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Bar lines and repeats

Subjects covered:

• The various bar lines
• Repeats
• Other repeat signs

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:

and

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:

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