Fermata

The hold in the score

The symbol library describes the fermata as a semicircle with a dot beneath: the note or rest is held beyond its written value, the duration at discretion. On a note it holds the sound about twice as long; on a rest it lengthens the silence, often with dramatic effect; over a double barline it marks the end of a section. There are also the short (angular) and the long (rectangular) fermata, which together with the normal one make a three-step scale.

Examples from the sheet music archive

Songs

• Der Tod und das Mädchen Franz Schubert, D. 531 · voice and piano · 2 pages

  After the girl's section there is a fermata over the last rest of the vocal line, and likewise in the piano. A double barline follows, and Death begins with “Wie oben.” (as above): the fermata separates the two parts.

• Als die alte Mutter Antonín Dvořák, op. 55 No. 4 · voice and piano · 3 pages

  The song ends on page 3 with “morendo” and a fermata on the final chord, also over the last note of the vocal line. Here the fermata comes at the end of the piece.

• Hard Times Come Again No More Stephen Foster · voice and piano · Moderato · 3 pages

  On page 2 there are three fermatas on chords: in bar 11 and one in each of the two following lines. The piece therefore pauses several times.

Guitar

• Adelita Francisco Tárrega, mazurka for two guitars, arr. J. J. Olson · 3/4 time, Lento · 1 page

  In the second part (four sharps) there is a fermata in bar 14 over a note of the first guitar, in the middle of an ornamented figure. The melody pauses there briefly.

Not the same as the breath mark

The breath mark leaves the bar untouched, the fermata stretches it. How far you stretch it is a matter of shaping, and here the building block Tempo helps: it describes the stretching and pressing of time in the service of expression as what gives playing its humanity.