Erik Ronstr=F6m writes: | > Suppose your music has the form | >=20 | > A |: B :| C |: D :| E | >=20 | > you are now in big trouble if you can't tell the difference between | > a start repeat and an end repeat. | | Didn't think of that... | | Still, I think it _is_ unfortunate that the repeat sign itself includes | a bar line.
In some music theory book (I've forgotten which), I once saw the explanation that it's only thin bar lines that are true bar lines. Thick ones are phrase or section markers, and need not coincide with bar lines. The idea was that a thick line plus a colon represented the start of a repeated section, but not a bar line, and could appear anywhere. Thick+thin+colon would be required for the start of a repeat at a bar line, according to this writer. Of course, few if any musicians or printers think of them this way, so that was really just an interpretation of one textbook writer. A bit of a pity, perhaps, because one of the constant problems with much printed music is the difficulty in rapidly spotting the start of a repeat. Using a fat line and big dots helps a lot to make it highly visible to the reader. BTW, if you want to see really insignificant repeat signs, look at the Ryan/Cole collection. A lot of tunes have start-repeat signs that are merely a pair of small dots at the start of the staff. In some cases, they are almost invisible. I don't know why they even bothered printing them. Of course, this is one of many books that uses several repeat conventions. Not surprising in a large collection. To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
