Fermata
A held note or rest; pause at the performer's discretion.
Category
notation
Pronunciation
fehr-MAH-tah
Origin
Italian
Length
130 words · 1 min read
About Fermata
A fermata, indicated by a dot beneath a curved line, tells the performer to hold a note or rest beyond its written value. The exact duration is left to the performer's or conductor's judgement, making it one of the few truly flexible elements in notated music.
More notation terms
Ledger Line
View all notationterms →A short horizontal line drawn above or below the staff to extend its range for notes too high or too low to fit.
AccidentalA symbol placed before a note to raise or lower its pitch by a semitone or whole tone, overriding the key signature.
SlurA curved line connecting two or more notes of different pitch to indicate they should be played smoothly and connected.
Repeat SignA pair of dots and double barlines that instruct the performer to replay a section of music.
OpusA numbering system for a composer's works, assigned roughly in order of publication
Compare with similar terms
v1 · 09/04/2026Browse all terms →