Notation Particulars

To finish, let's look at a few special cases of notation, all related to meter, that you need to know.

1. A whole measure of rest

When a whole measure is silent, you show it with a whole rest, whatever the meter, with rare exceptions such as 4/2, where a breve rest is often used. This is true even in 3/4, 6/8 or 2/4, where a whole rest doesn't match the value of a whole note. The rest is then centered in the measure.

2. Two or four measures of rest

Two measures of rest are shown by a two-measure rest, a thick block filling one space of the staff, like a breve rest, with a 2 above it. Four measures are shown by a four-measure rest, a block spanning two spaces, with a 4 above it.

3. A larger number of measures

For a larger number of measures of rest, you draw a thick horizontal bar on the staff and write the number of measures to count above it: this is a multimeasure rest. This sign, like the two-measure and four-measure rests, is used only in individual parts, never in the full score, where every measure stays written out.

4. Leaving out opening rests: the pickup

When the first measure of a piece begins with rests, it is customary to leave them out: the music starts directly on the note, before the first bar line.

5. A double bar line inside a measure

A section double bar line, the kind you find between two sections of a piece or at a change of key signature or of time signature, can sometimes fall in the middle of a measure. It then has no meaning as far as the meter goes, and you count the beats as if it weren't there: it is no longer a bar line in the metric sense, just a dividing line.

That completes Part Four. You now know how music is measured, how fast it moves and how it is conducted, so check it all with these last questions.