Rest above a note in a piano piece
I am playing a piece and wondering, what the heck is the rest making there above the note?
The piece is in 3/4 so I see no purpose of the 1/4 rest.
I've been googling around but did not find any proper explanation. Most answer says that the piece has more then one voice. It obviously has but I still don't get it.
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First, it's 3/4: a crotchet note counts for 1 beat, a quaver counts for 1/2 beat and a minim counts for 2 beats; A bar contains 3 beats in total.
Second, there are 3 voices in this bar: 2 voices for bass clef, 1 voice for treble.
third, how to play with your right and left hand:
The right-hand plays a crotchet(d2) counts for 1 beat.
The left-hand "plays" the crotchet rest and half of the minim(b) simultaneously count for 1 beat.
The right-hand plays 2 quaver notes(g1 and #f1 ) count for 1 beat.
The left-hand plays half of the minim(d1) and the left half minim note(b) simultaneously count for 1 beat.
The right-hand plays the last crotchet note(g1) for 1 beat.
The left-hand plays the left half minim(d1) and the crotchet(b) simultaneously count for 1 beat.
It's effectively written as three parts. The treble clef is one line. The bass notes with stems going down is the bass part, comprising B minim and another B crotchet. Then there's the 'middle line', played with the left hand.Obviously it's a D minim, stem up, but that leaves the first beat of this bar with nothing to play. Thus a crotchet rest. You can't mark a rest with an up stem or down stem !!
Let's look at what going in the bass clef. You are playing a B for beats 1 and 2 and then playing another B on beat 3, but you also play a D for beats 2 and 3 in the bass. Because you play the D on beats 2 and 3 and the B is also being played on beats 1 and 2, the rest is used to show you what beat to start playing the D.
Without the rest in, the notation would tell you to play the D for beats 1 and 2 instead of 2 and 3. The rest is necessary to show where to play the D. It looks odd, but it's the best way to notate what is happening.
If the lower staff was written as two separate parts in the bass they would look like this:
X:1
K:G
M:3/4
L:1/4
V:1 clef=bass
z D2 |
V:2 clef=bass
B,2 B, |
There are two separate "layers" of music occurring on the second staff. As you can see, the notes with downward stems already fill the bar, making 3 beats. The rest is part of the upper layer of notes, which begins with one beat of rest and continues with 2 beats on the D.
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