, four, five, sax, sav, eight”.