Whole Rest
A whole rest is a small filled rectangle hanging below the fourth line of the staff. It means silence for a whole measure.
It means the whole bar off, whatever the time signature says — a whole rest in 3/4 is three beats of silence, not four. That is the one exception worth remembering about rests.
How To Spot Whole Rest
A little block hanging under a line. The half rest is the same shape sitting on a line, which is the pair everyone mixes up.
Find It In Thirty Seconds
Find a whole rest and count the full measure out loud while playing nothing. Silence is part of the music, and counting through it is how it stays in time.
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.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each — clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Half Rest: A half rest is a small filled rectangle sitting on top of the middle line of the staff. It means two beats of silence in common time.
Measure (Bar): A measure — also called a bar — is the space between two bar lines. The time signature says how many beats each measure holds.
Quarter Rest: A quarter rest is the squiggle that means one beat of silence in common time.
More in This Section
Accent: An accent (>) above or below a note means play that note louder than the ones around it.
Accidental: An accidental is any sharp, flat or natural written in front of a note, changing its pitch for the rest of that measure.
Readers Also Look For
Eighth Rest: An eighth rest is a small slanted stroke with a single flag, meaning half a beat of silence.