Guide to Curwen Hand Signs
A hand shape for each solfa syllable. Singing with signs helps children feel pitch direction in their bodies.
Guide to Curwen Hand Signs
A hand shape for each solfa syllable. Singing with signs helps children feel pitch direction in their bodies.
Why use hand signs?
Hand signs give pitch a physical, visual shape. As children sing each syllable they make the sign, so they see and feel whether the melody is stepping up, leaping, or coming home to do. The signs follow the contour of the scale — low notes sit low, high notes rise — which makes intervals easier to hear and remember.
Fist, palm facing down
Make a loose fist with the palm down, as if resting it on a table. This is the ‘home’ note — the resting place of the melody.
Flat hand, slanted upward
Open the fist into a flat hand, palm down, and tilt it gently upward toward mi.
Flat hand, level and horizontal
Flat hand, palm down, held horizontally. A clear step up from re.
Thumb down, backs of hands facing you
Keep the hand flat with fingers together, thumb pointing downward, and the backs of your hands facing you — like a gentle ‘thumbs down’.
Palm facing toward you, cupped
Turn the hand so the palm faces toward you and cups slightly, as if holding a small ball. A strong, stable note.
Palm toward you, fingers curled down like a spider
Like sol, but the fingers curl downward and inward, like a spider’s legs. A softer, lower shape.
Index finger pointing diagonally up
Point the index finger diagonally upward toward do, other fingers closed. The ‘leading tone’ that pulls upward toward do.
Fist, palm down, raised higher
Same fist as the first do, but lifted higher — showing the octave. The melody has come home, one octave up.
How to use them
- Sing and sign together — the hand follows the pitch in real time.
- Start with so–mi (the first two signs taught), then add la.
- Sign without singing to help children hear the melody internally (inner hearing).
- Use signs to show direction: hand rises for high do, drops for low la.
Reference: Curwen hand signs as used in Kodály music education.
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