John Curwen was an English Congregationalist minister and diffuser of the tonic sol-fa system of music education created by Sarah Ann Glover. He was educated at Wymondley College in Hertfordshire, then Coward College as that institution became known when it moved to London, and finally University College London.
Portrait of John Curwen by William Gush, circa 1857
Curwen's Solfege hand signs, including "mental effects" for each tone.
Tonic sol-fa is a pedagogical technique for teaching sight-singing, invented by Sarah Ann Glover (1785–1867) of Norwich, England and popularised by John Curwen, who adapted it from a number of earlier musical systems. It uses a system of musical notation based on movable do solfège, whereby every note is given a name according to its relationship with other notes in the key: the usual staff notation is replaced with anglicized solfège syllables or their abbreviations. "Do" is chosen to be the tonic of whatever key is being used. The original solfège sequence started with "Ut", the first syllable of the hymn Ut queant laxis, which later became "Do".
Solfège table in an Irish classroom
Depiction of Curwen's Solfege hand signs. This version includes the tonal tendencies and interesting titles for each tone.
