If you want repeats to play back correctly, make sure that the play repeats check box is checked in the performance dialog.
When a start repeat barline and end repeat barline are placed in a score, all the music between them will be played twice. Where possible it is best to put the start repeat barline at the start of a bar and the end repeat barline at the end of a bar, however Sibelius will allow you to put repeat barlines at any point in a bar.
Example: using repeat barlines to play bars 10 to 20 twice.
You can check the position of a repeat barline by pressing F6 when it is selected. Since the barline will always be selected immediately after it is created, it is sensible to press F6 as soon as the menus close.
There are situations in which you may need to have a section repeated which begins and ends in the middle of a bar. EG: if a piece in four-four time begins with a pick-up bar of one quarter note, then the musical phrases will most likely begin on the fourth quarter of each bar. In this case the repeat may need to start and end on the fourth quarter, so as to preserve the phrasing. The following example shows how to repeat a passage beginning at bar 19 quarter 4 and ending at bar 39 quarter 4.
You must make sure that there are no items which begin before the repeat barline and end after it. EG: if you select a quarter note at quarter 2 and create the barline at quarter 3, any whole notes which exist in other staves will not be broken into two half notes. You will have to divide them manually; Sibelius will not do it for you.
The start and end repeat barlines must occur at the same position in both bars. This is so that there will always be a whole number of bars when the repeat is played through. EG: if a piece is in four-four time and you put a start repeat at quarter 3 and an end repeat at quarter 4, then there will be a bar which is five quarter notes long when the repeat is played. Note that Sibelius will play the repeat even if it is not a whole number of bars.
If a repeating section begins at the start of a score, you can omit the start repeat barline. EG: to have bars 1 to 20 played twice, place an end repeat barline at the end of bar 20. Sibelius will play this repeat correctly.
Remember to take account of pick-up bars. EG: if a piece is in four-four time and begins with a quarter note pick-up bar, then the end repeat barline will need to be at quarter 4. The three quarter notes of the last repeated bar will then be joined to the quarter note pick-up to form a bar of four quarters.
These are used when one repeating section is followed immediately by another repeating section. This symbol is really just an end repeat barline placed back-to-back with a start repeat barline. Accordingly, you need only place an end repeat barline at the end of the first repeated section, and a start repeat barline at the beginning of the following section. Sibelius will position the two repeat barlines in such a way as to look like a double repeat barline.
Example: creating a double repeat barline at the end of bar 20.
You must make sure that each start repeat barline has an accompanying end repeat barline, and vice versa. If you have a start or end repeat barline which is not part of a pair then you will not only confuse the players but also Sibelius. In such cases, you may find that bar numbers go awry and that the score will not playback properly.
There are only two exceptions to this rule. The first is when a repeat starts at the beginning of a piece, in which case the start barline can be omitted, and the second is when using different endings, as explained below.
You must also take care not to place a pair of start and end repeat barlines between another pair of start and end repeat barlines. EG: having a start repeat in bar 10, another start repeat in bar 20, and end repeat in bar 30 and another end repeat in bar 40. This will also cause problems.
Repeat barlines (like all other special barlines) are system items. You can select them through the system items dialog (Alt+F2). They appear in the list as EndRepeat barline and StartRepeat barline. Once the barline is selected, you can delete it by pressing the delete key.
Note that you cannot move a repeat barline to a different place in the score. You're only option is to delete it and then create a replacement elsewhere in the score.
If you need a repeat to play back more than twice, you can select the end repeat barline and use the play on pass check boxes in the properties window.
These are used in conjunction with repeat barlines. Each time the repeat is played, the notes before the first ending line are played, followed by the notes under whichever ending line corresponds to the number of the repetition.
There are two types of ending line. The first type turns down at the right end to indicate that the player should go back to the start repeat and play again. This turning down is called a hook in the edit lines dialog. A closed ending line should always be followed immediately by an end repeat barline.
The second type is an "open" line which has no hook. This indicates that the last repeat has been played and that the player should go on. The open line should only be used after the end repeat barline. In fact, trying to use an open line before an end repeat barline will not only prevent the score from playing back correctly, but could also cause the bar numbering to go wrong.
Example: a repeat structure with three different endings.
This would be played as follows.
Note that in the example above there were two end repeat barlines but only one start repeat barline. This is because any endings which come before the last ending must be followed by an end repeat barline. Also, remember that only the last ending, after the last end repeat barline, should be an open line; the others must all be closed.
The ending line is created in the same way as any system line. Just make a passage selection that includes all the notes in the first ending and then pick the line you want in the lines dialog.
Example: creating a 1st ending line.
The ending lines provided in the lines dialog only cover basic situations and use a particular type of "language". If you need a more complicated repeat structure, or a more distinctive instruction, you can create your own ending lines.
You do this in the edit lines dialog, found in the house style menu (Alt+S). This dialog looks a lot like the create line dialog, except that it has some extra buttons after the lists of lines. You need to select an existing ending line which closely matches the one you want to create. If you want an open ending line choose "3rd ending" and if you want a closed ending line choose "1st ending". You then press the new button. At this point you will have a duplicate of the line you selected. You must then change both the name of the line and the text which is shown in the score.
Example: creating a 4th ending line for the last repeat.
Due to a bug in Sibelius, the text options dialog that opens when you press the start text button will be set to its default values, so you have to set them all. If you use the JAWS cursor to left click the button, the dialog will open with the properties of the line that you are using as a template. This means that you will only need to change the text itself, the other properties will be correct.
The spaces right and spaces up options determine where the text will be positioned in relation to the line itself. The values suggested in the example above are those which the ending lines in the house styles that come with Sibelius use, so they should be a safe option.
Sibelius can play back ending lines correctly, so long as the text in them contains the numbers of the repeats to be used. If no numbers appear in the text, Sibelius may not know what to do and the repeat will not play back correctly. EG: creating an ending line with the word "three" spelt out will not play back. Fixing this problem is described below.
You can also create ending lines which allow for the endings to be played in a more complicated order. The following example is rather extreme, but shows just how far Sibelius can be pushed.
Example: creating a complex repeat structure.
This would play back as follows.
As remarkable as it sounds, Sibelius will play this back correctly.
If the text in the ending lines cannot be correctly identified by Sibelius, the repeats will not play back correctly. You can correct this by selecting the ending line and then using the "play on pass" check boxes in the properties window to force the line to play correctly. Suppose that, in the example above, the ending lines were created with the number spelt out, i.e. "one, three, five". The following example shows how to fix this.
Example: making endings play correctly.
© Daniel Craig Rugman 2010