JRice - Posted - 08/01/2014:  16:14:05

I'm having trouble with repeats in sheet music. Does anyone have a good web site with easy to follow tutorial on how to read repeats. I'm having trouble reading 'Road To Lisdoonvarna'. Many Thanks, Jerry

ChickenMan - Posted - 08/01/2014:  17:14:08

Two part tune - and A part and a B part.  The tune starts on the A part and goes to the 'first repeat' - a bracket over top of a measure and marked with a -1-play that measure and return to the beginning of the song and repeat that first part.  Play TO the first bracket but skip it and go to 'second repeat' - bracketed measure(s) marked with a -2-  play THAT measure and continue on to the B part.  This part starts with a funny bar that looks like this

ll: Play that part through and either repeat the steps above if applicable, OR you may just have an end bar that looks like this

:ll and that indicates "go back to that first funny bar and repeat all of those measures.'  

After that you return to the beginning.   Sometimes the tune has 'pick up notes' that start before a ll:

and the 'first repeat' goes to that instead of 'the beginning'.

There.  You may know some of that stuff ( A B part etc) so ignore anything you already know.  Hope it helps.

Edited by - ChickenMan on 08/01/2014 17:20:12

DougD - Posted - 08/01/2014:  17:33:27

Chickenman, I see you've edited your post - So, - There are different kinds of repeats, which are explained on this page:  music.vt.edu/MUSICDICTIONARY/   (maybe if the link works). A section repeat is two vertical bars, a heavy one and a light one, at the beginning and end of the section to be repeated, with a colon facing inward towards the section to repeat. When you get to the second one you go back to the first and play that section again, then go on. For most fiddle tunes, this is just a way to show that the A part and the B part are each played twice.

JRice - It would be helpful if you could indicate the source of the notation you're having trouble with, and the specific problem. The notation I'm looking at, from the Fiddler's Companion for a jig version, is straightforward - each section is played twice. The repeat sign is not included at the beginning of the tune - its understood that the first repeat sign means to go back to the beginning and play that section again.

OK, that link to the music dictionary doesn't work for some reason. You'll have to navigate to "repeats" from the menus.

Edited by - DougD on 08/01/2014 17:39:01

Dick Hauser - Posted - 08/01/2014:  18:23:29

Which book are you using ?

JRice - Posted - 08/02/2014:  06:22:50

Dick, I have sent you a pm.

Sue B. - Posted - 08/03/2014:  09:09:42

I know this tune as a straightforward AABB. You repeat from the first sign back to the beginning to get the two A's, then play what's between the next set of repeat signs to get the two B's. Repeat signs have the dots on the inside, so you see two dots and two bars for where to stop and repeat, and two bars and two dots for where to return to. What are called 1st and 2nd endings, not in this tune as I play it, are more complicated, but should have a 1 and a 2 over a horizontal line, with the two dots-two bars sign at the end of 1st ending.

boxbow - Posted - 08/04/2014:  10:09:45

quote:

---

Originally posted by DougD

 

Chickenman, I see you've edited your post - So, - There are different kinds of repeats, which are explained on this page:  music.vt.edu/MUSICDICTIONARY/   (maybe if the link works). A section repeat is two vertical bars, a heavy one and a light one, at the beginning and end of the section to be repeated, with a colon facing inward towards the section to repeat. When you get to the second one you go back to the first and play that section again, then go on. For most fiddle tunes, this is just a way to show that the A part and the B part are each played twice.

JRice - It would be helpful if you could indicate the source of the notation you're having trouble with, and the specific problem. The notation I'm looking at, from the Fiddler's Companion for a jig version, is straightforward - each section is played twice. The repeat sign is not included at the beginning of the tune - its understood that the first repeat sign means to go back to the beginning and play that section again.

OK, that link to the music dictionary doesn't work for some reason. You'll have to navigate to "repeats" from the menus.

---

This is a clear explanation, so I have to muddy it up a little.  I believe the bar and colon sign is called a coda.  Sometimes you'll see it at the beginning of the A section if there are some lead-in notes prior to the beginning measure of music.  This is commonly seen when there are the #1 and #2 endings previously described, which will include within themselves those very same lead-in notes or some variation thereof.  At the end of the B section you might see the same sort of thing with a #1 and a #2 ending, but the #1 ending will lead you in to the B part repeat and the #2 ending will lead you back, once again, to the A part beginning.

The final measures under the #1 or #2 bars may be just one measure or several, depending on how differently the A or B parts change on their second time through.  If the second time through is too much of a variation, you might see it just written out as it's played with no codas in use.  The coda simply side-steps having to write out identical repeats.  They compress the written music down to a more compact format.  Reading them takes a little practice, scanning back to the beginning without losing your place.

I've also seen a coda sign with just a single vertical bar and the colon.  It probably indicates some subtle difference, but I haven't bothered to figure out what it might be.  It just doesn't come up with OT fiddle tunes much, so I use them interchangeably when I'm writing out tunes.  When I start writing out full orchestra scores, maybe I'll look into it.  Or not.

BanjoBrad - Posted - 08/04/2014:  10:29:37

Boxbow - The Coda is a capitol O with a + sign through it, and is the final ending of a tune, if there is a difference.

(from the linked music dictionary): 

1. The closing few measures of a composition, usually not a part of the main theme groups of the standard form of a composition, but a finishing theme added to the end to give the composition closure; in sonata form, thecoda is anything that occurs after the recapitulation. The coda is sometimes indicated with the notation of a "0" with two intersecting lines (as shown below). This is typically used in compositions that employ a da capo(D.C.) or dal segno (D.S.). Often the terms "D.S. al coda" or "D.C. al coda" are also used which indicate that the performer is to perform the coda portion of the composition after repeating to either the sign (D.S.) or to the beginning of the composition (D.C.).


2. Anything after the last entry of the theme or subject in a fugue.

I've always known the ||: as "Begin repeat" and :|| as "End repeat."  If there are pick-up notes at the start of the tune (not a full measure's worth), then the begin repeat would be placed at the start of the first full measure (this is done a lot in OT music).

Edited by - BanjoBrad on 08/04/2014 10:30:02

DougD - Posted - 08/04/2014:  10:34:19

No, a coda is a short section tacked onto the end of a piece, to give it closure, but not part of the main theme. There is usually an indication that the coda is to be played after a final repeat of a section. I don't think I've ever seen a coda in any traditional fiddle music, but I guess it could happen. You can look up the term here:  music.vt.edu/MUSICDICTIONARY/

First and second endings are a form of repeat but a little more complicated, used if the section to be repeated is not identical in some way. ChickenMan originally included them at the beginning of his post, but deleted the reference, which is what I was referring to at the beginning of my post. If there are pickup notes to be played each time through, the measure before the repeat sign will be short by the same amount of time, so the pickup notes actually complete that measure metrically.

I see Brad beat me to it! I guess a coda could be thought of as an extended final ending, but the symbols used are different.

Edited by - DougD on 08/04/2014 10:38:55