Re: Old-fashioned rest symbol

[Daniel Johnson]

Han-Wen Nienhuys wrote:

> Eduardo Vieira wrote:
>
>> Hello fellows,
>>  
>> Does anybody know why the symbol for a fourth-note rest that looks
>> like an inverted "Z" does not feature in any font of music notation
>> programs? I'm used to seeing that symbol a lot, especially in
>> hymnbooks. I wonder why it is so discarded by music programs.
>> Is it worth including it in Lilypond, since our program already
>> support some ancient notation? Depending on your opinions, I sure
>> could help sponsoring it.
>
>
> Can you point me to an image of this symbol?
>
In my experience, this rest looks like a backward eighth-rest;
occasionally one sees it with both an upper and lower flag, hence the
"Z" -- though actually it's a backward "Z".  It seems to have been in
fashion mostly in the late 19th century, and appears mostly in hymnals
and the like, although I have also seen it in certain Bach chorale
scores.  It is now considered obsolete (it's very hard to read IMO) but
since Lilypond specializes in "obsolete" notation :-) perhaps it belongs
here anyway?

--Daniel