Timing is everything in music. No one wants to be the one who miscounts the measures of rest and comes in at the wrong time. Take the iconic ending of G.F. Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” for example. The music is climaxing with the singers repeating, “Forever and ever! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” (Dramatic pause) “Hal-le-lu-jah!” It’s that rest right before the last “Hallelujah” that makes the ending. If the singers ignored that final rest or sang one too many “hallelujahs,” it would ruin it. Like I said, timing is everything.
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