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For a note in 4/4 time, "whole" means an entire (or 'whole') measure of beats: 4 beats. In 3/4 time, though, a whole note would be written as a dotted half note tied to a quarter note. For a rest, "whole" always means an entire measure. That symbol hanging from the second line means "Do not play at all during this measure."
Since it is equal to four quarter notes, it occupies the entire length of a measure in 4 4 time. Other notes are multiples or fractions of the whole note. For example, a double whole note (or breve) lasts twice the duration of the whole note, a half note lasts one half the duration, and a quarter note (or crotchet) lasts one quarter the duration.
The beat is always called ta. In simple meters, the division and subdivision are always ta-di and ta-ka-di-mi. Any note value can be the beat, depending on the time signature. In compound meters (wherein the beat is generally notated with dotted notes), the division and subdivision are always ta-ki-da and ta-va-ki-di-da-ma.
5 is written as a normal quarter note, four quarter notes complete the bar, but the whole bar lasts only 4 ⁄ 5 of a reference whole note, and a beat 1 ⁄ 5 of one (or 4 ⁄ 5 of a normal quarter note). This is notated in exactly the same way that one would write if one were writing the first four quarter notes of five quintuplet quarter notes.
There may be any number of beats in a measure but the most common by far are multiples of 2 or 3 (i.e., a top number of 2, 3, 4, or 6). Likewise, any note length can be used to represent a beat, but a quarter note (indicated by a bottom number of 4) or eighth note (bottom number of 8) are by far the most common.
4 is used so often that it is also called "common time", and it may be indicated with rather than numbers. Other frequently used time signatures are 3 4 (three beats per bar, with each beat being a quarter note); 2 4 (two beats per bar, with each beat being a quarter note); 6 8 (six beats per bar, with each beat being an eighth note) and 12
Whole note: usually 4 beats. Whole rest: usually a full bar. Not always the same as a whole note. Slightly better answers: Whole note: the number of beats it gets is equal to the number on the bottom of the time signature, except in compound time. In compound time, a DOTTED whole note gets beats equal to HALF of that bottom number.
A single eighth note, or any faster note, is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are usually beamed in groups. [16] When a stem is present, it can go either up (from the right side of the note head) or down (from the left side), except in the cases of the longa or maxima which are nearly always written with downward stems.