Coda

Coda is Italian for "tail". In music it has two closely related meanings: a closing section that rounds off a piece, and the sign that tells you when to jump to it.

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The coda sign and "To Coda"

The coda sign is a circle or oval crossed by a vertical and a horizontal line, like crosshairs. It usually appears twice:

• At the jump point, often with the words "To Coda": the place where, on your second time through, you leave the main music.
• At the start of the coda itself, usually labeled "Coda" and often set apart by a double bar line or a gap on the page.

The jump happens only after a D.C. or D.S. has sent you back. The first time through, you ignore "To Coda" and keep playing.

Reading D.C. al Coda and D.S. al Coda

1. Play until you reach D.C. al Coda (or D.S. al Coda).
2. Go back to the beginning (D.C.) or to the segno (D.S.).
3. Play until "To Coda" or the first coda sign.
4. Jump to the coda and play it to the end.

The coda as a section of the form

As part of the form, a coda comes after the music has finished its main business: after the recapitulation in sonata form, or after the last chorus of a song, where pop musicians usually call it the outro. A coda can be a few closing chords or a long passage that brings back earlier themes one last time. A short closing passage, at the end of a piece or of a section within it, is often called a codetta, "little coda".

Learn the signs in D.S. & the Coda and follow complete routes in Trace the road map.