Whole note

Since it is equal to four quarter notes, it occupies the entire length of a measure in 44 time.

The whole note symbol is first found in music notation from the late thirteenth century (Morehen and Rastall 2001).

It derives from the round, stemless semibrevis of mensural notation, hence the origin of the British name.

The British term is taken from Italian semibreve, itself built upon Latin semi- "half" and brevis "short."

Some languages derive the name of the note from its round shape, such as Catalan rodona, French ronde, and Spanish redonda.

Figure 1. A whole note and a whole rest.
Whole note Half note Quarter note Eighth note Sixteenth note Thirty-second note
Comparison of duple note values: whole note = 2× half note , etc.