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The Common ToneWhere the Sacred and the Profane Share the Same Cup
The Common Tone · Visual Language of Music
Quarter Rest A tall angular zigzag stroke centered vertically on the staff, kinked like a stylized lightning bolt ending in a small curl.

Quarter Rest

also called: crotchet rest

The zigzag mark on the middle of the staff meaning one quarter note's worth of silence.

What you do

Stay silent for one full beat (in the most common meters) and keep counting — a rest is music you count, not a gap you ignore. The next note still lands exactly in time.

In context

Quarter Rest — example Two engraved measures in four-four. In the first, quarter notes fall on beats one, two, and four, with a quarter rest — the zigzag mark — on beat three; the second measure holds a whole note. Engraved by Verovio 6.2.1-8d42439
The zigzag on beat three means one beat of counted silence: the note after it still lands exactly on beat four.

Don’t confuse with

eighth-rest
The eighth rest is a small slanted stroke with a single hook or blob on top, like a tiny 7; the quarter rest is the taller full zigzag. Half the silence, much simpler shape.

See also

whole-rest · eighth-rest

For specialists

SMuFL: restQuarter
Record status: draft — verification pending (bookshelf locators + chord-symbol authority; OQ-1 blocks the slice gate)