A semibreve is a music note. In the 4/4 time students meet first, it lasts four beats — a whole bar. On the page it is an empty oval with no stick.

A semibreve is a music noteSemibreve是一種音符 In the 4/4 time students meet first在學生最先學到的4/4拍裡 it lasts four beats它的長度是四拍 — a whole bar剛好一整個小節 On the page it is an empty oval with no stick寫在譜上是一個空心橢圓，沒有符桿

British teachers and British exams still say semibreve. American teachers say whole note, and that is the name you will hear in a lot of pop, jazz, and film talk.

British teachers and British exams still say semibreve英國的老師和考試還是說semibreve American teachers say whole note美國老師則說whole note and that is the name you will hear in a lot of pop, jazz, and film talk而這也是你在很多流行、爵士和電影相關的討論裡會聽到的名稱

Though actually the English name is leftover from an older system: a breve was a very long note, and a semibreve was half of that. Today the breve is rare (eight beats), so this “half-short” note is now the longest one most students ever see.

Though actually the English name is leftover from an older system不過其實這個英文名稱是舊系統留下來的 a breve was a very long notebreve以前是一種很長的音符 and a semibreve was half of thatsemibreve就是它的一半 Today the breve is rare (eight beats)現在breve很少見了（八拍） so this "half-short" note is now the longest one most students ever see所以這個「半短」的音符現在反而是大部分學生見過最長的

The shape still means four beats in 4/4; it does not magically shrink to three just because a waltz is in 3/4 — you simply would not drop one lonely semibreve into that bar.

The shape still means four beats in 4/4這個符號在4/4拍裡還是代表四拍 it does not magically shrink to three不會因為換了拍號就自動縮成三拍 just because a waltz is in 3/4只因為圓舞曲是3/4拍 you simply would not drop one lonely semibreve into that bar你根本不會把一個孤零零的semibreve放進那種小節裡