Repeats and Codas in Digital Sheet Music
On paper, a repeat sign means flipping back a page or two. On a tablet, every press of the pedal goes forward, so repeats, D.S. al coda and D.C. al fine are where digital sheet music goes wrong. In a Page Turner room the leader writes the play order once, and every turn follows it, on every screen in the group.
Why Repeats Are Hard on a Tablet
A PDF is a row of pages, and a page turn moves to the next one. When the music says to go back to the sign on page 2, someone has to find page 2 in the middle of the performance. With a group of tablets, everyone has to do it at the same moment. Page Turner's leader already turns every screen at once; with a play order, those turns know where the repeats go.
Set the Play Order
- Start a room by uploading a PDF on the home page. You're the leader.
- Open the piece that has the repeats, tap the page to show the toolbar, open ☰, and tap Repeats & Jumps.
- Type the pages in the order they're played, for example 1-3, 2-3, 4-6. A line under the box reads it back, so you can check it before you save.
- Tap Save. From then on, the pedal, a tap, or a swipe steps through the play order for everyone.
Write single pages as numbers and runs of pages as ranges, separated by commas or spaces. To go back to ordinary page order, open Repeats & Jumps again and tap Play Straight Through.
Writing the Common Road Maps
Each example is for a six-page piece. Count the pages as they are in the PDF, not as printed on the music.
| The music says | Play order |
|---|---|
| Repeat pages 2–3 | 1-3, 2-3, 4-6 |
| Repeat from page 2; first ending fills page 3, second ending starts page 4 | 1-3, 2, 4-6 |
| D.C. al fine, with Fine on page 2 | 1-6, 1-2 |
| D.S. al coda: sign on page 2, To Coda on page 4, coda on page 6 | 1-5, 2-4, 6 |
| A cut: skip pages 3 and 4 | 1-2, 5-6 |
A repeat that starts and ends on the same page needs nothing: the music stays on screen while you play it twice. Only write the turns that leave the page.
Reading the Signs
- Repeat bars (a double bar with two dots) mark a passage to play twice. Go back to the facing repeat bar, or to the beginning if there isn't one.
- First and second endings are bracketed bars at the end of a repeat. Play the first ending the first time, then skip it and play the second ending the second time.
- D.C. (da capo) means go back to the beginning. D.S. (dal segno) means go back to the sign, 𝄋.
- al fine means play on until the word Fine, and stop there.
- al coda means play on until To Coda (or the coda sign, 𝄌), then jump to the coda at the end.
What the Group Sees
- A warning before the repeat. When the next turn goes back, a blue ↩ 2 appears beside the page number on every screen (↪ when it skips ahead, as to a coda).
- Half-page turns across the repeat. With half-page turns on, the turn before a repeat shows the top of the page it goes back to above the bottom of the page you're finishing, labeled "3→2". Musicians can read ahead into the repeat with no rush.
- Go to page in the toolbar goes to the next time that page comes up, so you can jump to the second time through.
- Late joiners and anyone who loses the Wi-Fi land on the right page, including the right time through the repeat.
Tips
- Set it before rehearsal. Write the play order when you load the music, then step through it with the arrow keys or a pedal to check every repeat.
- Mark the signs too. Circle the repeat bars and codas with the highlighter so the group can see why the page moved. See marking up sheet music.
- Keep it for next time. Saved set lists keep each piece's play order, along with its marks. See organizing a set list.
- Vamps and open repeats ("repeat until cue") don't have a fixed count, so leave them out of the play order and turn when the cue comes.
Without a Play Order
Other ways work too. You can copy the repeated pages into the PDF itself, so it plays straight through, though the file gets longer and marks on the copies drift apart. In forScore, Links are spots you tap to jump back to a repeat; MobileSheets has link points and a page order you can set for each song. In those apps each player sets them up in their own copy of the music. See how Page Turner compares.
Get Started
Page Turner is free, with no account needed and nothing to install. Upload a PDF to start a room, then tap ☰ → Repeats & Jumps.