How to write 3 voltas with a bridge

• Apr 2, 2016 - 14:48

MUSESCORE – HOW TO USE VOLTAS TO REPEAT 3 SECTIONS WITH DIFFERENT ENDINGS SEPARATED BY A BRIDGE.

The problem is that MuseScore seems to be designed for only 2 voltas, so that it can handle A1-A2–B-A1(orA2) but not A1–A1–B–A3. There doesn’t seem to be a way to play A3 without writing it out in full after the B. But there is.

Here is a simple solution. (To make it easier to follow, a rewrite of Louise is attached):

First, enter your entire score as follows:

• Write out your A1.
• Add your 2nd ending. [Click on Layout>Append>Measures and enter the number of
• measures in the ending, then fill in]
• Repeat for your 3rd ending
• Append your B section or bridge

Then, to ensure that it plays back properly, edit as follows:

• Put volta signs over your 3 endings. (For the 3rd one, drag the volta 2 bracket over to the 3rd ending, then change the number by right-clicking on the volta sign, selecting Volta Properties on the drop down menu, then editing the Text box “2” to a “3”.)
• To ensure that each ending only plays once, edit the voltas by right clicking on their signs, selecting Volta Properties and editing the number in the Repeat List box so that it reads “1”
• To get the playback to go to A2 after playing A1, put repeat signs at the end of your 1st ending and at the beginning of the piece (as you would do for a 2-volta situation).
• To prevent the playback from going on to play the 3rd volta instead of the bridge after it has played A2 , put a D.S at the end of the 2nd volta routing to a segno sign at the beginning of B, the bridge.
• At the end of the bridge, send it back to the beginning with a D.C al Fine
• Put the Fine at the end of the 3rd volta. This will stop the playback from going on to the bridge after playing A3.

Q.E.D.

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Louise.mscz 19.79 KB

Comments

• Apr 2, 2016 - 17:40

This technically works, but it is not standard notation, and is likely to confuse most musicians. DS is not supposed to be used to jump *forwards* - only *backwards*. The proper way to notate a form like this is:

A
A1 (1st ending)
A2 (2nd ending)
B, ending with DC/DS al Coda
A3 (Coda)

EDIT: this is what Jm6stringer just posted :-)

Note you *can* actually notate this with three voltas and have it play back correctly in MuseScore - it's just a matter of getting the right settings for the volta properties and repeat counts in the measure properties for the measures with the repeat signs. However, this would not be considered good notation in this case either - a second ending should not be used to encompass a whole new section (B). This puts the third ending too far from the first two and also creates confusion. It is better to use the DC/DS al Coda method - assuming there is not space to simply write out the full form, which is actually almost always preferable if space is not an issue.

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• Apr 2, 2016 - 20:22

True that having only 2 voltas and writing out the 3rd variation of A after the bridge is the usual way to do it, but it obscures the fact that it is simply a variation of A not a real C. Much clearer and simpler if we treat it as a third iteration of A.

Your suggestion of putting DC/DS al Coda at the end of the B section makes logical sense, but I am unable to put such an instruction, or two instructions if that is what it is, into the last measure of B. I tried putting the DC at the end of the B section and experimented with putting DS al Coda and the Segno in various locations, but none of them worked. (As an alternative, I tried using a barline repeat instead of the DC and just entered the DS al Coda, but it simply ignored the Segno and kept playing through the B part again.)

So, my question: Where to enter the DC, DS al Segno, and the Segno to get the result we want?

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• Apr 2, 2016 - 21:01

True, writing it out does obscure the fact that the melody is the same, but people pretty much know that's likely to be the case. Writing it all out reduces the form erros that often occur because people lose lose track of which repeat they are on, as well as confusion over whether the coda is "part of them form" and thus to be taken on every chorus or whether it is an ending only. But indeed, it's a common enough construct that this shouldn't be a big worry.

Anyhow, you should add the "DC al Coda" to the last measure of the B section, the "To Coda" to the measure right before the first ending, and the coda itself should follow the B section. This is the way standard notation works, and MuseScore should play it back properly right out of the box - no messing with settings required. If there had been an intro, then instead of a DC you'd use a DS and put the segno ont he first measure of A.

Without seeing what you tried, I can't tell what you did wrong for sure, but I didn't see you mention the "To Coda". That's the important part. You mention it ignoring segno, but a segno isn't an instruction to jump - it's a location to jump *to*. Your piece does not need nor should it include a segno.

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• Apr 3, 2016 - 01:45

Just to put a bow around it, there seem to be 3 ways to write three variants of A with a bridge between #2 and #3:

1. The conventional way, as if one were writing AABC: Write A with 1st & 2nd voltas containing different endings; followed by B; followed by the 3rd variant of A written out in full.

2. Instead of writing out the whole 3rd variant of A after B, just write out its ending as a coda and send the playing back to the top after the B section and thence to the coda after the 3rd playing of the A.

3. My original version which makes explicit the fact that one is essentially repeating A three times with variant endings by employing 3 voltas. Works similarly to #2 but instead of writing the coda after the B section you embed it in volta #3.

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