Bar lines and repeats |
The various bar lines [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] The bar lines seen until now are vertical lines
delimiting the measures on the staff. To terminate a score, a thin bar followed by a
thick one is placed on the last measure: To separate several distinct parts of a score,
a double thin bar may be used: It is often used during a key signature change
or between the various sections or movements of a score. In some types of music (especially
contemporary), one does not separate the staves in measures. The
staff is seen as a support for notes, but the concept of time
slicing in equal durations is no more used. Performance is often
much freer or follows other criteria specified by the composer. Repeats [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] It is common to play several times some
sections of a music score, such as for example a chorus or a
theme which is played twice. One could simply write the
concerned measures twice, but it would be a loss of space and
useless work. Let us take the simplest case. A given
number of measures must be played twice. To specify that, a
special bar line is placed on the left of the first measure
of the passage and on the right of the last measure of it.
They are repeat bar lines. Here is a practical example: The measures from 2 to 5 (i.e. the measures
located between the two repeat markings) must be played
twice. The musician who reads this score will thus play the
measures in the following order: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -
2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 When you reach the repeat sign of the 5th
measure, you simply returns to the previous and corresponding
repeat sign (measure 2) and you play from there again. The
second time, you continue playing through measure 6 without
taking the sign into account. There is another frequent case. Here is an
example: The measures numbers are placed higher to
leave the space for the signs "1." and
"2." located in measures 4 and 5. The presence of
these new signs modifies a little bit how the repeat must be
played. The first time you start from the first measure up to
the measure located under sign "1." and returns as
previously to the previous repeat sign (measure 2). The
second time, you skip the measure located under the
"1." and directly play the measure located under
the "2." and continue to play the following
measures. The complete sequence thus becomes: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 2 -
3 - 5 - 6 This form of repeat is often used and there
can be several measures located under sign "1.". In
this case, at the second passage these measures are not
played and you skip directly to sign "2.".
Other repeat signs [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] The following sign is sometimes used: often accompanied by the term Coda.
It sends back to a passage which finishes the score. It is
often used in combination with the signs: The second sends back to where the first is
located, as for a repeat. Here is a concrete example
combining these signs: The sequence of measures is then: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -
2 - 3 - 6 Let us notice that the this notation is
here equivalent to: When a measure is repeated for only one
instrument in a score with several staves, it is common to
fill the measure with the following symbol: It means that the contents of the measure
is the same as the previous measure. Thus, the 2 measures: may be written as follows: The same principle is valid to show that
two measures are repeated, by using the sign: The two following examples are equivalent:
and