Reading Musical Notation
Read staff notation and other ways of writing music down: note names on the stave, note and rest lengths (crotchets, quavers, minims), and graphic scores; follow a written melody and match notation to what is heard
What a learner can do afterwards
- Name notes on the treble stave and explain that higher positions mean higher sounds
- Identify note and rest lengths (e.g. a minim lasts twice as long as a crotchet)
- Follow a simple score while listening and point to where the music has got to, or match a short rhythm they hear to the right notation
The lesson
Music can be written down so anyone can play it, even if they never heard it before. Notes sit on a stave, which has five lines and four spaces. A note placed higher up on the stave sounds higher. A note placed lower down sounds lower.
Zara follows a line of music while it plays. She sees a note high on the stave and hears a high sound. She sees a note held for a long time and claps one long clap. She sees a quick note and claps a fast little clap.
Not all written music looks like notes on a stave. Some music uses pictures instead, called a graphic score, where a wavy line or a big shape can tell you what to play. Whatever the notation looks like, look at the page and listen at the same time.
Height on the stave shows pitch, note shapes show length, and following the page while you listen ties reading and hearing together.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.