Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum D.C. Al Coda + To Coda Help!

For my piano class I've been assigned this as a recital to play with the metronome.

I can play each part just fine, but I need help with the repeats and the D.C. Al Coda. I have no idea in what order I should play - or what D.C. Al Coda is!

I think I'm supposed to play through until the 2nd ending, then repeat from the begining then play the 2nd ending.

Then I encounted the D.C. Al Coda, so I THINK I go back to the begining once again, until I reach the "To Coda" which is when I move on to the "CODA" after the 2nd ending.

Then after the 1st ending, I move back to where "CODA" was, then go through to the 2nd ending, finishing the piece.


http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh227/sh1nebl1nd/Untitled-1-19.png

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh227/sh1nebl1nd/Untitled-2-11.png

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh227/sh1nebl1nd/Untitled-3-2.png


That was all a guess on how to play it, am I wrong?

(Also any tips on any of the other terms I need to make sure to play would help. Such as simile and "rit. e dim."... How would I play rit. when I am timed with a metronome?

I believe it's played thru the 1st ending, back to the top, thru the 2nd ending (replace the 1st ending with the second ending), back to the top (DC is Da Capo - to the head), and then, right at the "to the coda" you go directly to the coda, leaving out the first and second endings. The coda replaces the part of the music after the "to the coda" sign when you're on the last time through.

So the piece is played 3 times - once with the 1st ending, once with (only) the 2nd ending, and once with (only) the coda ending.

Others here will chime in, I'm sure, with clearer explanations and corrections if I've goofed up.

Cathy

Play from the beginning to the first repeat then go back to the beginning. The second time through miss the first time repeat bars and jump to the second time bars, carry on until you see D.C. al Coda, this means go back to the beginning then take Coda. So on your third time through from the beginning you will jump direct to Coda, you are now playing Coda for the first time so take the first time repeat bars then go back to the repeat sign, you are now playing Coda for the second time so skip the first time bars and jump to the second time bar and finish.

Mike

Mike has it right, but I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I understood him.

Let's see if I can explain this a bit clearer.

Measures 1 - 15 we will call part A.
Measures 16 - 26 are the section under the first ending of A and we will call this B.
This is followed by a repeat back to A.
Measures 27 - 37 are the section under the second ending of A and we will call this C.
This is followed by the Da Capo al Coda back to A.
Measure 38 is a lonely measure at the start of the coda, call it D.
Measures 39 - 47 is the main part of the coda, call it E.
Measures 48 - 58 are the first ending for the coda, call it F.
This is followed by a repeat back to E.
Finally measures 59 - 67 are the second ending of the coda and we will call it G.

So you play:
A B A C A D E F E G

Hopefully one of the answers we have given will make sense to you.

As far as your other questions:
Simile means similar. This means you are to continue following the pattern established for the pedal.

cresc means crescendo - to gradually get louder.

dim means diminuendo - to gradually get softer.
rit can mean either ritardando - gradually slower or ritenuto - sudenly slower.
In this context, I would play the very ending gradually slower and softer to fade the piece away.

Add this site to your book marks: http://www.dolmetsch.com/index.htm , they have a decent music dictionary and music theory pages.

Rich