Anyone else annoyed by "solfege"? That is, apparently, "solfège." Accent grave over the "e."
In music, solfège... or solfeggio... also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of Western music. Solfège is a form of solmization, though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Syllables are assigned to the notes of the scale and enable the musician to audiate, or mentally hear, the pitches of a piece of music being seen for the first time and then to sing them aloud. Through the Renaissance (and much later in some shapenote publications) various interlocking 4, 5 and 6-note systems were employed to cover the octave.
If you don't know why this is annoying me today, I have to begin with a spoiler alert:
Ridiculously hard segment of today's NYT crossword:
I love the Saturday puzzle, but normally when it comes together, you do know the words. "Solfège" was utterly alien to me, and I had SO-FE-E and the across words in those 2 blanks were also unknown to me. Wiley Post? I can write a wily post but I'd never heard of Wiley Post. The "g" was the last letter I got in "logic gate," which I was just guessing. I don't know about logic gates. The clue was "Circuit building block," and I just had to figure maybe, in circuitry, there's something called a "logic gate."
I was shocked when the "L" and the "G" triggered the "CONGRATULATIONS" pop up. Really? Solfege is a word?
Anyway:Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.
Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you know.
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When you start thinking someone is sending you cryptic messages in the crosswords, we will start to worry.
Last clue I completed....
You never heard of Wiley Post? He was famous for dying with Will Rogers in a plane piloted by Post.
I'm thinking they just really wanted to put "Tesla" right in the middle, because they think "Tesla" is cool. Who am I to say what is cool right now, but in my opinion, Tesla hasn't been cool since Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. It is emphatically not cool to fawn over Elon Musk. Bleh! We need cooler celebrities.
Anyway, I usually start puzzles in the middle and fan out from there, and "Tesla" was the first thing I wrote in. I had no idea "Tesla" was nestled up against "Solfege." I picture the edge of a sofa. May they roll off onto the floor and wake up from their unseemly nap.
The Bank Dick. People kept calling him Souse.
Egbert Souse'
"You never heard of Wiley Post? He was famous for dying with Will Rogers in a plane piloted by Post."
Well, I saw that when I wrote the post, which quotes, "On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska."
When I read that, I thought, hmm, that should be more famous. And: why don't I remember that Will Rogers died in a plane crash? And, finally: Yeah, it's weird. You used to hear about Will Rogers all the time, how beloved he was. I remember that from my youth. Everyone always quoted that one thing he said — never met a man he didn't like — but it's just faded away.
We do tend to remember how celebrities die when they've died in some sudden or seemingly avoidable way. Plane crashes are especially memorable modes of departure. But when do we remember the name of the pilot? Who was flying the plane that Buddy Holly died in? We don't remember things like that.
Glenn Could couldn't stop vocalizing the notes of his playing, drove recording engineers nuts. It was the way he was taught but he couldn't stop.
Actually, GG was nuts.
I guess Althouse wasn't an Ernie Kovac's fan.
Song of the Nairobi Trio aka Solfeggio
Ahh, I get to finally share one of my favorite jokes:
What did the solfeggio teacher say when she fell off the couch?
.
.
.
.
“Mi fa la fa sol fa!”
(My husband is a singer at Disney, and I play clarinet, so we’re a couple of music nerds.)
"Do, a deer, a female deer, Re a drop of golden sun, Mi, a name I call myself..." Come sing along with me dear Ann, you know the rest.
Ah, yes. You didn't learn music from old Italians, then. Ten minutes with them and you'd be reading right off the hand of Guido d'Arezzo. Solfege, like language, is best learned early.
If you're not a musician, there's no reason to know the word exists as far as I can tell.
I always start puzzles at the top left and work my way across each row, then I do all the 3 letter answers. After that, I focus on what I think the theme clues are.
Yes, that looks like a daunting section. I do recognize "solfege", which is now forever locked in my memory with covfefe for some reason. Also know who Wiley Post is and what a logic gate is, but would have had to get some letters for it come up in my memory. What was the clue for "Wiley Post"? "Cotillion"?
Maybe it's obscure or (more likely) a touch esoteric... but I learned that word in 8th grade. Maybe it's just a fine arts thing. Theatre znd choir geeks and so forth.
I only learned a few months back that Will Rogers died in a plane crash with Post- it came up when I was reading about the death of Glenn Miller who died in a plane crash in WWII that I also didn't know about until then.
I'm not a musician, and I hate crossword, but I knew about solfege.
Now do dramaturge.
"Every Good Boy Deserves Favor/Fudge" is easier. Maybe the rest of the world would have adopted it if we'd gone metric.
I wonder how many Americans know "solfege" from trying to figure out just what the hell Julie Andrews was singing about in that Austria movie.
I knew the name Wiley Post, and if pressed, I might have remembered he was a famous aviator. But there haven't been many famous airplane pilots since we started putting men in space - the only one I can think of is the guy who put his plane down safely in the Hudson, and I'm not remembering his name now
Nobody would remember Post just for being the pilot in the crash that killed Will Rogers, but he was famous before that. So really, that crash killed two celebrities.
People knew Wiley Post when they knew Will Rogers. If you've never heard of Will, you've never heard of Wiley. Amelia Earhart was smart enough to keep the mystery going. Good career move.
Wiley Post was blind in one eye due to an accident while working on an oil rig. His round-the-world plane, "Winnie Mae" (a Lockheed Vega) is in the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. In addition to Glenn Miller, Leslie Howard also died in a plane crash during WWII--suspected of being shot down by a German Condor maritime patrol plane.
Solfege. I know what it is, hate it, and probably wouldn't have guessed it in a crossword.
To be a music therapist had to go to conservatory and learned it there. What's really weird is that at the Paris Conservatory they use "fixed do". Everywhere else, whatever the first note of the key you're in is "do". In Paris "do" is always the note/pitch C, wherever it might show up in the scale.
“We do tend to remember how celebrities die when they've died in some sudden or seemingly avoidable way. Plane crashes are especially memorable modes of departure. But when do we remember the name of the pilot? Who was flying the plane that Buddy Holly died in? We don't remember things like that.”
Wiley Post was famous in his own right.
Buddy Holley’s pilot wasn’t.
"I guess Althouse wasn't an Ernie Kovac's fan. Song of the Nairobi Trio aka Solfeggio."
Thanks. I've known about Ernie Kovacs since he was on local Philadelphia TV stations in the 1950s. My parents were big fans. If I could think of only ONE celebrity whose death made my parents feel bad, it would be that of Ernie Kovacs.
But I didn't remember that "aka Solfeggio" was attached to the Nairobi Trio.
So, yeah, I want credit for having watched Ernie Kovacs in the 1950s and for growing up believing HE was the most beloved comedian.
Syllables are assigned to the notes of the scale
I'm thinking of assigning musical notes to my pronouns.
A trip down vague memory lane.
Wiley Post and Will Rogers I knew about, but would not have connected their deaths.
Captain Sullivan landed on the Hudson.
Glenn Miller? My father, a trombone-playing bomber pilot, loved his music.
Kovacs is now being attacked for his Percy Dovetonsils routines . . . guess why.
The Nairobi Trio and Percy Dovetonsils: RIGHT THERE, Ernie Kovacs would have been canceled and cast into the darkness.
He was hilarious.
He died in a low-speed car crash. The speculation was, he dropped his beloved cigar while driving and lost control trying to pick it up on the car floor.
I learn something new every day. There's a lot in this post I didn't know about. Ann, you make a great point about many of us growing up, hearing about Will Rogers for-seemingly-ever, and yet not knowing or remembering that he had died in an airplane crash. I'm pretty sure no one under a certain age knows anything at all about Will Rogers. Which reminds me that all celebrity is fleeting, all fame is fleeting. I mean, who even speaks of Xenophon any longer?
And no- I did not know about Wiley Post. Or Solfège. So... Learning!
I learn something new every day. There's a lot in this post I didn't know about. Ann, you make a great point about many of us growing up, hearing about Will Rogers for-seemingly-ever, and yet not knowing or remembering that he had died in an airplane crash. I'm pretty sure no one under a certain age knows anything at all about Will Rogers. Which reminds me that all celebrity is fleeting, all fame is fleeting. I mean, who even speaks of Xenophon any longer?
And no- I did not know about Wiley Post. Or Solfège. So... Learning!
Buddy Holly's last words were, "Wait...if you're here...who's flying the plane?"
I was a young smart-ass when I came across this Will Rogers quotation:
"Everybody is ignorant---only on different subjects."
Rocked my world.
My wife cross-stitched a nice sampler bearing the phrase for me, now framed and displayed where I can see it on my Man Cave wall.
(It was an epiphany, but she knew I would need continual reminding.)
My church has traditionally only used a cappella singing during worship, but we called this method of music instruction “sol-fa-ing” not solfege. We also have our songs printed with shaped notes that correspond to the “do-re-mi” of the song, depending on its key — do is a triangle, sol is a circle, la is a square, etc. Some of our older members can sight-read an unfamiliar song completely based on the shaped notes, but it’s a dying art.
Solfege occurred to me on my first pass, though I didn't write it in until I got some crosses. Different wheelhouses for different folks. Anyone who spent serious time in a music school is likely to know the word.
"Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you known"
It's also in an episode of "Night Court" when Harry's co-workers try to pass off an autographed photo of Mel Tormé as genuine. He caught on when he saw it was signed as'Mel Tormè' which Harry said would be pronounced as 'Tor-muh.' It actually would be pronounced 'Tor-meh,' but the gag worked, so meh.
"Telegram for Mr and Mrs Asswipe!" Ah, back when SNL could elicit a genuine laugh...
I'm a hobbyist musician. If you happen to shop European musical instrument sites you'll see Bb (B flat) instruments like clarinet and trumpet referred to as Sib, pronounced see flat. Also, when you buy European-made reeds like Vandoren, they are marked Sib for reeds made for Bb instrumets such as clarinet or tenor saxophone or Mib for alto sax which is keyed to Eb, pronounced E flat.
In addition to making it known that he had never met a man he didn't like, probably Will Rogers' second most famous remark was that "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."
You guys beat me with Egbert Souse (accent grave over the ‘e’.)
Reminds me of “Never call me Mr. Bissonette in front of Mrs. Bissionette. Bisson-ay”.
Having recently rewatched The Bank Dick, I did some research into the misnaming of the accent in the name Sousé. Somewhere, I saw the name spelled Sousè, I guess in deference to the famous line.
Also, there's a Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City, OK, the state in which he grew up.
Pop culture is my nemesis. Emmy nominee for a show I never heard of? I hope I can get the crosses…
We play “plane crash or drug overdose?” at work, where we try to guess the cause of death of a rock and roll musician.
Usually the crossword is something I do before noon, here in Oregon: I don't know when the NYT switches to the next day's puzzle but 'before noon' has always proved to be safe; I was otherwise occupied today but now, at 1615, Sunday's puzzle is online. It sounds like it was one of those Saturdays when I would have had to spend hours at it, anyway.
Solfege, however, I would likely have gotten easily-- anyone familiar with the hymnody of the Divine Office knows the Ut queant laxis (from first syllables in the first strophe of which Guido d'Arezzo named the notes of his, our, scale) for the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
A drop of golden sun…
Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you know.
My favorite movie of 1934.
Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you know.
My favorite movie of 1934.
Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you know.
My favorite movie of 1934.
Finally, "Accent grave over the 'e'" is a movie reference, you know.
My favorite movie of 1934.
I never heard of Solfege, but I have taken classes in shaped note singing. It's fun. However, shaped note singing is divided into two schools, the do-ra-mi school and the fa-so-la- school. I prefer the do-ra-mi method because there is a different shape for each note in an octave.
Isn't there a lament in there, somewhere?
Just had to add, since it is my birth state. The airport in Oklahoma City, Ok is named after Rogers - Will Rogers World Airport.
Lyle Sanford, RMT,
Fixed do isn't limited to Paris; it was the only sort of solfege taught at Juilliard when I was there. And we were pretty well steeped in it! Dandelot, anyone? If you've worked through it, you'll shudder; if you haven't, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about.
I still remember Inka Rudnycka easily playing all the Dandelot exercises, while each of us was made to recite (not sing -- there were several octaves of range in there) the notes at whatever speed she liked. Later on, we moved to Morris & Ferguson's Preparatory Exercises in Score Reading -- but that was really only for people with existing keyboard skills, which I hadn't got. I could get the gist, but not express it at the piano. There were very few people in that position, btw; even the players who weren't actually pianists (as the large majority were) mostly had excellent keyboard skills.
Tonic so-fa and shape-note singing are different things, and indeed have spun off their own repertoires. Myself, I could never really get into movable do because it's powerless to deal with music that modulates, which is (practically speaking) anything longer than a couple of minutes, things like ground basses apart.
That was the last piece I struggled with. Never heard of "solfege." Was vaguely familiar with Wiley Post but didn't get that one without a bunch of crossers. 37a was also a bit of a struggle. Got the last half of 32a, but I don't recall if I've ever heard of the whole term.
Blew one on the Sunday puzzle with the Millennials and the NFL "star" I've never heard of.
Tomorrow (actually, later today at this point) is the BOSWORDS tournament, which has been around for five or six years. Being held in person for the first time in a couple of years at the lovely campus of the Roxbury Latin School (not to be confused with the Boston Latin School, which is a couple of blocks away from where I live in the Fenway). Not gonna do it in person, though, because they're insisting on masks in a big room without air conditioning for 5 hours or so when it's gonna be in the mid-90s.
There's an on-line option that I intend to do that they started last year. But it wrecks the whole thing. It was originally a very local thing. Now, with the on-line option, we get all the national mucky-mucks.
Though there are exceptions. most of the folks at tournaments finish the puzzles correctly. It's all in the time bonuses. I'm too slow to do better than score in the middle, but I prefer solving on-line to paper puzzles.
--gpm
Next, we take on "Ut Queant Laxis/Resonare Fibris"
Next, we take on "Ut Queant Laxis/Resonare Fibris"
Blogger Michelle Dulak Thomson - Did not know it was a Juilliard thing as well, and my hat is off to you being able to do it. Maybe if you learn it that way - but after learning moveable do, my mind just couldn't deal with it - but I'm not in your class of musicianship! Went to conservatory in my late 20's after desultory piano lessons through high school and switching to folk guitar and banjo in college. Theory, sight singing and dictation were nightmarish for me - and got though the sight singing using movable do, and one time one of the faculty said incredulously - "He's actually using solfège!" Apparently all the others students could just sing in pitch just looking at the notes.
Grew up in acapella churches where shape-note hymnals were the norm, but was an adult before I knew that notation had a name.
Later I knew some people who were into Sacred Harp singing, which is similar but is based on four notes instead of seven.
Today a lot of homeschoolers using Miss Mason's methods learn solfege as hymn and folk song studies are part of the curriculum.
Can't say I'd be annoyed to see it in a crossword.
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