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Popcorn and other suites

User information guide

NSW Department of Education

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What is Popcorn and other suites?

A guide to the resource

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Popcorn and other suites is a K-6 creative arts resource

Developed in the 1970s in big book format for the K-6 classroom to introduce music notation. Now digitally remastered for a new generation of learners.

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The music in Popcorn and other suites

The original music was performed by the NSW Department of Education's 'Cadet band' in the 1970s. The digitally remastered edition contains the same audio files of 10 favourite pieces. Effort has been made to maintain its original and well-loved feel.

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How it works

Each of the 10 selected pieces follows the same format. Starting with a title slide indicating the name of the piece and the composer (where known).

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How it works

Each piece is verbally introduced before the music starts. Follow either the ticking metronome, beat timer or highlighted animation to know when to start.

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What to play

Each piece has its own audio recording guide. This contains a clapping track of the rhythms that should be played along with the recording. Listen to this first to maintain clarity.

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Music notation

You will notice that the notes are on the 5 different lines of the music staff. This indicates which instrument is meant to be playing. They are also colour coded to help.

How to read the notation on the staff

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Music notation

In these examples you can see that each colour has its own line. The lower instruments (drums and so on) should be on the lower lines of the music staff and the higher instruments (bells, small triangles and so on) are towards the top. This is flexible depending on available instruments.

Higher instruments at the top of the staff

Lower instruments at the bottom of the staff

Medium instruments in the middle of the staff

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Instrument usage guide

Line	Colour	Possible instruments (can be flexible)
Bottom (line 1)	Brown	Big drums Bass drums Large djembes Large cymbals
Second from bottom (line 2)	Orange	Medium sized drums Boxes
Middle (line 3)	Red	Tambourines Smaller sized drums
Second from top (line 4)	Green	Castanets Maracas
Top (line 5)	Blue	Triangle Finger cymbals

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Musical symbols used

Time signature: top number indicates how many beats are in each bar. In this case 4.

The staff: is 5 lines that represent the different pitches. The higher the note on the staff, the higher the pitch of the sound.

Pause (fermata): indicates a short break in the music, or if above a note to play it longer.

Repeat sign: 2 lines and 2 dots on either end of a section means play that part again. In this case section A is to be played 4 times. Without the two dots this is a double barline meaning the end of the section or the piece.

Barline: marks the end of a bar. Each bar starts with a slight accent on the first beat. The number of beats in the bar depends on the time signature.

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Other symbols used

A colour note with a cross through it means hit the note strongly.
A black note with a cross through it means all instruments play and hit the note strongly.

Commonly used symbols

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Other symbols used

A zig zagged line means to shake or play rapidly (tremolo) on the note.
A sloped line with two dots means to repeat the bar before. The number above indicates how many times to repeat the bar before. In this example the bar before is repeated 7 times.

Commonly used symbols

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More musical symbols

Rhythmic notation guide

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Rhythmic notation	Rhythm Syllable (optional)	How many beats long?	Traditional notation name
	Ta	1	crotchet
	Ti-ti	½ each	quavers
	Saa	1 beat of rest	crotchet rest
	Sa-a	2 beats of rest	minim rest
	Sa-a-a-a	4 beats of rest	semibreve rest
	Ta-a	2	minim
	Ta-a-a-a	4	semibreve

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Less common symbols

Unusual symbols occasionally used

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Some pieces use body percussion instead of instruments on each of the lines. Snap means to click and patschen means to pat thighs.

Some pieces may include a pattern such as A B A C A and so on. This means to play section A then section B, followed by section A again, then C and section A and so on.

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Click on each piece to find out more

Specific instructions are included within each piece.

For any further enquiries contact: creativeartsK-6@det.nsw.edu.au

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NSW Department of Education