Success with Fixed Do in an Asian Environment

“Why are you calling that do? It sounds like ‘fa?’”

I turned away from the board and met the knitted eyebrows of the second grader who had asked the question. Many other young musicians also looked confused, their heads innocently cocked to the side.

The student likely had perfect pitch - and was right. They were used to calling that pitch “fa” outside of school.

I replied, somewhat inadequately, “Do can move. Whatever we call do becomes home base, and in this piece, that’s this note.” I played an F on the piano.

For the next ten minutes, I watched the students struggle to play the folk song we had been singing all week. They were unsure how to use their ears to find the melody, and my written movable-do solfege seemed more of a hindrance than a help.

This exchange last spring prompted a summer of reflection about my teaching practice - especially one key question:

Fixed do or movable do?

The debate is a familiar one among music educators. I once believed movable do was unquestionably superior. It sharpens audiation, builds understanding of tonal hierarchy, and strengthens interval recognition. But as I later learned from Vince Peterson at the Choral Chameleon Summer Institute, movable do is most effective within tonal contexts - and can at times be limiting. Fixed do, by contrast, is more universal, and offers a pathway to developing absolute pitch.

“Imagine if we taught pitch the same way we teach color?” Peterson asked a room full of conductors. The idea stuck with me.

After working with young musicians in Korea, I realized that movable do was creating unnecessary barriers. My students—many of whom took private piano lessons—already thought of “middle C” as do, D as re, E as mi, and so on. They could read music, but the Western letter names were unfamiliar, and movable solfege simply didn’t fit their framework.

So I adapted. We continued singing in movable do, but played Orff instruments using fixed do. I labeled each instrument with color-coded stickers, allowing students to read whichever naming system they preferred—do-re-mi, C-D-E, or numbers. For many, this flexibility was liberating. As a non-visual learner myself, this shift required me to grow as well. Matching sticker colors to boomwhackers sparked joy in the classroom and made learning more accessible for everyone.

This process also challenged my assumptions. Just because movable do was familiar to me as a Western-trained musician does not mean it is most appropriate for international students in Korea. Complex and effective systems of music education already exist in Asia, and it is both respectful and necessary to acknowledge that. After only a week of using fixed do with the keyboard stickers, the students began learning more quickly and confidently. Their smiles confirmed that adapting my approach was the right choice.

#solfege #teachinginasia #musiceducation #movabledo #fixeddo