Sound of Music....

Do a deer, a female deer,
Re a drop of golden sun,
Mi a name I call myself,
Fa a long long way to go,
So a needle pulling thread,
La a note to follow So,
Te a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring you back to do!
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.

Now who has never seen the Sound of Music? and enjoyed family Von Trapp...........

And before you think it is my all time favourite movie and that's why I have made cufflinks of the do re mi's, I will have to disappoint you. Sorry. Yes, of course it's a great movie - especially for families! But the cufflinks came about from local choirs.

When I moved to California, and started singing here, I was amazed that the choir directors teach solfege - do, re, mi's - as the method to sight read music. I had never done this - I can sight read pretty well, but we never really had a method....yet I'd go to a rehearsals here and everyone around me would be do, ti, fa-ing and I'd be making this non-descript consonant and vowel sound - hoping no one would notice - but generally singing the correct note......

And when you are doing it quickly, I couldn't even the remember the correct order! And I could go whole rehearsals never singing "so"! Yes, I'd sing the note -but could never remember the "word"!!!!!!

So, solfege isn't my thing - but it seems it is used alot in California - and it really does work. It impresses me - but it seems like adding an additional step for me so something extra instead of a useful tool.

Anyhow, I'm heading down to Grace cathedral shortly to sing there - I sing most Sundays there - so thought today is a good day to be thinking of my solfege.......

I made these cufflinks for my musical guy friends! I can just picture them all dressed up smartly for a concert and as they sing, they keep lifting up their cuffs to see the solfege! I suppose it would have been good if I'd made a solfege necklace for myself for rehearsals, as a little crib sheet - but then I'd have had no excuse for mumbling!!!

I also made them as guys don't get many opportunities to wear "jewelry" - and these have a whimsical style to them. Most men don't wear "whimsy" either but they do occasionally if it is cufflinks.

So for all those male singers who wear cuffs........But beware - observers may well break out into song aka Julie Andrews and the family Von Trapp!!