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symbol marks changed chapters.

 

Break symbols

Overview


A piece usually starts to be played from the first written bar, and is performed bar after bar till its end.
However, some symbols enable this linear progression to be changed. They are called breaks.

Break types:

Breaks can be of three types:

Barlines specify the piece's starting bar or the piece's ending bar, or frame a group of bars to be repeated several times. Some other barlines (bold, double or dotted) have no effect on the way the piece is played.

- Part markers, when a set of bars is repeated several times, allow you to specify what bars should be played the first time, the second time, etc. These symbols are sometimes improperly called "endings".
 
- Jumps and conditional actions, to perform jumps or to stop music playing under some conditions.
 
Note: Unlike in most other music programs, in Harmony-Melody break symbols (barlines, part markers, jumps and conditional actions) are performed by the program when playing music, even when these symbols are nested or associated in complex ways.

Below is a table of all the break symbols you can find in a score. Click on a symbol's name to get a detailed explanation of what it does.
 
Name Symbol Type
Description
Piece start
(at bar start)
Barline
Specifies this bar is the first one to be played.
Piece end
(at bar end)
Barline
Specifies this bar is the last one to be played.
Repeat start
(at bar start)
Barline
Start of a bar group to be played several times.
Repeat end
(at bar end)
Barline
End of a bar group to be played several times.
Part start
(at bar start)
Part marker
Next bars will be played only at given times (numbered under the half-bracket)
Part end
(at bar end)
 Part marker
End of a previous part.
Segno
(at bar start)
Jump target
"Jump to Segno" (D.S.) target
Coda
(at bar start)
Jump target
"Jump to Coda" (Da Coda) target
Fine
Fine (at bar end)
Conditional action
Stops if last time.
Da Coda
Da 
or  (at bar end)
Jump/Conditional action
Jumps to coda  if last time.
Da Segno
D.S.
or  (at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to Segno 
Da Capo
D.C. (at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to piece start
Da Segno al Fine
D.S. al Fine
(at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to Segno , and stops at next Fine symbol.
Da Capo al Fine
D.C. al Fine
(at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to piece start, and stops at next Fine symbol.
Da Segno al Coda
D.S. al 
(at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to Segno , and continues playing till a jump to Coda  (Da ) is found.
Da Capo al Coda
D.C. al 
(at bar end)
Jump
Jumps to piece start, and continues playing till a jump to Coda  (Da ) is found.
 

How to insert a break symbol?


Use the "Barline" or "Part, Jump & Target" tool palette, depending on the break type you need to insert. In this palette, select the break type and click on the required position in the score.
 
 
Note:
In a single bar, the number of simultaneous break symbols is limited:
- Only one "barline" at the beginning of the bar (ex: or )
- Only one "barline" at the end of the bar (ex: or )
- Only one "part marker" at the beginning of the bar ( )
- Only one "part marker" at the end of the bar ( )
- Only one "Jump target" at the beginning of the bar (Segno or Coda)
- Only one "Jump or conditional action" at the end of the bar (ex: Fine, D.S., D.C. al...)
 

How to edit a break symbol?


With the "lasso" tool, double-click on the break symbol to edit. The break edit window opens.

In this window, you can change the appearance of this symbol in the score, as well as how to play it.
In the bottom of this window, explanatory text tells you the action which will be performed when the music is played.
 

Warning: While editing a break symbol, you must ensure that the graphical display (text and symbols to be displayed on the score) matches the performed action, so that your score remains readable.

Please refer to the following pages in this manual to get the list of parameters you can edit for each break type.

Text related to break symbols


A text can be related to each break symbol. You can enter this text in the "Edit break symbols" dialog box then define the content, font and size.
Some special tags are substituted with music characters like , , etc.
A tag always begins with $.

Tag
Display
$S
segno symbol
$C
coda symbol
$[
begin part symbol
$]
end part symbol
$#
part number
$N
measure number
$P
time counter
$T
suffix and "times", used with $P
$xxx
where xxx is a floating point value. Scale display for $S, $C, $[, $]. Default value 1.0
$$
$

Some samples :
Text
Display
Da Segno $S Al Fine
Da Segno Al Fine
Da $C
Da
Da $2.0$C Da
$[$#
1.2.3.



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