special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

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special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

2005-08-21 01:50 pm

I've looked through all the repeat#.nwc examples and the many examples in this forum and still can't seem to come up with the right set of special endings, repeats and flow directions to get a piece to play back correctly.

The piece is in the format of a chorus (A) and 3 verses (B) where it is played:

A B A B A B A

The music that I'm copying from is laid out like this:

chorus, special ending 1.2.3. ||(double bar), special ending "Final", end of section bar and then the verses with a double bar at the end.

At the end of special ending 1.2.3. it say "to verses" and at the end of the verses it is marked "to chorus".

My goal is to be able to print it out on a minimal number of sheets for our choir as well as to play it back properly so that I can practice with it.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #1 – 2005-08-21 08:00 pm

Try this to get Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 3, Chorus:

New staff
Tempo 1/4=360 (so you can play this example quickly
Treble clef.

Enter, in this order

Bar-master repeat open
Whole note
Bar
Whole note
Flow direction Fine
Double bar

Special ending (select 1st ending only)
Whole note
Bar
Whole note
Bar-Master repeat close

Special ending (select 2nd ending only)
Whole note
Bar
Whole note
Bar-Master repeat close

Special ending (select 3rd ending only)
Whole note
Bar
Whole note
Flow direction D.C.al Fine

You can make the Fine, the DC al Fine and the Special endings invisible if you wish, and substitute text such as Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3, but when I tweaked it just now it affected playback so it may not work well to do that.

You might consider forcing a system break at the beginning of each section for appearance.

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #2 – 2005-08-22 02:48 am

I wrote a hymn with (apparently) the exact format that you describe using NWC. (SATB+Rhythm)

For a copy of the NWC file go to http://deeline.com/musicf/music1.html then scroll to the bottom of the page and open the NWC file "Walking Through This World".

Mine works fine.

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #3 – 2005-08-24 06:44 pm

Thanks for the quick replies!

Following the two examples I can get it to play back the way I want but not print the way I want (of course I want both ;-)

I need to print it on as few pages as possible. There are 3 verses that are basically the same so I envision having my A (chorus) and B (verses) sections once with the right special endings/repeats. Since the hymn starts and ends with the chorus, it makes sense to me that the endings visually sit after the chorus/before the verses. Something like this:

chorus section
special ending 1.2.3 that has a measure or two before sending you to the verses section
special ending "final" where the hymn ends after the final chorus (couple of measures that are slightly different than ending 1-3)
verse section which sends you back to the chorus.

If I have those 4 pieces in that order, can I set up the repeats, special endings and flow directions to have it play back like this:

chorus - verse 1
chorus - verse 2
chorus - verse 3
chorus

or did I miss something obvious in the examples?
Thanks!

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #4 – 2005-08-24 07:17 pm

Apparently I am missing something.

It seems to me that the sample hymn, "Walking Through This World", does exactly what you want, i.e.,

chorus - verse 1
chorus - verse 2
chorus - verse 3
chorus.

'Course I have an introduction, but you can delete that for your song.

As for printing, the way that I have it set up, it takes a page and a half of letter-size paper. I printed it on 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 but the print was so small that reading was difficult.

Try doing a "Print Preview" of "walking..." and tell me what you want to change in your song.

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #5 – 2005-08-24 08:01 pm

You have special endings marked at the end of the verses. I can see how that takes you back to get the AB AB AB A pattern but your chorus always ends the same way. I guess that's the difference. For mine there are 2 different chorus endings. After the first 3 choruses, before going into the verses it has one ending. The last time you do the chorus (after verse 3), it should go to the final ending which is a little different.

Cosmetically, I would like to see the endings after the chorus but before the verses since that's where my eyes are when I play it.

/ chorus / ending 1-3 ("to verses") / ending final / verses ("to chorus") /

where the "/"s are some sort of bar lines and flow directions to make it work.

Does that make sense?

BTW - Nice piece!!

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #6 – 2005-08-24 10:52 pm

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #7 – 2005-08-25 06:52 pm

Hi Lawrie,

I see where your going with using a coda but I can't seem to make it work yet. How would you set this up?

Bar-Master Repeat Open
-> Segno
Chorus
-> special ending 1-3
-> somewhere in here you have the "to coda"
Verse
-> DS al Coda (?)
Bar-Master Repeat Close
-> Coda
final ending

I'm sure I'm confused as to what goes where. I've tried a few variations but I either get it skipping verses or not jumping to the coda properly. Can you clarify how you would set this up?

If possible, it would be nice to have the 2 different endings right after the chorus since that's where the person playing it will be looking.

thanks
EPF

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #8 – 2005-08-25 09:10 pm

G'day EPF,
I think the easiest way would be:

at the beginning of the Chorus
Bar-Master Repeat Open
Segno
at the point the chorus changes for the 4th time through
To Coda
final part of the chorus [1,2&3] - No special ending here!
Bar-Double - to make it visually separate
Verse
Special Ending 1&2 - Finishes with a Bar-Master Repeat close
Special Ending 3 - Finishes with a DS al Coda, Bar-Section End
Coda
final ending

OR you could have:

at the beginning of the Chorus
Bar-Master Repeat Open
at the point the chorus changes for the 4th time through
Special Ending 4 - Fine - Bar-Section End
Special Ending 1,2&3 - finish the normal chorus
Bar - Double
Verse
Staff finishes with a Bar-Master Repeat close

Both should work, I'd probably use the first method though your
preference for all the chorus endings to be close together would
suggest the second.

Lawrie

Re: special endings, repeats, to verse/chorus woes

Reply #9 – 2005-08-30 12:44 pm

I managed to get both of these working so I'll give both options to the group and let them decide which they prefer.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
EPF