THE DIFFERENT TYPE OF REST

In music, we indicate to musicians when to play by using different types of

musical notes. But what happens when we want to tell the musician not to play?
It’s times like this that we used a type of symbol called a rest.

What is a Rest?
A rest in music is a type of symbol that indicates that the musician should
not play and that there should be silence.
Every type of note, like crotchets, minims etc, has a corresponding rest symbol
that has the same time value.

Types of REST
a. Semibreve Rest (Whole Note Rest)

A semibreve rest (or whole note rest) is drawn as a small rectangle that
hangs off the 2nd line from the top of the stave.
It has a value of four beats, the same as a semibreve note.

b. Minim Rest (Half Note Rest)

The minim rest (or half note rest) is a small rectangle that is very similar to the semibreve rest
but, instead of hanging from the second line it sits on the middle line of the stave.
 It has a value of two beats, the same as a minim note.

Side note: To remember the difference between a semibreve and minim rest I think of the
semibreve rest being bigger (it lasts longer) than a minim and so because it’s “heavier” it hangs
off the stave.

c. Crochet Rest (Quarter Note Rest)

The crotchet rest (or quarter note rest) is quite

complicated to draw.
It kind of looks like a skewed letter Z with a small letter C on the bottom.
It’s drawn right in the middle of the stave in-between the top and the bottom lines of the stave.
It has a value of one beat, the same as a crotchet note.
d. Quaver Rest (Eighth Note Rest)

Up next we have a quaver rest (eighth note rest) which looks like a small number seven with a
little blob on the end.

Like the crotchet rest it sits right in the middle of the stave sitting on the 4th line from the top.

It has a value of ½ of a beat, the same as a quaver note.

e. Semiquaver Rest (Sixteenth Note Rest)

Lastly, we have a semiquaver rest (sixteenth note rest) which is very similar to the quaver rest
but slightly taller and has two flicks.

It sits on the bottom line of the stave.