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• 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.

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half-note British  

noun

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

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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

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

Figure 1.43: In any particular section of a piece of music, a half note is always twice as long as a quarter 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

The rhythm is that of a strongly-marked peasant dance, as is shown by the emphatic half-note at the end of the phrase, as if here the peasant put down his foot solidly.

From The Masters and their Music A series of illustrative programs with biographical, esthetical, and critical annotations by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)

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

There was a half-note of proprietorship in his voice.

From Dan Merrithew by McFall, J. V.