Rest (music)

When an entire bar is devoid of notes, a whole (semibreve) rest is used, regardless of the actual time signature.

Occasionally in manuscripts and facsimiles of them, bars of rest are sometimes left completely empty and unmarked, possibly even without the staves.

Multimeasure rests must also be divided at double barlines, which demarcate musical phrases or sections, and at rehearsal letters.

A rest may also have a dot after it, increasing its duration by half, but this is less commonly used than with notes, except occasionally in modern music notated in compound meters such as 68 or 128.

[7] 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.