Music Tip #58 The Sol-Mi Pitches

At school this week I had to teach a parent class on integrating music with reading and math. One of the ideas I mentioned was to sing the words from the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (see Oct 31 blog entry). One of the mothers mentioned that she didn’t know there was a song to the book. I replied, there wasn’t, I just made one up using the sol-mi pitches. After the class was over, I realized she probably didn’t know what the sol-mi pitches were, and I wished that I had taken time to explain them.

So…here we go. Anytime you want to make up a simple song use the sol-mi pitches. These two pitches are the basis for all early children singing games and songs. Think of the song “rain, rain go away, come again another day.” This song is just alternating between two pitches (sol and mi). At the end on you do sing one higher pitch (la) on the first syllable of “ another” [day].

If you play the piano or know some of the keys on the piano, the sol pitch is G, the mi pitch is E and the la pitch is A ( in the key of C). Most of the easy songs children sing have these 2 pitches with “la” thrown in every once in awhile. This is true in Ring Around the Rosie and Starlight Star Bright.

So don’t be afraid to make up a little tune to go along with a book, or to get your child’s attention. It’s fun and simple and adds a little pizzazz to your reading time.