Tacet

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Tacet is Latin for "it is silent". It is an Italian musical term to indicate that an instrument does not play for a long period of time, typically an entire movement. It was common for early symphonies to leave out the brass or percussion on certain movements, especially slow (second) movements, and this is the instruction given in the parts for the player to wait until the end of the movement.

A piece where all instruments are tacet is John Cage's 4'33".

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