You may be familiar with music notation that looks like this:

This type of music notation has been around since the 11th century, when music theorists and teachers, such as Guido of Arezzo, began to develop a system of stave notation (notation using lines).

The aim was to help musicians learn and remember songs more accurately and also to help to preserve songs for future generations. As this type of music notation developed through the centuries it allowed for more complicated forms of music to be imagined and performed.

Composers began using musical notation to create music of incredible levels of complexity and sophistication. Using musical notation allowed them to give instructions to musicians of exactly what to play, when to play it and how to play it.

This system of musical notation was used by composers to create incredible music, from the choral music of 14th century France ...

... to the huge orchestras of the classical and romantic eras ...

... to contemporary composers working with traditional notation today.

Graphic Notation

Music notation has changed to suit the music being made throughout the centuries and, in turn, music has been influenced by the type of notation available to the composer.

A number of composers in the 1950s began to experiment with alternative types of musical notation to facilitate their expanding world of new sounds, instruments and performance techniques.

Composers such as John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and Morton Feldman began to experiment with new forms of notation that challenged the traditional methods of composing and performing music.

Watch the video below to find out more about graphic notation:

Let's go to The Front Door resources and play a listening game. We will try to match the sequence of sounds with the sequence of symbols. This time we have instruments making the sounds!

We have looked at some different forms of graphic notation and learned how to use them in sequences to make music.

Now it's time to make your own graphic notation! If we do this in pairs or small groups, you will be able to perform each other's musical notation. Using shapes, words, pictures or symbols:

• Draw a loud sound
  
• Draw a quiet sound
  
• Draw a long sound
  
• Draw a short sound

Try to make these sounds with your voice. Next, try to make these sounds with simple instruments. Create a sequence using the worksheets with this lesson or a blank piece of paper.