It doesn’t take too much reading in Mrs. Curwen’s Pianoforte book before you run across the term crotchet.
The first time reading her book, I glossed over the word having to real idea what it was. After seeing it repeatedly and taking to heart a few context clues, I realized I need to clarify this word.
Mrs. Curwen uses the French time names in her book.
A crotchet is a quarter note.
A minim is a half note.
A semi-breve is a whole note.
Understanding those equivalents will clear up some confusion when reading her book. 🙂
Hi Kelli,
I’ve just read your page, looking for beginner resources.
I thought you might be interested to know that the words “crotchet”, “minim” and “semibreve” are not French rhythm terms (which would be “noire”, “blanche” and “ronde”). These are actually the English rhythm terms used in Britain.
American English re-designed the names to make them easier to learn. It’s something, to think that the English speaking world in Europe doesn’t use “quarter note”. However, something got lost in the attempt to be helpful, as a quarter note is only quarter when the time signature is 4/4 or 2/2. In 3/4, that black note is a third, for example. The fraction changes depending on the metre (British for “meter”).
The words “crotchet”, “minim” and “semibreve” were inherited from medieval Latin (“little hook”, “smallest”, half-of-a-short”).
More detail at https://mymusictheory.com/more-music-theory-topics/uk-and-usa-note-names-why-are-they-different/#:~:text=However%2C%20the%20trend%20towards%20ever,speed%20it%20used%20to%20be!