The 1st time bar tells you what to play the 1st time through.
The 2nd time bar tells you what to play the 2nd time through instead of the 1st time bar.
The trap (which a number of my students fall into) is that you donʼt play the 1st time
bar when you are doing the repeat - you only play the 1st time bar on the 1st time through.
If you do repeat the 1st time bar you will find yourself a bar behind where you should be (a
bit of a problem if you are playing in a group!!)
Take note that the “1st time bar” can, in some cases be the “1st time bars”. So, in this ex-
ample, bars 3 and 4 should not be played on the 2nd time through.. the performer would
jump straight to bar 5 from bar 2 on the repeat.
You will also find that there can be 3rd time bars, 4th time bars, etc.., where the process of
repeating and skipping bars is repeated, but these are much less common.
da capo (D.C.)
The phrase da capo (D.C. for short) is written on the music and means go back to the start
of the piece.
dal segno (D.S.)
The phrase dal segno (D.S. for short) means go back to this
sign....