Repeats and jumps

Simple repeats

You can create a simple repeat by placing a start and an end repeat barline at the beginning and end of a passage. These can be applied from the Barlines or Repeats & Jumps palette.

Note: If the start of a repeat coincides with the beginning of a piece or section, the start repeat barline can be omitted if desired. Similarly, an end repeat barline can be omitted at the end of a score or section.

1st and 2nd endings

First create a simple repeat (as shown above), then apply the first and second time endings—see Voltas.

Playback

Turn repeat playback on/off

• Toggle the "Play Repeats" button on the toolbar.

Adjust repeat section playback

Simple repeats, such as the ones illustrated above, or "1, 2" volta sections, usually play back correctly first time. More complex repeats may need further adjustment as follows:

1. Ensure that the start and end barlines are correctly positioned. For a volta section, ensure that each volta, except the last one, terminates with an end repeat barline.
2. In the case of a simple repeat, where more than one repeat is needed, right-click on the measure containing the end repeat barline and select Measure properties. Adjust Play count so that it is equal to the number of times you want the section to play back.
3. In the case of a complex volta section, such as the following:
   
   Make sure that the volta "Repeat list" is set up correctly—see Volta properties. Right-click on the measure containing the end repeat barline and select Measure properties. Adjust Play count so that it is one greater than the number of measures listed in the Volta "Repeat list." In this case, since 5 measures are listed, the "Play count" needs to be set to 6.

Repeat symbols and text

Text and symbols related to repeats are located in the "Repeats & Jumps" palette (in the Basic and Advanced workspaces). This palette contains:

• Symbols for measure repeat, Segno, Segno Variation (Serpent), Coda, and Coda Variation (Codetta)
• D.S., D.C., al Coda, al Fine, To Coda, and Fine text
• Repeat barlines

To add a repeat symbol to the score use either of the following:

• Select a measure, then click the desired repeat symbol in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag and drop a repeat symbol from the palette onto (not above!) the desired measure (so the measure changes color).

Jumps

Jumps are symbols in the score which tell the musician to skip to a named marker (see below). Jumps include the various kinds of D.C. (Da Capo) and D.S. (Dal Segno) text.

To set correct playback of jumps:

• Make sure that the "Play Repeats" button on the toolbar is selected. This is a toggle, so you can turn off playback by clicking the same button.

• After the jump, and following established convention, only the last round of any simple repeat section is played back. If you want playback to take these repeats in full:

  1. Select the applicable jump symbol;
  2. In the "Jump" section of the Inspector, check "Play Repeats".

  Note: Jumps are taken only after all simple repeats in the section are played through.

If you click on a jump, some text boxes and a checkbox are displayed in the Jump section of the Inspector. These have the following effects on playback:

• Jump to: Playback jumps to the marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Jump to" tag.
• Play until: Playback continues until it reaches a marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Play until" tag.
• Continue at: Playback jumps to the next marker whose "Label" is the same as the "Continue" tag.

• Play repeats: Ticking this box tells MuseScore to play repeats after D.C. (Da Capo) or D.S. (Dal Segno) jumps. If this option is not ticked then simple Repeats are not taken after jumps and playback works as if it were the last repeat.

  Note: The tags start and end, referring to the beginning and end of a score or section, are implicit and don't need to be added by the user.

Markers

Markers are the places referred to by the jumps. A list of markers (in addition to the implicit "start" and "end") follows:

• : Segno (tag: segno)
• : Segno Variation (tag: varsegno)
• : Coda (tag: codab)
• : Coda Variation (tag: varcoda)
• Fine: (tag: fine)
• To Coda: (tag: coda)

If you click on a marker, the following properties appears in the Marker section of the Inspector:

• Marker type: This can be changed from the dropdown list, if required.
• Label: This is the (identifier) tag associated with the marker. See also, Jumps (above).

Examples of jumps

• Da Capo (D.C.): At the "D.C." sign, playback jumps to the start (i.e. to the implicit start tag) and plays the entire score or section again (i.e. up to the implicit end tag).
• Da Capo (D.C.) al Fine: At the "D.C. al Fine" sign, playback jumps to the start (i.e. to the implicit start tag) and plays the score up to the Fine (i.e. the fine tag).
• Dal Segno (D.S.) al Fine: At the "D.S. al Fine" sign, playback jumps to the Segno symbol (i.e. the segno tag) and then plays up to the Fine (i.e. the fine tag)
• Dal Segno (D.S.) al Coda: At the "D.S. al Coda" sign, playback jumps to the Segno symbol (i.e. the segno tag) and then plays up to the To Coda (i.e. the coda tag). Playback then continues at the Coda symbol (i.e. the codab tag).

Note: The properties (i.e. the tag names) of jumps and markers can be set via the Inspector.

You need to modify them if using multiple jumps and markers.

See also

• Barlines
• Volta

External links

• MuseScore in Minutes: Repeats and Endings, part 2 (video tutorial)
• How to separate a coda from the rest of the score (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to create a 2-measure repeat sign with playback (MuseScore HowTo)
• How to use Jumps and Repeats (MuseScore HowTo with examples)