Steve Schwartz wrote:

>May I suggest that there are two types of rests (Ger. Pause; Fr. silence)
>- exact and inexact? Exact rests must be strictly observed, inexacts not.
>Much of it has to do with keeping the overall pulse of the music.  Hence,
>a rest at the end of a piece or between sections is often not given its
>full duration, with little harm done.  Needless to say (but I'll probably
>have to say it anyway, so why not now?), there are also rests that occur
>in such contexts that should be fully observed.  Performers must actually
>think about it, rather than simply follow.

What's an inexact rest? Rests at the end of a piece are usually put there
to make the thing work out mathematically, but not always.  Sometimes you
will see a rest at the end of a piece with a fermata over it, to me that
indicates that you must remain "in character" without breaking the musical
mood for the thunderous applause.  I think those must be observed with
their full duration.  Rests between sections (or before..ahem..those silly
NO I WON'T SAY THE WORD signs) must be observed and counted like any other.
You often see rests with fermatas between variations of a theme and
variations movement, I suppose those might be "inexact".

Dave Runnion
http://www.mp3.com/serafinotrio