Half Rest

The half rest is a small, solid rectangle that sits on top of the middle line of the staff, like a hat. It lasts as long as a half note: two beats in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4. In British English it is called a minim rest.

Half rest or whole rest?

It is easy to mix up with the whole rest, which has the same shape but hangs below the fourth line. Remember: the half rest sits on the line like a hat; the whole rest hangs down like a hole. In a bar of 4/4 that also contains notes, a block rest can only be a half rest, because a whole rest would fill the entire bar.

Where half rests go in 4/4

In 4/4, music is easiest to read when the middle of the bar, beat 3, stays visible. So a half rest normally covers beats 1 and 2 or beats 3 and 4. Two beats of silence on beats 2 and 3 are usually written as two quarter rests instead, so you can still see where the second half of the bar begins.

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A bar of complete silence in 2/4 or 3/4 is written with a whole rest, not with a half rest or a dotted half rest.

Counting a half rest

Count both beats of the rest, out loud at first: "1, 2" or "3, 4". Stop the sound exactly on the rest's first beat, and use the second beat to get ready to come in again.

In cut time (2/2) the half note is the beat, so a half rest lasts one beat there.

Practice the rest shapes in The Rests and The Rest Family.