Learning to Read Music - Rests

Rests – where you don’t play anything

A sometimes overlooked element of written music is the rest. 

A rest indicates when you don’t play anything. The beat keeps going, but you don't play or sing when a rest is indicated.

Special symbols designate rests of different lengths.

The usual note values - whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth and sixteenth - these note values each have a comparable rest. Here's what rests look like, with their values.

Go here for a more detailed description of symbols used on the standard staff .