Special Symbols in Music - Rests

Rests are used to indicate a pause in a piece of music. The most common used rests are whole rest, half rest, quarter rest and eighth rest. For more information about rests go here.

There are also special rest symbols that are used to indicate pause or silence:

• General Pause - Uses the sign G.P. to indicate pause or silence for all instruments or voices.

• Fermata - Indicates that a note should be sustained longer than its value. Often it is the performer who determines how long he/she should hold the note. The fermata is often placed at the end of a music piece.