Jump To:

• half note
  half note

  noun

  a note equivalent in time value to one half of a whole note; minim.
• half-note
  half-note

  noun

  a note having the time value of half a semibreve

half note

American  

noun

Music.

1. a note equivalent in time value to one half of a whole note; minim.

---

half-note British  

noun

1. Also called: minim.  a note having the time value of half a semibreve

---

Etymology

Origin of half note

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

half note half-note

Curly’s voice cracked which he’d try to cover up by sliding up or down a half note.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2022

The episode ends ludicrously: as Brownshirts riot around Innitzer's palace, Soprano Wilma Lipp and 200 members of the Wiener Jeunesse Choir huddle primly in the plaza, singing Mozart's Alleluia without skipping a half note.

From Time Magazine Archive

So a dotted half note, for example, would last as long as a half note plus a quarter note, or three quarters of a whole note.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

A note that lasts half as long as a whole note is a half note.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

For example, the first dot after a half note adds a quarter note length; the second dot would add an eighth note length.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Mr. Dunlop arrived at the brown-brick nursing home nearly four years ago, a strong-willed but slightly bent half-note.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2011

But the soprano who starts a half-note too high will shatter glass and her hopes of auditioning for the Met by the time she gets to the "land of the free."

From Time Magazine Archive

Also, a rhythmic figure, as at c, where a half-note occupies the second and third quarters, may be used.

From A Treatise on Simple Counterpoint in Forty Lessons by Lehmann, Friedrich Johann

The answer to the question: "What is that note?" would be "half-note," "eighth-note" according to the denomination of the note in question, whether it was on or off the staff.

From Music Notation and Terminology by Gehrkens, Karl Wilson

That is, in music two quarter-notes are equal to a half-note, and they may be anywhere substituted one for the other; or a dotted half-note equal three quarter-notes, etc.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin