View source for Rest (music)

{{Short description|Interval of silence in a piece of music}}
{| align=right cellspacing=5
|-
|[[File:Rests on stave 02 Longa.svg|border|alt=A long/longa rest|Long/Longa rest]]
|-
|[[File:Rests on stave 04 Semibreve.svg|border|alt=A whole/semibreve rest|Whole/Semibreve rest]]
|-
|[[File:Rests on stave 06 Crotchet.svg|border|alt=A quarter/crotchet rest|Quarter/Crotchet rest]]
|-
|[[File:Rests on stave 08 Semiquaver.svg|border|alt=An eighth/semiquaver rest|Eighth/Semiquaver rest]]
|}
A '''rest''' is the absence of a [[sound]] for a defined period of time in music, or one of the [[musical notation]] signs used to indicate that.

The length of a rest corresponds with that of a particular [[note value]], thus indicating how long the silence should last. Each type of rest is named for the note value it corresponds with (e.g. quarter note and quarter rest, or quaver and quaver rest), and each of them has a distinctive sign.

== Description ==
Rests are intervals of [[silence]] in pieces of [[music]], marked by symbols indicating the length of the silence. Each rest symbol and name corresponds with a particular [[note value]], indicating how long the silence should last, generally as a multiplier of a [[measure (music)|measure]] or [[whole note]].

[[File:Music rests.svg|640px|Rest symbols, names, and lengths]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! American English !! British English !! Multiplier !! Symbol
|-
| [[longa (music)|Longa]] || Long rest || 4 || [[File:Rests on stave 02 Longa.svg|alt=A long/longa rest|Long/Longa rest]]
|-
| [[Double whole note|Double whole rest]] || Breve rest || 2 || [[File:Rests on stave 03 Breve.svg|alt=A double-whole/breve rest|Double-whole/Breve rest]]
|-
| [[Whole note|Whole rest]] || Semibreve rest || 1 || [[File:Rests on stave 04 Semibreve.svg|alt=A whole/semibreve rest|Whole/Semibreve rest]]
|-
| [[Half note|Half rest]] || Minim rest || {{frac|1|2}} || [[File:Rests on stave 05 Minim.svg|alt=A half/minim rest|Half/Minim rest]]
|-
| [[Quarter note|Quarter rest]] || Crotchet rest || {{frac|1|4}} || [[File:Crochet2.svg|border|80px|alt=A quarter/crotchet rest|Quarter/Crotchet rest]]
|-
| [[Eighth note|Eighth rest]] || Quaver rest || {{frac|1|8}} || [[File:Rests on stave 07 Quaver.svg|border|alt=An eighth/quaver rest|Eighth/Quaver rest]]
|-
| [[Sixteenth note|Sixteenth rest]] || Semiquaver rest || {{frac|1|16}} || [[File:Rests on stave 08 Semiquaver.svg|border|alt=An sixteenth/semiquaver rest|Sixteenth/Semiquaver rest]]
|-
| [[Thirty-second note|Thirty-second rest]] || Demisemiquaver rest || {{frac|1|32}} || [[File:Rests on stave 09 Demisemiquaver.svg|border|alt=A thirty-second/demisemiquaver rest|Thirty-second/Demisemiquaver rest]]
|-
| [[Sixty-fourth note|Sixty-fourth rest]] || Hemidemisemiquaver rest || {{frac|1|64}} || [[File:Rests on stave 10 Hemidemisemiquaver.svg|border|alt=A sixty-fourth/hemidemisemiquaver rest|Sixty-fourth/Hemidemisemiquaver rest]]
|}

* The quarter (crotchet) rest [[File:crotchet rest alt plain-svg.svg|
x20px]] (𝄽) may take a different form [[File:crotchet rest plain-svg.svg|x14px]] in older music.<ref name="three">''History of Music Notation'' (1937) by C. Gorden, p. 93.{{Full|date=January 2012|reason=I'm guessing the page number is 94 as previous page number was 92. This old book seems to be out-of print now, also publisher looks foreign.}}</ref><ref>Examples of the older form are found in the work of English music publishers up to the 20th century, e.g., W. A. Mozart ''Requiem Mass'', vocal score ed. W. T. Best, pub. London: Novello & Co. Ltd. 1879.</ref><ref>''Rudiments and Theory of Music'' Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London 1958. I, 33 and III, 25. The former shows both forms without distinction, the latter the "old" form only. The book was the standard theory manual in the UK up until at least 1975. The "old" form was taught as a manuscript variant of the printed form.</ref>
* The four-measure rest or [[longa (music)|longa]] rest are only used in long silent passages which are not divided into [[bar (music)|bars]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}
* The combination of rests used to mark a silence follows the same rules as for [[note value]]s.<ref name="AB">''AB guide to music theory'' by E. Taylor, chapter 13/1, {{ISBN|978-1-85472-446-5}}<!--Sorry but I mysteriously don't the page number, but it's the first page of chapter 13/1--></ref>

=== One-bar rest ===
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
    { << \new StaffGroup <<
        \new Staff <<
            \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 66
            \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"voice oohs"
            \clef treble \time 4/2
            \relative c' {
                \clef "treble_8" \time 4/2 \key g \dorian
                r2 g a1 bes c bes r2 c
                }
            \addlyrics { ve -- ni -- re post me, ve -- }
            >>
        \new Staff <<
            \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"voice oohs"
            \clef bass \time 4/2 \key g \dorian
            \new Voice \relative c {
                e1 f g f r2 g a1
                }
            \addlyrics { ni -- re post me, ve -- ni -- }
            >>
    >>
>> }
</score>|width=420|caption=Rest on weak interior [[Cadence (music)|cadence]] from [[Lassus]]'s ''Qui vult venire post me'', mm. 3–5}}
When an entire [[bar (music)|bar]] is devoid of notes, a whole (semibreve) rest is used, regardless of the actual [[time signature]].<ref name="AB" /> Historically exceptions were made for a {{music|time|4|2}} time signature (four half notes per bar), when a double whole (breve) rest was typically used for a bar's rest, and for time signatures shorter than {{music|time|3|16}}, when a rest of the actual measure length would be used.<ref name="two"> ''Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice'', second edition, by Gardner Read (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1969): 98. (Reprinted, New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979).</ref> Some published (usually earlier) music places the numeral "{{serif|1}}" above the rest to confirm the extent of the rest.

Occasionally in manuscripts and facsimiles of them, bars of rest are sometimes left completely empty and unmarked, possibly even without the staves.<ref>"[https://www.jstor.org/stable/427936 Aesthetic Functions of Silence and Rests in Music]", by Zofia Lissa, ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' 22 (1964), no. 4: 443–54 {{doi|10.2307/427936}}.</ref><!--the practice of, for example, [[Krzysztof Penderecki]]).It can be documented that this was Stravinsky's practice, too, in manuscripts from at least as early as 1916, but in printed scores only from about 1960 onward. Why is Penderecki a particularly good example, and can it be documented?-->
{{clear|right}}

=== Multiple measure rests ===
{| align=right border=0 cellspacing=0
|- valign=top
|[[File:15 bars multirest.png|thumb|160px|alt=a 15 bar multirest|Fifteen bars' rest]]
|[[File:Old multirests.svg|thumb|440px|alt=Old multirests from 1 to 14 bars|The old system for notating multirests, still in use today but followed only to varying extents]]
|}
{{multiple image
 | width = 90
 | image1 = Multirests H-bars.png
 | image2 = Multirests narrow H-bars.png
 | image3 = Multirests Blank.png
 | image4 = Multirests Old style.png
 | footer = Seven measure multirest, notated variously
}}
In instrumental parts, rests of more than one bar in the same meter and key may be indicated with a multimeasure rest (British English: multiple bar rest), showing the number of bars of rest, as shown. A multimeasure rest is usually drawn in one of two ways:
* As a thick horizontal line placed on the middle line of the staff, with [[serifs]] at both ends (see above middle picture),<ref name="three" /> or as thick diagonal lines placed between the second and fourth lines of the staff, resembling a large heavy minus sign or equals sign set at a slant (the diagonal style is much less common than the horizontal one; although a small number of publishers use it, it is more commonly found in modern manuscripts in a casual style).<ref name="two" /> Both variants of thick line rests are drawn in the same shape each time, regardless of how many bars' rest they represent.
* The older system of notating multirests (deriving from Baroque notation conventions that were adapted from the old [[Mensural_notation#Rests|mensural rest system]] dating from Medieval times) draws each multimeasure rest according to the picture above right unless it will exceed a certain number of bars; rests longer than that limit are drawn using the thick horizontal line mentioned above. How long a multimeasure rest must be before resorting to a horizontal line is a matter of personal taste or editorial policy; most publishers use ten bars as the changing point, however, larger and smaller changing points are used, especially in earlier music.<ref name="three" />

The number of bars for which a horizontal line multimeasure rest lasts is indicated by a number printed above the musical staff (usually at the same size as the numerals in a time signature). If a change of meter or key occurs during a multimeasure rest, that rest must be divided into shorter sections for clarity, with the changes of key and/or meter indicated between the rests. Multimeasure rests must also be divided at double barlines, which demarcate musical phrases or sections, and at [[rehearsal letter]]s.

=== Dotted rest ===
[[File:YB0110 Silences pointes.png|thumb]]

A rest may also have a [[dotted note|dot]] after it, increasing its [[duration (music)|duration]] by half, but this is less commonly used than with notes, except occasionally in modern music notated in [[compound meter (music)|compound meters]] such as {{music|time|6|8}} or {{music|time|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). See: [[Anacrusis]].

=== General pause ===
In a score for an ensemble piece, "G.P." (''general pause'') indicates silence for one bar or more for the entire ensemble.<ref>Elaine Gould, ''[[Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation]]'', p. 190. Faber Music (publisher), 2011.</ref> Specifically marking general pauses each time they occur (rather than writing them as ordinary rests) is relevant for performers, as making any kind of noise should be avoided there—for instance, page turns in sheet music are not made during general pauses, as the sound of turning the page becomes noticeable when no one is playing.<ref>Elaine Gould, ''[[Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation]]'', p. 561. Faber Music (publisher), 2011.</ref>

== {{lang|de|In Futurum}} ==

[[File:Erwin Schulhoff - In Futurum - rests (original).jpg|thumb|upright|Page from the score of [[Erwin Schulhoff]]'s "{{lang|de|In Futurum}}" (one of his "{{lang|de|Fünf Pittoresken}}") incudes smiley faces]]

[[Erwin Schulhoff]]'s "{{lang|de|In Futurum}}" (the middle movement of his "{{lang|de|Fünf Pittoresken}}", published in 1919) comprises nothing but annotated rests; and results in a silent performance.<ref>"{{lang|de|In Futurum}}" sheet music</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Carey |first1=Leo |title=Sh-h-h |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/24/sh-h-h-5 |access-date=29 August 2025 |work=The New Yorker |date=16 May 2004 |quote=There are fermatas, exclamation points, question marks, and, in the middle and at the end, enigmatic signs that look like a hybrid of a half note and a smiley face}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Caesura]]
* [[List of silent musical compositions]]
* [[List of musical symbols]]
* [[Tacet]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{clear}}
{{Musical notation}}

[[Category:Musical notation]]
[[Category:Rhythm and meter]]
[[Category:Silence]]

[[de:Notenwert#Pausen]]