## Fermata

A fermata — the dot under an arc, sometimes called a bird's eye — means hold the note or rest longer than its written value, for as long as the music seems to want.

There is no fixed length. A fermata at the end of a phrase is usually about double; one at the end of a piece can be much longer. It is one of the few places notation hands the decision to the player.


## How To Spot Fermata

A semicircle with a dot underneath, sitting above a note or rest.


## Find It In Thirty Seconds

Find a fermata, play up to it, and hold the note while counting to four. Then try eight. One of them will sound right and the other will not.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.