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Be silent — the performer does not play for an entire movement or extended section.
Printed in an orchestral part in place of a movement or section the player sits out — “Tacet”, “Flauto tacet”, “Tacet al Fine” — so the copyist need not write pages of rests. In a score it can mark one instrument dropping out of a shared staff, as in Mahler’s “(Tuba tacet.)”, until that instrument is named again.
Tacet is written in parts where an instrument sits out for an entire movement. It is more efficient than writing bars of rest. When scoring, use tacet strategically — instruments that are silent for long stretches create more impact when they finally enter.
In many Classical symphonies, trumpets and timpani tacet during slow movements, making their return in the finale more exciting.
Tacet is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
Browse the full dictionary →