Rests and long rests

▶ Open in Aratu to hear the examples, change them and do the exercises

Silence is music too. In Aratu every rest is written with the same sign, -, and its length comes from the same rules as sounds: a - takes one part of the beat, as a note would.

Rest	Written in 4/4
quarter	`-` alone in a beat
eighth	`-c` (rest, then an eighth) or `c-`
sixteenth	`-ccc`, `c-cc`
dotted eighth	`-__c` or `-.c`
half	`- -`

Listen to the eighth rest at the start of each beat, the off-beat:

Try it▶ Hear it in Aratu

tempo: 100
hh = -c -c -c -c
bd = b b b b

A _ after a rest lengthens the silence: - _ is also a half rest.

A whole bar of rest

A - alone between bar lines is a whole bar of rest in any meter, like the score's whole rest. And - x4 is four bars of rest: the x means "times".

Try it▶ Hear it in Aratu

hh = | c c c c |
bd = | - x2 | b - b - |

The hi-hat plays from the start; the bass drum waits two bars and comes in on the third. Since the bass drum line is three bars long, it repeats every three.

Long rests let an instrument come in later, as in a band where the drums start alone.

Exercises

Hi-hat only on the off-beats: an eighth rest and an eighth on every beat.

Exercise▶ Hear it in Aratu

hh = cc cc cc cc

See an answer

hh = -c -c -c -c

The bass drum waits two bars in silence, then plays on beats 1 and 3.

Exercise▶ Hear it in Aratu

bd = | b - b - |

See an answer

bd = | - x2 | b - b - |