General placement conventions for holds and pauses

Holds and pauses are placed above the staff. For staves with multiple voices, fermatas can be placed inverted below the staff.

Fermatas

Fermatas are positioned horizontally so that they are centered on noteheads, regardless of the stem direction of notes.

Fermatas affect the overall tempo of the piece, so all players must be able to see where they occur. Therefore, fermatas are shown on all staves at the same rhythmic position, or the rhythmic position of the note, chord, or rest that corresponds with the end of the fermata, including over a bar rest if a staff has no notes in that bar.

You can change the minimum distance between fermatas and the staff on the Holds and Pauses page in Engrave > Engraving Options.

Breath marks

Breath marks are placed above the top line of the staff, at the end of the note to which they apply; that is, they appear just before the following note.

Breath marks apply only to the staff to which they were added, as they do not affect the overall tempo, but instead only indicate to a single player or group of players a suitable place to break their line in order to breathe.

You can change the minimum distance between breath marks and the staff, and between breath marks and the next note or rest, on the Holds and Pauses page in Engraving Options.

Caesuras

Caesuras are positioned at the top of the staff, with the top staff line passing through the middle of the caesura and the bottom of the caesura resting on the second staff line. They are commonly placed at the end of a bar, before the barline.

Caesuras are automatically added to all staves at the same rhythmic position, immediately to the left of the notehead or barline to which they were input. They are not linked to noteheads, and adjust note spacing to create a clear gap.

You can change the size of the gap to the right of caesuras on the Holds and Pauses page in Engraving Options.