I've decided "rests" are NOT really "rests"!

[1piano4joe]

Hi all,

Yes, time for another one of my whacked out posts.

It seems that I (for some reason unbeknownst to me) think that I should be doing nothing during a rest. After all, I'm NOT playing a note, right? Hmmm... maybe it was 10 years of clarinet that caused this, shall I say, "Laziness"?

Anyway, I decided that (besides being a nut job) that I'm also an idiot.

These are some things I now do during a "rest":

1. I can look ahead and maybe not lose my place.
2. This is a good time Joseph for a hand shift. What exactly are you waiting for? A bus?
3. I can think ahead about the shape of the phrase, articulation, dynamics. etc.
4. Maybe there's time to feel the hand shift without having to look?
5. Oh wait, it's a rest, there is time to look at that hand shift. So, Joseph look!
6. Think about balance between the hands and voicing.
7. Mentally, prepare myself.
8. I just feel I can be more involved with what's going on and what's about to happen.
9. I may just scratch my nose, fix my glasses, sneeze or have a sip of water.
10. Shift my body weight, slide my hand in or out. Just exactly, how foolish have I been?
11. Turn the page.

Why let a perfectly good "rest" pass me by?

I don't know. It just seems like a wasted opportunity to just sit there (like the dummy I am) and do Zilch!

I can do that hand crossing, finger substitution, crossing under, expansion or contraction.

Anything you might add about rests will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Joe.

P.S. Please pardon my insults to myself but I can't help but feel that everyone else knew this already and somehow I didn't.

[Bob]

A rest is a silence.  At least in the music.  For the performer, I suppose it could be the reaction to the sound, the instant/reaction-creating for the silence, and/or the build up to the next sound, possibly including a prep like a breath.  It's not nothing even though it is.

[klavieronin]

As a teacher I often need to remind my students to "play" the rests. I treat rests like notes that begin not by striking the key but by releasing it. Rests play a very important roll in the music. You should learn to listen to them.

[j_tour]

Why let a perfectly good "rest" pass me by?

Indeed.  It's not something I've thought about a lot, except having always considered rests to be just notes in themselves.

Just very quiet notes.

I suppose I just unconsciously count off in my head (or sometimes consciously perform this task), but mostly think about the piece as a whole and what's being achieved at those moments of silence and prepare for the next moment of attack.

Not a very deep observation from me, but that's what I do.

Oh, ETA. like klavieronin says, there are a few more-or-less subtle ways to "play" the rests:  all I know is that I prepare for the rests just as much as beginning after the rest.  If using pedal?  When to cut it off!  Or partially clear the dampers.  I'm not much of a Liberace-style showperson when it comes to great histrionic gestures, even so, sometimes I like to engrain the habit by moving the relevant hand (it depends on the piece, of course:  not always possible) away from the keyboard completely. 

While still listening, of course, to the demands of the piece and remaining very much aware of the tasks required that await the pianist.

[ranjit]

Sometimes, this is how I conceptualize a rest (depending on the context):

Keep the audience waiting... keep the audience waiting... BAM!

[j_tour]

Sometimes, this is how I conceptualize a rest (depending on the context):

Keep the audience waiting... keep the audience waiting... BAM!

Exactly.

I don't often wear the cape when performing, but when I do, that's how it's done.

[ranjit]

I've found it to be very effective to prolong a rest past its stated duration, waiting for the moment where the notes will surprise the listener the most. It's an awesome way to make use of a rest.

Something to think about -- and I wonder if purists will hate the idea for not sticking to the score in some way.

[pianowhisper]

I remember a video on András Schiff mentioning the importance of rests and how music is also made out of them.
I believe it's of absolute importance to "play" the rests and be able to show how silence can say a lot too. Silence can have such a powerful effect, even more than a bunch of notes forming a phrase or any "filler" that has nothing really to add to the musical concept/idea the piece carries within itself.