Composers mark out places in the music where they want a moment of pause or silence. A symbol used for this purpose is called a rest. Composers use different types of rest to show a musician the duration of silence.
Whole Rest
A whole rest is written as a small bar that sits just below the fourth on the staff. A whole rest indicates a duration of silence of 4 beats.
Half Rest
A half rest is written as a small bar that sits just above line number 3 on the staff. It indicated a duration of silence of 2 beats.
Quarter Rest
A quarter rest is written as a jagged outline of a quarter note; the bottom hook represents the note head with a crooked stem extending upward. The quarter rest is usually placed so the bottom hook sits on the second line of the staff. A quarter rest indicates a duration of silence of 1 beat.
Eighth Rest
An eighth rest is written as a tiny note with an irregular stem. The eighth rest is placed so the hook is centered in a place on the staff, it indicates a duration of silence of one half of a beat. Like eighth notes, eighth rests are better visualized as having broken one beat into two pieces. You will play eighth rests and learn about them in detail in the next article.
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