Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Skipping about the stave

The key elements to recognise for musical repeats

Time bars Playing musical repetition and alternate endings is easy

Another form of repetition

comes in the form of first and

second time bars. These are

numbered brackets that appear

above the notes and change

the ending of a repeated

passage. The first time the

passage is played you play the

notation under the first time

bar. Then when the passage is

repeated, you skip the notes in

the first time bar and only play

the notes in the second time

bar. They don’t just come in 1.

and 2. form either. For example,

you would use 1. 2. 3. and 4. to

play something through four

times yet only use a different

ending the fourth time.

Top tip

Keeping it simple

The Italian abbreviations are

simpler to use than English,

eg the phrase ‘DC al coda’

essentially means ‘repeat from

the beginning, until you reach

a coda symbol (or phrase

al coda) then jump forward

to the next coda symbol to

continue playing’.

Repeat bars

When you see this style of bar line, repeat

all of the music either from the beginning

or that you can see sandwiched between

the two start- and end-repeat bars

Double repeat bars

This is simply a start-repeat and end-repeat bar sitting

back-to-back on the stave. It signifies the end of one

repeat phrase but also the beginning of another

Time bars

These first and second time bar lines indicate alternate

endings. When you see these, you play the music as

normal and then play the notes under the first time bar

“First and second time bars change the

ending of a repeated passage”

Alternate endings

See the repeat bar? Once you’ve played the

notes under the first time bar, you play the

repeated phrases, skip the first time bar and

finish with the second time bar