How do I convert sheet music to tonic solfa?

Export your sheet music as MusicXML or MIDI from your notation app (MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius all support this), then upload it to DomiSol's editor. The conversion happens in your browser, no upload to a server, no AI required. You get back an editable solfa score with proper octave dots, durations, and bar lines.

What's the relationship between staff notation and tonic solfa?

Staff notation uses fixed pitches (C, D, E…) anchored to a clef. Tonic solfa is movable-do: 'do' is always the tonic of the current key, regardless of the actual pitch. So in C major, do=C; in G major, do=G; in F major, do=F. The conversion just relabels each pitch with its scale-degree role in the key.

What file formats can I import?

DomiSol accepts MusicXML (.musicxml or .xml, uncompressed) and standard MIDI (.mid or .midi). Compressed MusicXML (.mxl) isn't supported yet, re-export as plain .musicxml from your notation app. Multi-track MIDI is converted with one part per track; polyphonic chords collapse to the highest note.

Will the conversion preserve my key signature, time signature, and tempo?

Yes. Key signature is read from the file when present and used as the tonic for solfa conversion. When the file doesn't declare a key (common with MIDI exported from DAWs), DomiSol detects the key from the pitch distribution. Time signature and tempo are preserved exactly.

Can I convert solfa back to staff notation?

Yes. Alongside solfa and jianpu PDFs, DomiSol exports a staff-notation PDF (one stave per voice, articulations and repeats included) straight from the Export menu, handy when you need a copy for musicians who read staff. You can also export MIDI to open the piece in MuseScore, Finale, or any DAW. Most users in the bilingual workflow find solfa scores easier to share with choir members who don't read staff, but the staff PDF is there when you need it.

Why convert staff to solfa instead of just learning to read staff?

Many communities, African church choirs, British primary-school music classes, ear-training instructors, hymnody traditions worldwide, read tonic solfa as their first language. A choir director with sheet music in MusicXML and a choir that reads solfa needs translation, not retraining. Solfa also makes transposition trivial (the solfa stays the same; only the key changes), which is why it's preferred for vocal music in singers' best ranges.

6 min read · Updated 2026-05-11

How to convert

Sheet music to tonic solfa, in your browser.

Upload MusicXML or MIDI from MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius, or any DAW. DomiSol converts it to editable solfa or jianpu in seconds, no upload, no AI, the parsing runs locally in the browser.

Why convert staff to solfa?

Most of the world's choral music is written in staff notation, but a huge fraction of choirs read in tonic solfa: African church choirs (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa), British primary-school music programs, hymnody traditions in the Caribbean and Pacific, and ear-training classes across the US. If you're a choir director with sheet music in MuseScore and singers who read solfa, you need a translator, not a retraining program.

Tonic solfa also has practical advantages over staff for vocal work: transposition is free. The solfa syllables stay the same in any key, only the printed key signature changes. A hymn in C major and the same hymn in F major both read d r m f s l t. That's why solfa has dominated vocal pedagogy for 200 years.

How the conversion works

Staff notation uses fixed pitches: every note on the staff has an absolute pitch determined by the clef. Tonic solfa is movable-do: do is always the tonic of the current key, regardless of the actual pitch. The mapping is a one-step relabel:

In C major: do=C, re=D, mi=E, fa=F, sol=G, la=A, ti=B
In G major: do=G, re=A, mi=B, fa=C, sol=D, la=E, ti=F♯
In F major: do=F, re=G, mi=A, fa=B♭, sol=C, la=D, ti=E
In E♭ major: do=E♭, re=F, mi=G, fa=A♭, sol=B♭, la=C, ti=D

Notes outside the major scale (chromatic alterations) get prefix or suffix marks: a sharp on the tonic becomes de, a flat seventh becomes ta, and so on. DomiSol handles all of this automatically when you import.

Step 1, export your sheet music

Most notation apps export MusicXML out of the box. The format is the music industry's lingua franca for score interchange, it preserves pitch, duration, key signature, time signature, lyrics, and articulations.

MuseScore (free): File → Export → MusicXML. Pick "Uncompressed (.musicxml)", DomiSol doesn't support the compressed .mxl variant yet.
Finale: File → Export → MusicXML.
Sibelius: File → Export → MusicXML (Sibelius 7+).
Dorico: File → Export → MusicXML.
Logic Pro / Cubase / any DAW: Export as MIDI, DomiSol parses MIDI directly. Works for files where you don't have notation software.
Hymnal PDF or photo: Use DomiSol's built-in image-to-score recognition (OMR) instead, drop the photo or PDF in and skip MusicXML entirely.

Step 2, open the DomiSol editor

Go to https://dash.domisol.app and sign in. It's free during beta, no credit card, no installation. Works in any modern browser, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge.

Step 3, drop the file

In the editor, click the AI tab in the toolbar, then Import file. Drag your MusicXML or MIDI file into the modal (or click to browse). DomiSol parses it locally, your file never leaves your browser.

The parser:

Reads the key signature (or detects it if missing)
Converts every note to its solfa degree relative to the tonic
Quantizes durations to standard values (whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, with dotted variants)
Preserves time signature and tempo exactly
Collapses polyphonic chords to the highest pitch (one note per voice in the result)

Step 4, edit, play, share, export

Your score now appears in solfa (or jianpu, toggle in the toolbar). You can:

Edit any note by clicking and typing the new pitch
Play back with audio, Tone.js renders the score live
Add lyrics aligned to each note
Use AI to harmonize a melody to SATB, transpose to a different key, or generate a counter-melody
Export to PDF, print-ready solfa or jianpu for your choir
Share via URL, anyone can view the score in a browser, no account required

Worked example: "Amazing Grace" from staff to solfa

Take the opening line of Amazing Grace in G major. The staff notation reads:

G | D' B' G' | D' D' B | A G | E D |

With G as the tonic (do=G), the same notes in solfa are:

s, | s' m' s | s' s' m | r d | l, s, |

Same melody. Same intervals. Same singing. Different labels, and the solfa version is now transposable to any key just by changing what "do" means.

What DomiSol doesn't (yet) translate

Honest limits as of May 2026:

Polyphonic chords are collapsed to the highest voice. If you need full SATB from a piano-reduction score, manually split the parts after import.
Tuplets and triplets beyond the standard duration set get rounded to the nearest standard value.
Mid-piece key changes are flattened to the first key. Re-import each section separately for modulating pieces.
Slurs, ties, dynamics in the source are read as best-effort; the data model supports all three but the importer doesn't extract them all yet.

Try it now

DomiSol is the only web-based editor where solfa and jianpu are the editing model, not an export format. The MusicXML and MIDI importers route staff music straight into that model. No installation. Free during beta.

Open the editor and import your first file →