Dal segno

A contrived example showing DS al FINE.  Play  Use of Dal Segno prevents the need to write out extra measures, often many more than in this example. The notes are to be played in this order: G A B B C' A B B C' C. The MIDI file plays in the order: G A B B C A B C' C.
A similar example showing DS al CODA.  Play  The notes are to be played in this order: G A B B C' A B C

In music notation, Dal segno (/ˌdæl ˈsnj/ or /ˈsɛɡn/; Italian pronunciation: [dal ˈseɲɲo]), often abbreviated D.S., is used as a navigation marker. From Italian for "from the sign," D.S. appears in sheet music and instructs a musician to repeat a passage starting from the sign shown at right, sometimes called the "segno" in English.[1]

Two common variants:

The Italian term 'dal segno' literally means 'from the sign.' In most music you will see either D.S. al Fine (which means 'go back to the 𝄋 sign and play the music again until you come to the bar marked Fine, then stop') or D.S. al Coda (which means 'go back to the 𝄋 sign and play the music again until you come to the bar marked To Coda, then jump to the coda'). ...You may also see simply...D.S. in the final bar of a score, which means to repeat from...the 𝄋 sign...then stop at the end. In music, these instructions always appear at the end of the bar from which you have to jump back (either to the 𝄋 sign or to the start of the piece).[2]

Al segno indicates that the player should go to the sign. Da capo al segno (D.C. al Segno), "From the beginning to the sign (𝄋)."[3]

In operas of the 18th century, da segno arias were a common alternative to da capo arias which began with an opening ritornello, which was then omitted in the repeat (the sign being placed after the ritornello).

Encoding

The Segno sign is encoded in the Musical Symbols block of Unicode as U+1D10B MUSICAL SYMBOL SEGNO:[4] 𝄋

See also

References

  1. Percy Scholes (1970) The Oxford Companion to Music, 10th edition, Oxford University Press, p. 273.
  2. Spreadbury, Daniel; Eastwood, Michael; Finn, Ben; and Finn, Jonathan (March 2008). "Sibelius 5 Reference", p.269. Edition 5.2.
  3. Stainer, John and Barrett, William Alexander (1898). Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms, p.133. Novello. [ISBN unspecified].
  4. PDF of Musical Symbols block from the unicode consortium
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