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I'm having trouble finding what this notation means:

Rectangle sitting on a short line above the staff

Brian THOMAS
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David Charon
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    It looks like an actual hat – David Charon Nov 23 '23 at 17:05
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    This is most likely a pause. – Lazy Nov 23 '23 at 17:11
  • Could be anything - drum notation is not that standardised. – Tim Nov 23 '23 at 18:13
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    To clarify: do you know what a half rest is? – Andy Bonner Nov 23 '23 at 19:52
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    @Lazy the correct term in English is "rest." – phoog Nov 24 '23 at 09:26
  • @phoog True, had a weird moment there … – Lazy Nov 24 '23 at 09:40
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    @Lazy well I live in a French-speaking place so I am accustomed to hearing and seeing "pause" for "rest" but I suppose that others might not be. – phoog Nov 24 '23 at 10:09
  • The snippet would benefit from more surrounding, to see the preceding notes of that voice. – guidot Nov 24 '23 at 14:15
  • @phoog But with rest the hat makes so much more sense. Maybe the inventor of the symbol was Mexican, and it actually depicts a sombrero and the intended term was siesta? – Lazy Nov 27 '23 at 11:36
  • If you're reading this, please edit to explain more about your question. If you need an explanation of what the symbol means, then the present answer is good. But if you need an explanation of why it's floating above the other notes, then this should be closed as a duplicate so it doesn't attract other answers. – Andy Bonner Nov 27 '23 at 22:30
  • Feel as though you're also asking why it is there... It's another voice on the same stave, that is not playing at that moment. – Ate Somebits Nov 28 '23 at 21:41

1 Answers1

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It's a 2-beat, minim rest, aka half rest. We're used to seeing it within the stave.

I imagine a minim mouse sitting on the line to help me distinguish the rest from a whole (four beat) rest which hangs down below the line.

phoog
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Brian THOMAS
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  • And a semibreve spider hangs under the line. Do that with American half/whole naming! – Laurence Nov 24 '23 at 11:15
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    A whole rest hangs below the line, because it is heavier. – piiperi Reinstate Monica Nov 24 '23 at 13:00
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    @piiperiReinstateMonica Except it tends to hang from the fourth line, while the half rest likes to sit on the third. Maybe the whole rest is better able to cling to the ceiling because it's stronger? – Divizna Nov 24 '23 at 15:21
  • Maybe the whole rest is afraid of falling through a whole, so it clinges to the ceiling, while the half rest says: ”Me half no fear of them wholes!“ – Lazy Nov 27 '23 at 13:50