---
title: "Repeat Signs: Where to Go Back and What to Skip · Piakno"
description: "Repeat signs send you back to play a passage again. What sits between ‖: and :‖ is played twice, and first- and second-ending brackets pick a different measure each time. They change no notes, only the order."
url: "https://piakno.com/theory/repeat-signs"
lang: "en"
alternates:
  en: "https://piakno.com/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  zh-Hans: "https://piakno.com/zh-Hans/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  zh-Hant: "https://piakno.com/zh-Hant/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  ja: "https://piakno.com/ja/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  ko: "https://piakno.com/ko/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  es: "https://piakno.com/es/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  de: "https://piakno.com/de/theory/repeat-signs.md"
  pt-BR: "https://piakno.com/pt-BR/theory/repeat-signs.md"
---

# Repeat signs

> Repeat signs send you back to play a passage again. What sits between ‖: and :‖ is played twice, and first- and second-ending brackets pick a different measure each time. They change no notes, only the order.

A three-minute piece often fits on one page because large parts of it come round again. Rather than copy the same notes out twice, the score uses a sign that says "go back and play that again." So a repeat sign is not a page that got cut short — it is the page telling you the order.

*Two lines and two dots: play what is between them twice. The left-hand sign is where you go back to.*

If there is no ‖: on the left, you go back to the beginning of the piece. That is the one most often missed: a score with a single :‖ repeats everything from the top, not the measure you just played.

*First and second endings: play the measure under 1., go back, then skip it and take 2.*

| Sign | Means | Go back to |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ‖: … :‖ | play what is between twice | the ‖: |
| :‖ alone | play it twice | the start of the piece |
| 1\. / 2. | two different endings | skip 1. the second time |
| D.C. | da capo, from the top | measure one |
| D.S. | dal segno, from the 𝄋 | wherever the 𝄋 is |
| Fine | the end is here | — |

> When a score has repeats, do not start playing. Trace the full order with a finger first and say it out loud: "1-2-3-4, back to 1, 1-2-3-5, done." Do that once and an A-A-B piece cannot come out as A-B — every note right, and a third of the music missing.

## Common questions

### What do first and second endings mean?

Play through the measure under the 1. bracket the first time. When the repeat sends you back, skip that measure the second time and play the one under 2. instead, then keep going.

### Where do you go back to if there is no opening repeat sign?

To the start of the piece. A closing repeat sign with no opening partner repeats everything before it, not just the last measure.

## The course works through this in:

- [Lesson 10 · Repeat signs: the score isn't unfinished — it's telling you to go back](https://piakno.com/course/piano-foundations/lesson/10)

## Related entries

- [Time signature](https://piakno.com/theory/time-signature)
- [Treble and bass clef](https://piakno.com/theory/treble-and-bass-clef)
- [Rests](https://piakno.com/theory/rests)

- [Theory reference](https://piakno.com/theory)