Beginner Unknown Musical Symbol

Les

Member
7
Maine
Lately I've been seeing a musical symbol on various sites that I don't recognize. I've looked for descriptions of it and haven't found it anywhere. It appears above the staff over the last note of piece. I'm new on cafesaxophone and just found out that I can't post "links" until I've posted 5 times. A bit odd, but anyway the symbol can be seen on tamingthesaxophone dot com under saxophone-beginners-tunes. Sorry about that. Any ideas? –Thanks.
 
Thank you BigMartin and timmy. I was thinking it might be a fermata, but it's unlike any I've ever seen. Timmy you may be right about it being a rain cloud.😀
 
BigMartin, I just checked that wikipedia link you sent and that fermata doesn't look at all like the symbol I've been seeing.
 
egypt.gif

If you mean this one, its a fermata. Only the selected text/note style make`s is a different shape..
 
That will be a "pause" sign, where the music stops moving and the musicians play the held note for a bit more than its written value. For effect pauses can occur anywhere and not just in the final bar.

Jim.
 
As said, you hold the note for longer than its written value. The conductor will usually bring you off by drawing their open hand towards them and closing it as they go. A sort of "snatch" effect, but the hand finishes with the finger and thumb tips all together, rather than as a fist.
 
...I'm new on cafesaxophone and just found out that I can't post "links" until I've posted 5 times.
Sorry about that. It's to stop some of the unsavoury stuff the spammers post.

A bit odd, but anyway the symbol can be seen on tamingthesaxophone dot com under saxophone-beginners-tunes.

The others are right about the fermatta. A lot of the music written/transcribed for sax uses a modified typeface/font, and this is an example. Confusing.... One way around it is to install Musescore with the jazz fonts. You'll find almost all the symbols in there, and mouse over brings the name up, so you can search for its meaning in google/wikipedia.
 
As said, you hold the note for longer than its written value. The conductor will usually bring you off by drawing their open hand towards them and closing it as they go. A sort of "snatch" effect, but the hand finishes with the finger and thumb tips all together, rather than as a fist.

sorry Mandy the only conductor I know was on the bus and he always give you :shocked: two finger's
 
View attachment 1375
If you mean this one, its a fermata. Only the selected text/note style make`s is a different shape..

Here is another example of fermata
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermata_mezzi_pubblici_di_superficie

The name comes from the times in which musicians used to hold a long note while waiting for the bus or, in roman times, the underground.

Funny thing: fermata is an Italian word not used in Italy for the musical term (crowned dot).

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(musica)

But French language wins:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_d'orgue
 
Last edited by a moderator:
How the fermata is interpreted is a genre/period/style thing. In Baroque (e.g. in the sub-divisions of a Bach chorale) it tends to be fairly strict as note length plus 50%, so a semi-breve would become semi-breve plus minim. In late rmusic, it's more open-ended. Mind you, ewven in Bach chorales, if the fermata is at a minor clause division, it tends to be just a slight break like a breath rather than a pause.
 

Members' Blogs

Trending content

Forum statistics

Topics
29,594
Messages
513,146
Members
8,740
Latest member
Sillywizard
Back
Top Bottom