Music is made of sound and silence, and both have to be measured. This lesson adds the longest note you will meet for a while, the whole note, and your first rest, a sign that tells you to stay silent for one beat. The skill that ties them together is the same one you have been building all along: keep counting, no matter what your hands are doing.
The whole note
A whole note is a hollow oval with no stem. It looks like a slightly flattened letter O sitting on its own. In 4/4 time it lasts four beats, the whole bar, which is where its name comes from.
Compare the three notes you now know:
- Quarter note: filled head, stem, one beat.
- Half note: hollow head, stem, two beats.
- Whole note: hollow head, no stem, four beats.
To play a whole note, press the key on beat 1 and hold it down while you count 2, 3 and 4. Let go as the next bar's 1 arrives. Four beats can feel surprisingly long the first few times, and there is a strong temptation to let go early. Don't: a whole note should ring right up to the next bar.
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The quarter rest
A rest is a written silence. It lasts a set number of beats, just like a note, but during it you play nothing. The quarter rest lasts one beat. It is drawn as a squiggly vertical sign, a little like a lightning bolt with a curl at the bottom.
During a rest:
- Lift your finger so the sound stops. On a piano, the sound only stops when the key comes back up.
- Keep counting in your head or out loud. The rest has a count number like any other beat.
- Get ready for the next note, so you come back in exactly on its beat.
In the second bar of that example, the notes and rests alternate: play on 1, silent on 2, play on 3, silent on 4. If you stop counting during the silences, the notes start drifting earlier. A steady count fixes that.
A rhythm with everything
Here is a four-bar rhythm that uses all of this lesson's ideas, the one the Academy lesson uses for its tapping exercise:
Count it aloud before you play it: "1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 (rest) | 1 (rest) 3 (rest) | 1 2 3 4". Then play it on middle C.
Two pieces that use them
Au clair de la lune ends each half on a whole note. In C position its rhythm is four quarters, two halves, four quarters, and then a whole note to finish the phrase. The letters are C C C D, E D, C E D D, then C held for the whole bar. The second half of the song repeats the same notes. You can hear it on the Au clair de la lune song page.
Rest Stop, a short exercise piece in the Academy, has three notes and a quarter rest in every bar: C D E (rest), E F G (rest), G F E (rest), D E C (rest), and so on. It is excellent practice in lifting your hand cleanly and coming back in on time.
How to practise
- Clap the first example, counting aloud. For the whole note, clap on 1 and keep your hands pressed together for 2, 3, 4.
- For quarter rests, open your hands outwards on the rest's count instead of clapping. This turns the silence into a small movement, so you feel it.
- Play the four-bar rhythm on middle C. Count every beat aloud, including the rests.
- Play Au clair de la lune slowly. Check that the final C really lasts four full counts.
- Play a few bars of Rest Stop: three notes, then lift your hand slightly off the keys for the rest, then come back for the next bar.
- Make up your own bar: any mix of quarter notes and quarter rests that adds up to four beats. Play it on any key.
Common mistakes
- Letting go of a whole note early. Count all four beats and keep the key down until the next bar starts.
- Not lifting during a rest. If your finger stays on the key, the note keeps sounding. A rest needs real silence.
- Mixing up whole and half notes. Both are hollow; only the half note has a stem.
- Coming back in late after a rest. Prepare the next finger during the silence, so it is ready on the beat.
Try it in Pianuvo
The third lesson of Unit 1: Pulse and rhythm through playing has you tap whole notes and quarter rests on middle C, then read and play Au clair de la lune and Rest Stop from the rhythm line. The Academy listens through the on-screen keys, a MIDI keyboard or a real piano and microphone, and notices both when you play and when you stay silent, so a rushed rest shows up in your score.