Notation means how to write notes and duration means how long each note lasts. Music is made up by notes and also silences or places where the whole orchestra, or just one player rests. Some notes and rests are short, some are long. If we want to a long note to be played we have to show that in our music. If we want our note to be short we have to show that too. The shorter notes fit nicely inside the larger ones just like when we use money, our pennies or cents fit nicely inside the larger coins, dollars or pounds. Of course, the shorter the note, or the smaller the coin, the more are needed to make up one dollar/pound. Whether the note is high or low depends which family it comes from. How long it should last will depend on how many beats that family member pays for. Here's how this works:

The next smallest note is a MINIM and there are two minims to make up one semibreve.

But what if we want to buy something that costs 25 cents? We will need a CROTCHET. Two crotchets make up a minim. Can you tell how many crotchets will make up a semibreve?________________

If we want to buy something which goes for half a crotchet will will need a QUAVER. How many quavers make a crotchet?_____________

With two crotchets and a minim how many beats can we buy?_____________

With two quavers and a crotchet, how many beats can we buy?____________

With one minim and two quavers how many beats can we buy?_____________

With four quavers and one crotchet how many beats can we buy?_________

With one crotchet, one minim and two quavers, how many beats can we buy?_______

A semibreve looks like a circle that somebody sat on. (Try to say that sentence three times fast!). It has to sit on one of the lines in a staff or in one of the spaces. Practice drawing semibreves on your stave.

A minim is like a semibreve with a stick and looks like a bubble wand. Draw some minims on your stave.

A crotchet looks like a minim only the hole is coloured in. Draw some crotchets on your stave.

A quaver looks like a crotchet only it has a little tail that comes out of the stick on the end opposite the circle. Try drawing some quavers on your stave. When you draw two or more quavers next to each other you can join them together by the tails, like twins, triplets or quadruplets.

Find some music and see if you can tell which are the minims. which are the crotchets and which are the quavers.

Activity Musical Note Shopping

You can make up your own beat money by making up some cards with different notes on each one. You will need cardboard ruled into rectangles (5 x 8 cm will do). Once you have drawn up and labelled the cards, you can play this game with a friend so get them to draw up a set of cards just like yours. Make sure your friend makes her/his cards a different colour to yours so that the two packs do not get confused.

1. Draw a semibreve on one side of the first card and write the number 4 on the reverse.

2. Draw a two minims on the front side of the second card and the number 4 on the reverse.

3. Draw one minim on the front side of the third card and the number 2 on the back.

4. Draw four crotchets on the front side of the fourth card and the number 4 on the back.

5. Draw three crotchets on the front side of the fifth card and the number 3 on the back.
6. Draw two crotchets on the front side of the sixth card and the number 2 on the reverse.
7. Draw one crotchet on the front side of the seventh card and the number 1 on the reverse.
8.  Draw a quaver on the front of the eighth card and mark 1/2 on the back.
9. Draw four quavers (joined in pairs) on the front of the eighth card and the number 2 on the reverse.
10. Draw two quavers on the front of the ninth card and and the number 1 on the back.
11. Draw six quavers (joined in pairs) on the front of the tenth card and the number 3 on the back. When confidence grows, the rests and dotted notes can be added as cards.
12. Draw one dotted crotchet on the back of card twelve and write 1 and a half on the back.
13. Draw two dotted crotchets on the back of card thirteen and write 3 on the other side.
14. Draw a dotted minim on the front of card fourteen and write 3 on the back.
15. Draw two dotted minims on the front of card fifteen and write 6 on the back.

Both players have a set of cards as described above- they should each have 12 cards.

Find some items for sale. They could be books, empty bottles, toys or whatever you can find around that is safe to use. Alternatively, you can mark some more flashcards as follows and use pretend each one represents something imaginary that you want to buy (the wilder the better). Make up price tags for the items as follows: