Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

Basic Music Theory

Making a Quarter Rest

This is probably one of the trickiest symbols to make in written music,

but it certainly isn’t tough. Make a letter ‘Z’, then put a letter ‘C’ right

below it. It won’t look exactly like the quarter rest above, but anyone

who reads music will know what it is (as long as you aren’t too sloppy

with it).

Rests On The Staff

Whole rests hang from the 4th line of the staff, half rests sit on the third

line, and quarter rests are plastered over the middle 3 lines. Notice the

brim of the “hat” and the edges of the “hole” are gone when the half and

whole rests are written on their proper line.

Example 12.1 Whole rest, half rest, and quarter rest on the staff.

Moving On

Without silence there can be no sound; without sound there can be no

silence. And silence is an important part of music, and now you know

how to show silence in music using whole, half and quarter rests. Make

sure you can answer all of the study guide questions before you move on.

Coming up next is meter or time signature, a device at the beginning of a

piece of music which tells you which note gets one beat and how many

beats are in each measure.

Chapter 12 Review

Z + C = ZC

1. What does a rest show?


2. Which three rests did you learn?
   
   
   1. Silence
   
   
   2. Whole rest, half
      rest, quarter rest