![]() ![]() Instead, a whole note is equal to a whole rest, which gets 4 beats of silence just as a whole note gets 4 beats held down.Įven if the time signature changes, a whole note is still not equal to a half rest. No, a whole note is not equal to a half rest. But remember, the key to figuring out the length of the whole note is the bottom number in the time signature. This is a scenario where the whole note does not take up a whole measure (since there are 12 beats per measure in this time signature).Īnd lastly, there are even time signatures where whole notes do not work at all! For example, 3/4 cannot use a whole note since it will not fit in a 3-beat measure. If the time signature is 12/8, on the other hand, the whole note is worth 8 beats, but it does not appear very often. In this time signature, a half note gets 1 beat, and a whole note gets only 2 beats. For example, in 3/4 and 4/4, a quarter note gets one beat, a half note gets 2, a dotted half note gets 3, and a whole note gets 4.īut if the time signature is 2/2, everything changes. So long as there is a “4” on the bottom of a time signature, the whole note will get 4 beats. Here’s how you can determine how many beats a whole note gets: the time signature! While whole notes usually get 4 beats, there are some times when this changes. This is a great way to use whole notes in writing music! Are Whole Note Always 4 Beats?Īs with most things in music theory (and life, for that matter) there are caveats. This song’s time signature is 4 beats, so those left hand chords are sustaining while the right hand plays a bunch more notes. There are two chords in the bass clef that are whole notes-the left hand notes in the first and third measure. Below is a small excerpt from a piano arrangement of How Great Thou Art. A quarter note gets 1 beat each, so 4 of them are equal to a whole note. That is why the definition above says it is equal to 4 quarter notes. However, this is not always the case (see caveats below). Most commonly, a whole note is held out for a whole measure. A whole note is held for 4 beats in a musical score. That brings us to the central question of this article. Merriam Webster Dictionary describes it as “a musical note equal in time value to four quarter notes or two half notes.” How Many Beats is a Whole Note? But how many beats does a whole note get? It’s not as simple a question as it may sound! We’ll be looking at that, plus more whole note questions, in this article! What is a Whole Note?Ī whole note is a specific type of note in musical notation that is written as a ring or sideways zero shape. A whole note is a unique looking note on the musical staff because it does not have a stem. ![]()
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