Whole note Totally Explained

Everything about Semibreve totally explained

In music, a whole note (American or "German" terminology) or semibreve (British or "classical" terminology) is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note (or minim), and no note stem (see Figure 1). Its length is typically equal to four beats in 4/4 time. Most other notes divide the whole note; half notes are played for one half the duration of the whole note, quarter notes (or crotchets) are each played for one quarter the duration, etc. A whole note lasts half as long as a double whole note (or breve).
   A related symbol is the whole rest (or semibreve rest), which usually denotes a silence for the same duration. Whole rests are drawn as filled-in rectangles hanging under the second line from the top of a musical staff.
   The whole rest, and occasionally the whole note, are also used in a more general way in time signatures other than 4/4; there they can represent the entire measure, regardless of how many whole notes would ordinarily fit in. For example, a whole rest may have a length equal to five beats if used in 5/4 time. If followed by a quarter note, however, it'll have the ordinary value.
   The whole note derives from the semibrevis of mensural notation, and this is the origin of the British name. The American name is a loan translation of the German Ganze Note.
   The names of this note (and rest) in European languages vary greatly:

Language	note name	rest name
German	Ganze Note	Ganze Pause
Greek	Olokliro (ολόκληρο)	Pafsi oloklirou (παύση ολοκλήρου)
French	ronde	pause
Italian	semibreve	pausa di semibreve
Spanish	redonda	silencio de redonda
Portuguese	semibreve	pausa de semibreve
Polish	cała nuta	pauza całonutowa

The French and Spanish names for the note (both meaning "round") derive from the fact that the semibrevis was distinguished by its round stemless shape, which is true as well of the modern form (in contrast to the double whole note or shorter values with stems). The Greek name means "whole".
Further Information

Get more info on 'Semibreve'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://whole_note.totallyexplained.com">Whole note Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.