Ah yes, I grew up listening to her sing her Do-Re-Mi's and thinking, "That's me. I'm going to sing just that." And I can do a pretty good mock up of Julie Andrew's too. Same timbre, accent and everything. That's what you get when you mimic the greats.
But, I never did get a firm grasp of what solfege was. So when they handed me a sight-singing book in college I thought, "I don't think I need this."
And for the most part, I was right. I hear a melody line once and I've got it. No need to be able to sight read. Great ear. Could sing you a scale or mode backwards or forwards. Have taught voice for years. Never used it. Not once. Know breath mechanics backwards and forwards, but this is on the low end of the need to know scale.
But now that I want to up my piano skills, play on the fly, and compose/arrange? I see the fruit of it. I see how it can take all the guess work out of pitches and ranges so that I'm not spending so much time trying to figure out what I want to do - or how far apart those harmonies and intervals are.
Cause that's what we're really talking about here boys and girls.... Intervals.
Now, we've already talked about intervals a bit. When we talk about chord structures, it's really just a composite structure of intervals that make up chords.
For example, a major chord is I - III - V (1st, 3rd and 5th of the scale).
Easy! Simple! You got this!
But! If I give you the tonic note of a chord, can you sing for me the 3rd? (or Mi for our solfeggi peeps)
You say, "Sure"
Now pick a different note. Could you sing the 3rd down from that?
AHA!!! Now, we may have stumped you a little bit. Not only do we have to build the scale from the ground up, but we must also be able to build it BACKWARDS!
So, for you newbies, work on it and figure out pitches in only the major scale intervals. Take one practice session and say that for a day, you will only practice the interval of a major 3rd more 2nd. Practice all over the black and white's so that the interval become solid forwards and backwards.
For those more advanced: Try the minor thirds and augmented fourths backwards and forwards. It will challenge you, but it will be worth it. Here's a chart:
Notice, I still don't like solfege. I'm not using it. I still think it's flipping stupid. However, this makes sense in a lot of ways, yeah? You have to know the numbers of the notes within a scale to read chords, right? The 7th, the 9th, etc.... Get used to it. That's the way it is.
Remember, once you learn something like this and can rapidly recall it when it is most needed - In practices, or when you're writing or whatever.
Practice, repeat, practice repeat... Learn it. Love it. Earn from it!