Do-Re-Mi

Back in 1965, we kids didn't know much about The Sound of Music, until a big fuss was made about the movie in the Sri Lsnkan newspapers. We didn’t even know about Julie Andrews at that time.  A wide screen was needed for Sound of Music, and we had to wait until theaters—cinemas, as we called them—were convinced of the necessity of the expanded screen, and refitted them. 

Then, of course, everyone saw the movie, which was a big hit, and the songs were being sung by kids everywhere.  Edelweiss was the big hit, and the Lonely Goatherd.  The Do-re-mi song trailed in popularity, and it did not strike me at that time why that was so.  In retrospect, at least one reason is clear: it is difficult to play by ear!

To my mind, that song is almost brilliantly well constructed; there are several sequences, as they're called; the fragments that start with 'Doh, a deer ...', then 'Re, a drop of golden sun ...' and 'Mi, a name ...' and 'Fa, ...' all have the same pattern; that's a sequence.  At 'Soh ...' a new pattern begins, that continues with 'La, a note to follow Soh,' and 'Ti, a drink with jam and bread...'

The song was so embedded in my consciousness that I didn't quite notice that some of those runs introduced accidentals (sharps and flats) that popped the song—which had started out in C major—first into the neighboring key of G major, and then into A minor!  The last line rather nonchalantly introduced a B Flat, not for harmonic reasons but just as a chromatic passing note.  You haven't lived until you've tried to play it on a baritone horn.

The little example I have shown is in the key of B Flat, which means that the accidentals that were introduced in the song are now an E Natural (which moves the tune into the key of F, temporarily,) followed by an F Sharp, which moves the tune into G Minor; and then an A Flat to get us out of G minor, and back home to B Flat.  A flat is not a note in the harmony, really; it is a chromatic note, just for fun.

Archie