Singing, next to speaking, is the second most important means of verbal communication.
Singing is important in all cultures around the world; melodies run the gamut from religious songs to popular songs, including songs about love, work, nature, and family life.
Songs are used to inspire (national anthems or college school songs) and to teach (how to count). Songs mark celebrations like weddings, rites of passage like bar and bat mitzvahs, as well as funerals and processions.
Singing is an important expressive form of art along with painting, dancing, drama, poetry, and literature.
Singing, with its use of language, gives music a distinctive artistic dimension. Singing, however, may be expressive, even without the use of words (for example, jazz scat singing).
Singing is an important aid in the study of music theory and does not require additional resources for practice.
Musicians in many countries do not use the alphabet to name pitches; instead, they use syllables, called solfège, or solfeggio.
Guido d’Arezzo, a medieval monk, devised a syllabic system (or possibly codified it) around the eleventh century. He used the first syllable of each line of a Latin hymn to name consecutive ascending pitches.
Originally only six syllables were used and the seventh (Ti or Si, pronounced “See”) was added later.
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