Rests: how to read and count silence in music

In music, silence is written down too. Each rest marks a stretch without sound that has an exact length, measured in beats, just like notes. For rhythm readers, rests are often harder than notes, not because they are complicated but because there is nothing to do during them except wait in time.

The three rests in Beginner 1

Every note has a matching rest of the same length:

You can hear each one in an example on the Notes and rests page.

How not to confuse the half rest with the whole rest

Both are black blocks of the same size, and the only difference is their position. Two images help you remember:

• The half rest sits on top of the line, like a hat. It is the lighter one, so it “floats”.
• The whole rest hangs below the line, like a hole. It is the heavier one (4 beats), so it “drops”.

“Hat” and “hole”: that's all you need to remember.

Why rests are hard

Three reasons come up again and again for beginners:

1. There is no sound to guide you. In a series of claps, each clap confirms the pulse. During a rest that confirmation disappears, and the beat has to be held inside.
2. The urge to come back early. Silence is uncomfortable. The natural tendency is to cut the rest short and clap the next note too soon. It is the most common mistake in block B.
3. A rest on beat 1. When a bar starts in silence, the strongest beat has no sound, and many people clap on 1 by reflex. Lesson 14 and lesson 22 train exactly this.

Techniques for counting silence

• Open hands. In this course, rests have their own gesture: hands apart and still. That way silence is an action too, not a “nothing”. It contrasts with the hands-together gesture of long notes.
• Count out loud or in a whisper. Saying the number of the rest's beat (“1, 2, 3, 4”) keeps the pulse active. On long rests, whispering the numbers helps you keep count.
• Mark the pulse with your body. A slight nod or a tap of the foot during the rest keeps the beat without making noise.
• Prepare the next entry. On the last beat of the rest, bring your hands closer to clap on the following beat. The entry after silence is where most mistakes happen.

One rest or two?

A 2-beat silence that starts on beat 1 or beat 3 of a 4/4 bar is written with a half rest. But if it starts on beat 2, it is written as two quarter rests. It sounds the same; the difference is in the notation, which tries to keep the middle of the bar (the start of beat 3) always visible. This makes reading easier, because your eye finds the two halves of the bar right away. Lesson 25 is devoted to this situation.

The whole rest: an empty bar

The whole rest lasts 4 beats in 4/4, a whole bar without sound. In many scores it is also used to mean “a whole bar of silence” in other time signatures. During an empty bar, the risk is losing count: count all four beats clearly and get your hands ready on “4”. It first appears in lesson 24, and lesson 46 puts several long rests in a row.

Where to practice

• Block B (lessons 11 to 20): the quarter rest in each position of the bar, starting with beat 4 (lesson 11) and ending with beat 1.
• Block C (lessons 21 to 30): the half rest, the whole rest and the contrast between hands together and hands open.
• Blocks D and E: the same rests in 2/4 and 3/4 and in long readings.

If your entries after rests are always early, also see the guide Common beginner mistakes.