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Music vocabulary · Notation and Reading Music

Fermata

Meaning in music, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In music, fermata means: A musical sign showing that a note, rest, or chord should be held longer than its written value, at the performer's or conductor's discretion.

In Turkish: fermata

How it is used

Used in scores and parts across many styles. Players watch the conductor or shared interpretation to know how long the pause or note lasts.

Example sentences

  1. The choir held the last chord under the fermata until the conductor released his hands and cut off the sound.

    Here, fermata marks an intentionally extended duration that ends by a visual cue rather than by the printed beat count.

  2. In rehearsal, the pianist missed the fermata above the rest and came in too early after the dramatic pause.

    In this sentence, fermata applies to a rest, showing that silence itself should be prolonged for musical effect.

Common collocations

  • hold a fermata
  • fermata over a rest
  • under the fermata
  • noteA single musical sound with a particular pitch and length, or the written symbol that shows it. In English, notes are named with the letters A to G.
  • barA short section of music that contains a fixed number of beats, shown on the page between two vertical lines called bar lines.

More terms: Notation and Reading Music

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