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how to play these weird rests?

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Kirill
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2 Answers2

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To be clear, the right hand staff here is actually showing three voices, not two (as implied in the other answer).

The bar begins with only two voices.

  1. First voice has: Eb-D-C (quarter tied to dotted quarter); the C in this voice is held for the remainder of the bar.
  2. Second voice has: 8th rest, 8th rest, F-C, 16th rest, C-F-Ab-F
  3. Third voice entrance is signaled by the 16th rest you have circled below the mp sign: beginning with that 16th rest, then in 64th notes: C-D-Eb-F-G (quarter), 16th rest, Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb.

In the left hand, there are two voices indicated:

  1. Upper: 8th rest, 8th rest, Ab-Bb-C-F-Ab-Bb-C
  2. Lower: F (octave), 16th rest, F (quarter), 8th rest, F (quarter)

Note that with the exception of voice 3 in the right hand, all of these voices add up to the total note duration you'd expect for this 6/8 bar. If you're confused about reading these different voices, keep that in mind: usually each voice should show a complete set of durations for the total duration of the bar. The exception here is voice 3 for the right hand, whose entrance mid-bar is signaled by that first circled 16th rest, making clear that a 3rd voice has now joined the other two in the right hand.

Athanasius
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  • thanks for the answer! have i wait a semitone(at the second 16th rest), before i start play the F note? – Kirill Oct 27 '19 at 05:02
  • @user214603 - No. The measure has 6 eighth note durations, correct? Imagine they are numbered #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6. The first 16th rest in the right hand AND the note F both occur on #3 of those 6 eighth notes. The second 16th rest in the right hand AND the note F both occur on #6 of the eighth note durations that make up the bar. – Athanasius Oct 27 '19 at 05:18
  • yup, it's clear for me. i'm confused about #5 – Kirill Oct 27 '19 at 05:40
  • @Kirill - you can't wait a semitone - do you mean a semiquaver? – Tim Oct 27 '19 at 07:02
  • I don't see the point in writing the section out in three voices, or even two. I think it would tidy up well written in one voice, for the top line at least. Isn't the idea of writing music to make it easy to read, if possible? +1. – Tim Oct 27 '19 at 07:06
  • @Tim no, a mean semitone(16th in this case) – Kirill Oct 27 '19 at 07:35
  • @Tim: I don't have the larger context for this excerpt, but I'm assuming it's a polyphonic texture. If, for example, it's a fugue, having the separate voices written like this can make it clear where a particular voice has a motive or thematic element that occurs elsewhere. Writing them as "one voice" can obscure a lot of that. (Plus, in this case, even trying to write it as "one voice" will look cluttered, e.g., showing that sustained C for most of the bar in the r.h., showing the G sustained through the C-F-Ab motive, showing the F that ends that motive sustained through the 32nds, etc. – Athanasius Oct 27 '19 at 12:30
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Actually, one doesn't play the rests. (Or any other rests.) The reason for these rests is that the right hand part has two lines. The upper line starts with Eb-D-C-F-C and the lower line starts with three rests. The upper line then has the four 64th notes and a quarter note on G. The rests allow one to write two lines (or more) on a single staff. It's common in piano music. The rests show where one line is silent. The whole piece is much easier to read this way. The alternative (example in early editions of Bach's Musical Offering) is to use separate staves for each line. (Bach used a soprano clef, alto clef, tenor clef, and bass clef.)

ttw
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