Niente
Niente, also called quasi niente, is a musical dynamic often used at the end of a piece to direct the performer to fade the music away to little more than a bare whisper, normally gradually with a diminuendo, al niente. It is often written as "" or "".
It is also used to direct the performer to fade into a note without any articulation at the beginning of the note, known as dal niente : "".
Niente is distinct from a rest "in that the musician is engaged in making sound but so softly that the sound can not be heard."
