Whole note Whole note In music, a whole note (American) or semibreve (British) is a note represented by a hollow oval note head and no note stem. Its length is equal to four beats in time, that is the whole measure (or bar). Most other notes are fractions of the whole note (e.g., half notes and quarter notes are played for one half and one quarter the duration of the whole note, respectively). The symbol is first found in music notation from the late thirteenth century, and its British name derives from the "semibrevis" of mensural notation. The whole note and whole
Time signature The meter is a simple time signature that represents three quarter notes (crotchets). It is felt as "Compound": In principle, comprises not three groups of two eighth notes (quavers) but two groups of three eighth-note (quaver) subdivisions. It is felt as These examples assume, for simplicity, that continuous eighth notes are the prevailing note values. The rhythm of actual music is typically not as regular. Time signatures indicating "two" beats per bar (whether in simple or compound meter) are called "duple meter", while those with "three" beats to the bar are "triple meter". Terms such as "quadruple" (4), "quintuple" (5),