Solmisation

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Solmization \Sol`mi*za"tion\, n. [F. solmisation, fr. solmiser
     to sol-fa; -- called from the musical notes sol, mi. See
     {Sol-fa}.] (Mus.)
     The act of sol-faing. [Written also {solmisation}.]
     [1913 Webster]
  


     Note: This art was practiced by the Greeks; but six of the
           seven syllables now in use are generally attributed to
           Guido d' Arezzo, an Italian monk of the eleventh
           century, who is said to have taken them from the first
           syllables of the first six lines of the following
           stanza of a monkish hymn to St. John the Baptist. 
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 Ut queant laxis
                 Resonare fibris
                 Mira gestorum
                 Famuli tuorum
                 Solve polluti
                 Labii reatum,
                 Sancte Joannes.
           [1913 Webster] Professor Skeat says the name of the
           seventh note, si, was also formed by him [Guido] from
           the initials of the two words of the last line; but
           this is disputed, Littr['e] attributing the first use
           of it to Anselm of Flanders long afterwards. The
           syllable do is often substituted for ut.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  solmisation
       n : a system of naming the notes of a musical scale by syllables
           instead of letters [syn: {solmization}]