what are the hand-signs in solfege?

Question

I've searched in SE for solfege and names of altered notes or tones. This point seems to be cleared. But I couldn't find any about hand-signs for solfege. **What are the solfege hand-signs?** In our school system this was a practical method to introduce children in singing and music theory. It seems to me there is a lack of knowledge about this successful method that sadly also get unused in Switzerland. I wonder what experience teachers all around the world have made with this method. (of course I know the answer as I have used it - otherwise I couldn't pretend that it fits.) One problem is that older kids think this is "childish", or even parents wanted to discuss, why we use this old DO RE MI, as we have today the modern ABC ...

Answer 1

In the 19th century John Spencer Curwen developed hand signs to accompany solfege syllables and therefore represent different degrees of the diatonic scale. It is a wonderful way to teach music kinesthetically.



https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Curwen_Hand_Signs_MT.jpg

Answer 2

The "hand-signs" I learned with solfege are what conductors use. The 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4. 6/8, 12/8 time signatures are conducted differently.