Fermata
A fermata, an arc over a dot, means hold: the note or rest under it is held longer than its written value, for as long as the performer or conductor chooses. It is also called a pause or hold.
How to read it
The fermata sits over a note, chord or rest, or under it when turned upside down. How long the hold lasts is left to the performer or conductor and the character of the music. Over a barline it usually means a short break between sections.
Also searched as: bird’s eye, pause.
Other names
Fermata is Italian, from fermare, to stop. In English the sign is also called a pause, and Stainer and Barrett’s dictionary (1898) calls hold an old English name for it.
An older meaning
Gehrkens (1914) records that a fermata over a double bar once marked the end of a piece, as the word Fine does now, and that it was first used in part-writing to show where each voice was to stop. Elson’s dictionary (1905) still gives the end-of-piece meaning.
Read next
- Next in Music symbolsStaccatoA dot above or below a note head means staccato: the note is played short and detached from the next.
- The same shape in Accessibility symbolsAccessible Icon (dynamic wheelchair symbol)A wheelchair symbol with the figure leaning forward and an arm swept back on the wheel, from the Accessible Icon Project. It marks the same accessible places as the International Symbol of Access; the project put it in the public domain.
More music symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles or curves and waves.
Sources
- Music Notation and Terminology, Karl W. Gehrkens, 1914, A. S. Barnes Company (Project Gutenberg), Chapter IV, §44; Appendix A
- Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms, John Stainer and W. A. Barrett, new and revised edition, 1898, Novello (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Fermata; Hold
- Elson's Music Dictionary, Louis C. Elson, 1905, Oliver Ditson Company (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Pause (Eng.)
- SMuFL: Holds and pauses, Standard Music Font Layout, glyph table U+E4C0–U+E4DF, W3C Music Notation Community Group, U+E4C0–U+E4C1
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
Added .