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
Time signature note), in contradiction to the literal meaning of the phrase, it still indicates that the beat has changed to a longer note value. Time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value is equivalent to a beat. In a music score, the time signature appears at the beginning as a time symbol or stacked numerals, such as or (read "common time" and "three-four time", respectively), immediately following the key