Music notation glossary · Articulation
Fermata
hold beyond the written value
As a Unicode character — to paste into text, spreadsheets or chat. Whether it appears depends on the font.
In the score
What it means
An arc with a dot above the note. It suspends the count: the note is held until the player or conductor moves on. Over a rest, the same applies to the silence.
Fermata
Above the last note of the first measure stands an arc with a dot. It says: hold this note longer than it is written. How much longer is written nowhere. Nothing changes in the sound data — entries and durations are the same on the left and on the right, measured. The sign addresses the human being, not the machine.
Related pages
Anotona does this for you
Photograph a page of sheet music or play the melody — Anotona finds the key, engraves the notes and transposes them into any other. Free.
See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.