Sol-fa notation

Notes use the seven diatonic syllables d r m f s l t — doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te. They are case-insensitive, so d and D mean the same pitch degree. Each syllable names a degree of the current key rather than a fixed letter, so the same sol-fa reads correctly in any key.

S: d r m f s l t d'

Notes outside the diatonic scale use two-letter chromatic syllables. As in standard tonic sol-fa, a raised degree changes its vowel to -e or -i, and a lowered degree changes to -a. Write the chromatic in place of the plain syllable.

• Raised: de (raised doh), re / ri (raised ray), fe / fi (raised fah), se / si (raised soh), le / li (raised lah).
• Lowered: ra (lowered ray), ma (lowered me), ta (lowered te).
• Full recognised set: fe, se, ta, te, ba, be, si, le, di, ri, me, ra, re, de, li, fi, ma.
• Chromatics take octave markers just like plain notes: fe', ta,.

S: d r m fe s : l ta l s

Apostrophes raise a note by an octave and commas lower it. One mark moves a single octave; two marks move two octaves. Markers attach directly to the syllable with no space.

• d' — one octave up. d'' — two octaves up.
• d, — one octave down. d,, — two octaves down.
• Bass and tenor lines usually sit an octave down: s, l, t, d.

S: d, d  d'  d''
B: d,, d, d   d

An asterisk * is a rest that occupies one beat. Use it wherever a part is silent for a full beat.

S: d : * : m : f

A hyphen - extends the previous note (a hold or tie). Its duration is resolved by the next timing marker — on its own it fills the rest of the beat, and combined with sub-beat markers it holds for part of a beat. Chain several to sustain across multiple beats.

S: d : - : - : r

A colon : separates beats within a part. A pipe | is an explicit barline. The number of beats in a measure follows the time signature (4 by default); barlines you type are honoured alongside the automatic measure grid.

S: d : r : m : f | s : l : t : d'

Every beat cell is one beat long by default. A single note in a cell takes the whole beat; a rest (*) takes one beat; a hold (-) lengthens the note before it. To place more than one note inside a beat, use the sub-beat timing markers on the next page — dots for half-beats, angle brackets for quarter-beats, and parentheses for tuplets.

For clean formatting, keep each part to a whole number of beats and start and end every part with a note or a rest. The half-beat (.) and quarter-beat (>) markers are meant to divide within a beat, not to open or close a part — a fractional phrase at the very start or end of a line formats poorly.

• If a part must begin part-way through a beat, lead with a rest or a silent onset marker rather than a bare sub-beat marker.
• .>l — silent for the first three quarters of the beat, then l. Use this for a mid-beat entry.
• d : - : - — a dotted-style sustain: doh held across three beats.