19.—In modern piano music which is not of a strictly part-writing character, rests often represent the absence, not of a part or voice, but of the hand. If the notes, though representing as many parts as the piece can be supposed to possess, are all to be played by one hand, rests are employed to represent the absence of the other.

And in music which is of a part-writing character, though the parts are incomplete, rests are often not employed if both hands are engaged (see Fig. 3, c, bass clef, supposing it to be of more than two parts).

Bach rarely, if ever, employed rests to represent the hand; with him they always represent a voice. Thus in a melodic or one-part passage divided between the hands, each playing alternate groups, he used no rests to represent the absent hand. These, appearing simultaneously with the notes, would have implied a second part. With him rests represent a living, though absent, voice; in modern usage they frequently represent, not music, but the way of playing it. See Fig. 15, the first half of which is in two parts, therefore rests represent the thirty-second note silences; and the second half of which is in one part, therefore no rests are employed though only one hand is engaged at a time. It is from a B flat Prelude in Bach's Well-tempered Clavier.

Fig. 15.

Dots.

20.—Dots are used in music for three purposes: (1) as repeat marks, (2) to indicate semi-staccato, (3) to prolong a note one half. As repeat marks, they may be placed in each of the four spaces of the stave (which in the writer's opinion is the better plan, as being less liable to confusion with time-dots), or in the second and third spaces only, in accordance with a modern custom. Staccato dots and staccatissimo dashes, when two parts are being written on one stave, should be placed below the note if applying to the lower part, and above if applying to the higher. In the case of open score (a single part on one stave), they are best placed on the side opposite the stem.

Time-dots, or those which prolong a note one half, if applied to a note in a space, should be in the same space as the note; if applied to a note on a line they should be placed in the space above, if the next note of the part is higher, and in the space below if it is lower. The importance of this usage is often overlooked. If it cannot be called a rule, it is high time it was made one! When two parts are written on one stave, and a note is doubled, having two stems, one up and the other down, to indicate this, and in one part it is dotted, and in the other not, it is impossible, apart from this rule, to tell which part has the note dotted and which not (except, of course, from the context, which may expose any mistake). The following example from Henry Smart's “Festive March in D,” for the organ, appears to contain two dotted half notes. It would probably be so read by anyone playing the passage at sight. The context shows that it is the eighth note not the half note which is intended to be dotted. All the dots except that to the last note but one should have been in the space below the note, where this is on a line.