The whole note, also known as a semibreve, is a musical note with a duration of four beats in common time. It is symbolized by an open (unfilled) oval notehead without a stem. This note is the basis for other note durations, with half notes being half its length, quarter notes one quarter, and so on
. The Unicode symbol for the whole note is š (U+1D15D), which belongs to the "Musical Symbols" block and was introduced in Unicode version 3.1 in 2001. This symbol can be used in digital text and music notation software
. In summary:
- Name: Whole note (semibreve)
- Duration: 4 beats (in common time)
- Symbol: An open oval notehead without a stem (š in Unicode)
- Relation: Half note = 1/2 whole note; quarter note = 1/4 whole note, etc.
This note is fundamental in music notation for indicating longer sustained sounds.
