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 (from nothing): "".

Niente is distinct from a rest "in that [during niente] the musician is engaged in making sound, but so softly that the sound can not be heard."