Whole note (or "breve", hence the British name "semibreve") lasts twice as long as a whole note. A related symbol is the whole rest (or semibreve rest). It usually applies for an "entire measure", but may occasionally mean a rest for the duration of a whole note, in longer time signatures such as or . (An entire measure rest is drawn centered within the measure, whereas a rest lasting for a whole note is aligned to where the note would be.) Whole rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles generally hanging under the second line from the top of a musical staff, though
Double whole note a silence for the same duration (; ). Double whole rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles occupying the whole vertical space between the second and third lines from the top of the musical staff. They are often used in long silent passages which are not divided into separate bars to indicate a rest of two bars . This and longer rests are collectively known as multiple rests . Alla breve, the time signature , takes its name from the note value breve. In the mensural notation of the Renaissance, it was an alternative term for "proportio dupla", which meant that