A rest is an interval of silence In discourse analysis, brief absences of speech mark the boundaries of prosodic units used by speakers. Silence in speech can be the result of hesitation, stutters, self-correction, or the deliberate slowing of speech for the purpose of clarification or processing of ideas. These are short silences. Longer pauses in language occur in interactive in a piece of music Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses", marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol corresponds with a particular note value In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags:

The combination of rests used to mark a pause follows the same rules as for notes. For more details see note value In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags.

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One-bar rests

When an entire measure In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from is devoid of notes, a semibreve (whole) rest is used, regardless of the actual time signature The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat. The only exceptions are for a 4/2 time signature (four minims per bar), when a breve rest is typically used for a bar's rest, and for time signatures shorter than 3/16, when a rest of the actual measure length would be used.[1] For a 4/2 measure rest, it is now also common to use the semibreve (whole) rest instead of the breve, so that a whole-measure rest for all time signatures starting from 3/16 is notated using a semibreve. Some published music places the numeral "1" above the rest to confirm the extent of the rest.

In manuscript autographs and facsimiles, bars without notes are sometimes left completely empty, without even a semibreve rest. The composer can also completely leave out the staff lines (the practice of, for example, Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Penderecki is a Polish composer and conductor of classical music).

Multiple measure rests

Multimeasure rest lasting 21 whole rest lengths Multimeasure rest using long and breve rests

In instrumental parts, rests of more than one measure in the same meter and key may be indicated with a multiple measure rest, showing the number of measures of rest, as shown. Multiple measure rests of variable duration are usually drawn in one of two ways: either as long, thick horizontal lines placed on the middle line of the staff, with serifs In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface . A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "grotesque" ( at either end, or as thick diagonal lines placed between the second and fourth lines of the staff. They denote a silence several times the duration of a whole rest.

The number of whole rest lengths for which the multiple measure rest lasts is indicated by a number printed above the musical staff (usually at the same size as the numerals in a time signature). Where the silence is for less than eight whole rest lengths, some publishers use a combination of four measure rests, double whole rests and whole rests to graphically indicate the extent of the rest. This serves as a counting aid and derives from Baroque notation conventions that were adapted from the old mensural rest system dating from Medieval times. If a meter or key change occurs during a multiple-measure rest, the rest must be broken up as required for clarity, with the change of key and/or meter indicated between the rests. This also applies in the case of a double-barline, which demarcates musical phrases or sections (a tacet instrumental part to a song may contain a sequence of multiple eight-measure rests, for instance).

The four-measure rest or longa rest is a symbol found in Western musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols denoting a silence four times the duration of a whole rest. They are only used in long silent passages which are not divided into bars In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from.

The two-measure rest or breve rest is another symbol found in Western musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols denoting a silence twice the duration of a whole rest. They are usually found in conjunction with the aforementioned four-measure rest.

Dotted rests

A rest may also have a dot In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it. The dot adds a half as much again to the basic note's duration. If the basic note lasts 2 beats, the corresponding dotted note lasts 3 beats. A dotted note is equivalent to writing the basic note tied to a note of half the value, or with more than one dots, after it, increasing its duration Duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. In sounds and music, a duration is a property of a tone that becomes one of the bases rhythm by half, but this is less commonly used than with notes, except occasionally in modern music notated in compound meters In music, compound meter, compound metre, or compound time , is a time signature or meter in which each measure is divided into three or more parts, or two uneven parts (as opposed to two even parts, called simple metre), calling for the measures to be played with principal and subordinate metric accents (the latter called subaccents), causing the such as 6/8 or 12/8. In these meters the long-standing convention has been to indicate one beat of rest as a quarter rest followed by an eighth rest (equivalent to three eighths).

Double-dotted rests, while theoretically acceptable, rarely appear in printed music, due to notational conventions and a concern for clarity.

References

  1. ^ Gardner Read: Music Notation, A Manual of Modern Practice, Second EditionTaplinger Publishing, 1979. Page 98.
Musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols and development In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, and is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Development is carried out upon portions of
Staff In standard Western musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch, or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their Bar & Bar line In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from · Clef A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff may be determined · Da Capo Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning . It is often abbreviated D.C.. It is a composer or publisher's directive to repeat the previous part of music. In small pieces this might be the same thing as a repeat, but in larger works D.C. might occur after one or more repeats of small sections, indicating a return to the very · Dal Segno In music notation, Dal Segno (often abbreviated D.S.) is used as a navigation marker. From Italian for "from the sign," D.S. appears in sheet music and instructs a musician to repeat a passage starting from the sign shown at right, sometimes called the "segno" in English · Key signature In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a line of · Ledger line A ledger line or leger line is musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staffs. A line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff · Musical mode In addition, from the end of the eighteenth century, the term began to be used in ethnomusicological contexts to describe pitch structures in non-European musical cultures, sometimes with doubtful compatibility · Musical scale In music, a scale is a group of musical notes collected in ascending and descending order, that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody and/or harmony. Scales are ordered in pitch or pitch class, with their ordering providing a measure of musical distance · Rehearsal letter A rehearsal letter is a boldface letter of the alphabet in an orchestral score, and its corresponding parts, that provides a convenient spot from which to resume rehearsal after a break. Rehearsal letters are most often used in scores of the Romantic era, beginning with Louis Spohr. They may also be generically called rehearsal marks or rehearsal · Repeat sign In music, a repeat sign is the sign which indicates a section should be repeated. If the piece has one repeat sign alone, then that means to repeat from the beginning, and then continue on . A corresponding sign facing the other way indicates where the repeat is to begin. These are analogous to the instructions da capo and dal segno · Time signature The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat · Transposition In music transposition refers to the process of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval. For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key. Similarly, one might transpose a tone row or an unordered collection of pitches such as a chord so that it begins on another pitch. See also Transposing · Transposing instrument A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are read at a pitch different from concert pitch, which a non-transposing instrument, such as a piano, would play. On a transposing instrument, a concert C is written as a different note; the concert pitch that is played for a written C determines the key that an instrument
Notes In music, the term note has two primary meanings: 1) a sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound; and 2) a pitched sound itself. Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis Accidental In music, an accidental is a note whose pitch is not a member of a scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the symbols used to mark such notes, sharps (♯), flats (♭), and naturals (♮), may also be called accidentals. An accidental sign raises or lowers the following note from its normal pitch, (Flat In music, flat means "lower in pitch." More specifically, in music notation, flat means "lower in pitch by a semitone ," and has an associated symbol (♭), which is a stylised lowercase "b" . The Unicode character '♭' (U+266D) is the flat sign. Its HTML entity is ♭ · Natural In musical notation, a natural sign is an accidental sign used to cancel a flat or sharp from either a preceding note or the key signature. If a bar contains a double sharp or double flat accidental and the composer wishes to denote the same note with only a single sharp or flat, a natural sign traditionally precedes the (single) sharp or flat · Sharp In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone ," and has an associated symbol (♯), which is often confused with the number (hash) sign (#)) · Dotted note In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it. The dot adds a half as much again to the basic note's duration. If the basic note lasts 2 beats, the corresponding dotted note lasts 3 beats. A dotted note is equivalent to writing the basic note tied to a note of half the value, or with more than one dots, · Grace note A grace note is a kind of music notation used to denote several kinds of musical ornaments. When occurring by itself, a single grace note normally indicates the intention of either an appoggiatura or an acciaccatura. When they occur in groups, grace notes can be interpreted to indicate any of several different classes of ornamentation, depending · Note value In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags (Beam A beam in musical notation is a thick line frequently used to connect multiple consecutive eighth notes , or notes of shorter value (indicated by two or more beams), and occasionally rests. Beamed notes or rests are groups of notes and rests connected by a beam; the use of beams is called beaming · Note head In music, a note head is the oval part of a note. Noteheads may be coloured completely black or white, indicating the note value . In a whole note, the note head is the only component of the note. Shorter note values attach a stem to the note head, and possibly beams or flags. The longer double whole note can be written with vertical lines · Stem Stems are the lines which extend from the notehead. Stems may point up or down. Different-facing stems indicate the voice for polyphonic music written on the same staff. For single-note melodies, the stems usually point down for notes on the middle line or higher, and up for those below. If the stem points up from a notehead, the stem originates) · Pitch Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, also known as partials, harmonic or · Rest · Interval In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two notes · Letter notation In music, letter notation is a system of representing a set of pitches, for example, the notes of a scale, by letters. For the complete Western diatonic scale, for example, these would be the letters A-G, possibly with a trailing symbol to indicate a half-step raise--, or a half-step lowering (flat, ♭). This is the most common way of specifying
Articulation In music, articulation refers to the direction or performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on single note or between multiple notes or sounds Dynamics In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional (velocity). The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics · Ornament In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody , but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central note. The amount of ornamentation in a piece of music can vary from quite extensive (it was often so in (Trill The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill. (compare mordent and tremolo). It is sometimes referred to by the German triller, the Italian trillo or the French trille · Mordent In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played in a single rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The term comes from the Latin mordere, meaning "to bite." · Grace note A grace note is a kind of music notation used to denote several kinds of musical ornaments. When occurring by itself, a single grace note normally indicates the intention of either an appoggiatura or an acciaccatura. When they occur in groups, grace notes can be interpreted to indicate any of several different classes of ornamentation, depending) · Ossia · Portato · Accent · Legato · Tenuto · Marcato · Staccato · Staccatissimo · Tie · Slur · Fermata
Development Coda · Exposition · Harmony · Melody · Motif · Recapitulation · Rhythm (Beat · Meter · Tempo) · Theme · Tonality · Atonality
Related Chord chart · Figured bass · Graphic notation · Lead sheet · Eye music · Modern musical symbols · Neume · Tablature

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