Tintin Forums

I was just reading about Solfège (the do, re, mi scale) and realised that whilst this is true for English-speaking countries that use the 'Movable do' system (Australia, Ireland, the UK, the USA and English-speaking Canada), the 'fixed do' system is used in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and Latin American countries.

In other words, for countries that use the 'fixed do' system, Do is always C. I'm guessing, but it's possible that Tintin would have used this system, since he's Belgian. So maybe he did have perfect pitch...

I'm back...

If you look at the facsimile edition of Cigars of the Pharaoh, you will see that in the original version, Tintin did have pitch holes (if that is what they are called) drilled into it, and even a music stand at one point (Both things can be found on page 68). So, Tintin would have been able to play a large number of notes on it. Now, would a wooden horn really make much noise at all?

I love a good debate as much as anyone, but let's all remember that when Hergé was writing "Cigars", it was before he started documenting himself, and trying to be as realistic as possible. Therefore, the whole story, including the passsages where Tintin communicates with the elephants, should be taken more like a humourous fantasy than anything else.

What is the point of the whole do-re-mi -system, if do, re, mi are absolute notes? Well it is none of my business to judge but ...


If that's so, I must withdraw my accusation: Herge didn't make any mistake in this case.

In the fixed do system the sharps and flats are ignored (so C and C♯ are both Do), so they're not quite absolute notes. I think many people prefer the fixed do system because they're learning the correct pitch, but I take your point. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

In the colour book Tintin says "Sol-Lah-Te-Doh" is 'yes' and "Doh-Te-Lah-Sol" is 'no', so I wonder whether Hergé was partly thinking of 'Solresol', which is an artificial language invented in the nineteenth century, based on the solflege musical system. In that language reversing the syllables also reverses the meaning. Just a thought...


The way Tintin progresses from simple phrases like "yes" or "I want a drink" to more complex ones like "We need special help... can you take us to a village?" is quite astonishing!

Tintin is clever at every thing, of course he's musical.