General pause

Silence that is counted

In an ensemble a single part is often silent. In the general pause all are silent at once. What is special: it has a measured value, so it is not a break outside the bar but a rest like any other. The tempo goes on, you count along. Its effect rests on its coming at a place where the ear expects a continuation: the music stops, but it is not over.

In the glossary: Whole rest · Fermata · Breath mark

In the notation

In the score the corresponding rest appears on all staves, usually with the additional abbreviation G.P. over the top staff. In individual parts the marking is especially important, because otherwise the player cannot tell whether only their own part is silent or the whole ensemble. A fermata can be placed over the rest and stretch it beyond the written value. Then the counted pulse is suspended for the length of the fermata.

Distinctions

• Caesura: it has no value and interrupts the flow.
• Breath mark: it concerns only a single voice.
• One part rests: that is an ordinary rest.

Where it is used

The general pause is used where a break is wanted: before the re-entry of a theme, before a surprising change of key or character, occasionally immediately before the close. The denser the texture was before, the stronger it works. In the music since the Viennese Classical period it is among the usual means of dramatic shaping. In dense polyphonic music, by contrast, it hardly occurs, because there the continuous flow of voices carries the form.