Picture scores — Music, 4–6 years
A picture score uses marks, drawings or colours to show what sounds come next. Music, 4–6 years.
Reading music with pictures
A picture score is a plan for sounds made with drawings, shapes, colours or simple marks. You look from left to right and make the sound shown by each sign. The picture does not have to look like a traditional page of notes; it only needs to help someone perform the idea.
Why draw a score?
A sound disappears after it is made, so another person may not remember the order of the sounds. A picture score solves this by leaving a visible plan that can be shared, changed and performed again. People have always used marks or pictures to help remember and organise music.
A three-sign score
Draw a star, a wavy line and a square in a row. Decide that the star means one tap, the wavy line means rubbing hands and the square means one clap. Now read left to right: tap once, rub your hands, then clap once. Someone else can follow the same three signs.
A picture is not the whole instruction
A common mistake is to think a red circle must mean the same sound to everyone. That is reasonable because pictures often suggest meanings, but a score needs an agreed key. Say what each sign means first, then the reader can use the picture in the way you intended.
Scores you can see
Picture scores are useful when a group is inventing music and wants to remember its plan. A teacher may draw symbols on the board, or a performer may use pictures in a concert. They are also a bridge towards written music, because marks can tell people when and what to play.
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