Stage 2 gave you the repeat barline and the first-and-second endings. This lesson puts them
together — reading a route through a whole piece — and shows what all that repetition is
telling you about how the music is built.
A quick recall
‖: … :‖ — the dots always face the music you go back and play. Play the enclosed
bars twice, then carry on.
No opening ‖: — the :‖ sends you all the way back to the top of the piece.
1.2.3. brackets — different endings for the repeated section (volta, "time":
prima volta, seconda volta). Play the 1. bracket the first time, skip it and take 2.
the second time, and so on.
Trace a route
92 bpm
Four bars printed, eight bars played: the first half twice, then the second half twice — A A B B. That little shape, two halves each repeated, is binary form: the skeleton of nearly every Baroque and Classical dance.
92 bpm
The route: bars 1–2, then the '1.' ending (C–B–A), back to bar 1, bars 1–2 again, skip the '1.' ending, take the '2.' ending (C–D–E). The first ending closes the loop; the second one moves the music on.
Try it
Try
Before you play the second example, put a finger on the page and walk the route: bar 1,
bar 2, first ending, back to bar 1, bar 1, bar 2, second ending, done. Say it out loud. Then
play it and let your eyes do what your finger just did.
The usual mistake
Playing both endings in a row the first time through. Missing that a lone :‖ with no
opening partner sends you back to bar 1 of the whole piece, not just a few bars. And losing
your place on the second pass through a volta — the fix is always to trace it first.