solmization

n. Music
The act or a system of using syllables, especially sol-fa syllables, to represent the tones of the scale.

[French solmisation, from solmiser, to sol-fa : sol, note of the scale (from Medieval Latin; see gamut) + mi, note of the scale (from Medieval Latin; see gamut).]

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The use of syllables in association with pitches as a mnemonic device for indicating melodic intervals. Many such systems exist in world musical cultures, to serve as aids in the oral transmission of music and to assist teaching and memorization.

The principal solmization system of Western music dates from the early 11th century and is traditionally associated with Guido of Arezzo (c 1000) although it is not mentioned in his extant writings. In this system, the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol and la are assigned to three different series of pitches, beginning on C, G (with a B natural) and F (with a B flat), to form sets of six notes or ‘hexachords’. These are traditionally illustrated by drawings on a hand (the ‘Guidonian hand’). In each hexachord, the interval mi-fa is a semitone. With the superimposition of these hexachords across the compass, from G to e″, each note had a name (such as ‘C fa ut’) which in most cases identified it uniquely.

In adding solmization syllables to chant, the chant would be placed in the appropriate hexachord and this helped singers to know when semitones could be sung rather than tones. The hexachord could be changed if the chant's range exceeded that of a single hexachord. Later, the hexachord system was expanded to admit additional notes.

The Guidonian system of solmization, besides being the basis for much early theory, was the prototype of many later systems, of which the best known is Tonic Sol-fa. The Guidonian syllable names were adopted in many languages to identify notes in preference to the letters of the alphabet favoured in English (see P itch names).

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the use of syllables to denote the tones of a musical scale
     (do... re... mi... )