Breaks- Overview

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Break symbols Overview

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

Break types :

Breaks can be of three types :
- Barlines enable to specify the piece starting bar, the piece ending bar, or to 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, which allow, when a set of bars is repeated several times, to specify what bars have to 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 most of the other music programs, break symbols (barlines, part markers or jumps and conditional actions) are performed by the program when music is playing, even in case of complex association or nesting of these symbols.

Below, an array of all break symbols you can find in a a score. Click on their name to get a detailed explanation of what they do.

*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, according to the break type you need to insert.
In this palette, select the break type and click on the required position on score.

Note :
In a same bar, number of simultaneous break symbols is limited :
- Only one "barline" at the beginning of the bar (ex :

)
- Only one "barline" at the end of the bar (ex :

)
- 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.

You can, in this window, change as well the appearance of this symbol on score, as the way to play it.
In the bottom of this window, an explanatory text tells you the action to be actually performed while music is played.

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

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

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