The thinking mind may still question whether the musical mind is discriminating syllables or tonalities. Yes, the children are hooking into the syllables, picking up the difference in syllables between “rim rums” and “sim sums,” but those syllables are attached to something much deeper in the musical mind that the children know in sound, and the difference in syllables expresses that deeper knowing. The syllables, themselves, cause children to reflect on their own audiation—pointing out that this tonality is different from that one, voiced by the syllables. The syllables become so married to the sound that it is through the obvious differences in syllables that children can express the not so obvious differences in sound.

The more children hear and interact with tonality through syllables, the more the syllables label the distinguishing characteristics of the tonalities. The sameness across tonalities—the melodic function, is reflected through the vowels, while the differences between tonalities is reflected in the consonants. The consonants become the musical mind’s label for the tonality, as it is the consonants that distinguish one tonality from another in syllables. Eventually, the syllables become the “shortcut” to the tonality—an immediate way to draw up the tonality from audiation to seat the teacher, as well as the children, in the tonality. It is much easier for one steeped in tonalities and tonal syllables to get into Phrygian tonality, for example, by singing, “mim me mim ma mi mo mu mum,” than to try to draw up Phrygian from audiation without syllables, or through music theory. The musical mind develops a sense of the sound of Phrygian with those syllables, making the tonality more easily accessible and making audiation and delivery more precise.

Tonal syllables become the language with which to communicate with the musical mind, bypassing the thinking mind.  A child at this level who might be audiating Aeolian tonality, for example, when expected to be in Dorian, can be brought to Dorian simply through the Dorian prep with syllables, which makes the distinction between Aeolian and Dorian immediate, without need for discussion of the half step differences between the two tonalities or reference to singing flat.

The tonal syllables also serve like an “aural flashlight” to highlight characteristic tones of the tonalities. For example, the fourth tone in Lydian, which might be described as a raised fourth in music theory, is the only raised fourth among the tonalities. The more one engages with tonal syllables in all tonalities, the more that fourth “pops out” in sound in Lydian tonality, distinguishing Lydian from other tonalities and better defining the unique sound of Lydian. Similarly, the lowered second in Phrygian is uniquely Phrygian, contrasted with other tonalities in syllables and sound. The sameness of melodic function across tonalities, represented by the sameness of vowels in syllables, makes the characteristic tones of each tonality more apparent—more tangible in audiation, when wrapped in consonants that distinguish tonalities.