-li tu-o-rum _Sol_-ve pol-lu-ti _La_-bi-i re-a-tum
Sanc-te Jo-han-nes.]]

Major--DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, TI, DO.

Minor[17]--original--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA.
harmonic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SI, LA.
melodic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FI, SI, LA,
SOL, FA, MI, RE, DO, TI, LA.

[Footnote 17: A considerable number of teachers (particularly those who
did not learn to sing by syllable in childhood) object to calling the
tonic of the minor scale _la_, insisting that both major and minor tonic
should be called _do_. According to this plan the syllables used in
singing the harmonic minor scale would be: DO, RE, ME, FA, SOL, LE, TI,
DO.

There is no particular basis for this theory, for although all scales
must of course begin with the key-tone or tonic, this tonic may be
referred to by any syllable which will serve as a basis for an
association process enabling one to feel the force of the tone as a
closing point--a _home tone_. Thus in the Dorian mode the tonic would be
RE, in the Phrygian, MI, etc.]

It is interesting to study the changes in both spelling and
pronunciation that have occurred (and are still occurring) in
these syllables. The first one (ut) was changed to _DO_ as
early as the sixteenth century because of the difficulty of
producing a good singing tone on _ut_. For the same reason and
also in order to avoid having two diatonic syllables with the
same initial letter, the tonic-sol-fa system (invented in
England about 1812 and systematized about 1850) changed SI to
TI and this change has been almost universally adopted by
teachers of sight-singing in this country. The more elaborate
tonic-sol-fa spelling of the diatonic syllables (DOH, LAH,
etc.), has not, however, been favorably received in this
country and the tendency seems to be toward still further
simplification rather than toward elaboration. It is probable
that further changes in both spelling and pronunciation will
be made in the near future, one such change that seems
especially desirable being some other syllable than RE for the
second tone of the major scale, so that the present syllable
may be reserved for "flat-two," thus providing a uniform
vowel-sound for all intermediate tones of the descending
chromatic scale, as is already the case in the ascending form.

93. The _chromatic scale_[18] is one wh