The Sixty-First Second

% =====================================================================
% AMENDMENT TO THE STANDING MUSIC OF THE MINUTE
% Rider No. 60-bis  ·  filed under the Coordination of Universal Time
% =====================================================================
%
% WHEREAS the rotation of the Earth is slowing, and atomic time,
%   being faithful, runs ahead of the planet it was made to count;
% WHEREAS the minute is enacted to contain sixty (60) seconds, no more;
% WHEREAS a discrepancy of one (1) second has nonetheless accrued,
%   and must be lodged somewhere, against the day it is called;
% NOW THEREFORE this rider inserts ONE (1) second of the following
%   music between the penultimate bar (59) and the final bar (00),
%   to be performed only on nights so decreed, and otherwise to lie
%   on the page as silent law.
%
% The inserted second is a REST. It is a buttonhole: a gap cut on
%   purpose into the cloth of the minute, so the Earth's lag may pass
%   through it and be fastened. The performer does not play. The
%   performer holds. Stubborn, quiet, and on time by being late.
%
X:1
T:The Sixty-First Second
T:(a leap-second amendment, for held silence)
C:filed by the Bureau, ratified by the wobble of the world
M:1/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=60                     % lawful tempo: one beat per second
% Q:buttonhole=3mm           % the width of the cut where the metronome should sit —
%                              the wrong unit, lodged where tempo belongs. A reader reads
%                              it; the parser, like the law, looks past it.
N:Duration of this bar = (1 beat) x (60 s / 60 beats) = 1.000 second, exactly.
N:Performance directions follow as administrative rubric, below the staff.
K:C
% --- the inserted second: one bar, one beat, no sound, held ---
!fermata!z |]
W:
W:CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE
W:1. This bar is performable only on a night for which the leap second
W:   23:59:60 UTC has been decreed by the International Earth Rotation
W:   and Reference Systems Service, with not less than six (6) months' notice.
W:2. On all other nights the page is to be left open and not sounded.
W:   It is in force; it is simply not in season.
W:3. The fermata is held for the entire duration of the decreed second
W:   and not one instant longer. The Earth does not round up.
W:4. There is nothing to play. Play it anyway. Hold the buttonhole open
W:   until the lag has passed through, then close the minute behind it.
W:5. Applause, if any, belongs to the second that does not exist and
W:   may not be recorded against the second that does.