Twenty-Eight

Day 28: Bar Lines & Repeat Signs

Apart from the regular bar line, a variety of other bar lines are useful to indicate specific moments in the music.

The final bar line is written at the last measure, indicating that the music ends here.

Final bar line

The double bar line indicates that there is a significant change in the music, such as the beginning of a new section.

Double bar line

Music that is written inside the begin repeat sign (or open repeat ) and end repeat sign (or close repeat ) is repeated (it’s played twice). Notice the dots accompanying the lines:

Repeat signs

See companion course: Audio Example 28.1

But when a section of music is repeated from the very beginning, the first repeat sign is normally left out. In this early Minuet by the young Mozart, the first four measures are repeated.

See companion course: Audio Example 28.2

Upon repeating, a new ending is sometimes called for. This is notated with the alternate ending lines. The brackets numbered 1 and 2 below are alternate endings - once the music is repeated (as instructed by the repeat signs), the 2nd ending replaces the 1st .

Alternative endings

In our companion course, you will find an interesting example named Audio Example 28.3: On the first playing, the melody is played until the first ending (measure 5). At this point it is repeated from the note C (measure 2) and the 1st ending is replaced by the 2nd ending.

Other Repeats

1. Da Capo al Fine

The da capo al fine marking is an instruction for the musician to go back to the beginning and play till the measure marked fine . The term da capo al fine is Italian for from the beginning to the end. It’s often abbreviated simply as D.C al fine.

In Audio Example 28.4, the 8 measures are played in full and then the first 4 measures are played again. The music ends at the word fine.

2. Dal Segno al Fine

The dal segno al fine (Italian for from the sign to the end) is related to the da capo but instead of repeating from the very beginning, it is an instruction to repeat from the measure marked with this sign:

Segno

The term dal segno al fine is often shortened into D.S. al fine.

In Audio Example 28.5, the melody is 16 measures long. Once the first 12 have been played, measures 5 to 8 are played again (because measure 5 is where the segno is). The melody finishes at the word fine.

In short, the measures are played in this order: 1 to 12 as written, and 5 to 8 again.

3. Da Capo al Coda

Da Capo al Coda (from the beginning to the ending) instructs the musician to go back to the beginning and play until the measure labeled al coda –Italian for to the ending. Once there, the musician skips to the measure labeled coda – a musical term for ending.

The coda itself is marked with this symbol:

Coda symbol

In Audio Example 28.6, the melody is 16 measures long. It’s first played until the term D.C. al coda (measure 8). From here, the music goes back to the beginning until the term al coda (measure 4). From here, the melody goes to the coda sign (measure 9) and is played to the end (measure 12).

In short, the measures are played in this order: 1 to 8, 1 to 4, 9 to 12.