Repeats & Endings

Songs loop. Rather than write the same bars again, Keyflow has a few ways to say "play that again."

Repeat a bar — %

% replays the bar before it (from Rhythm):

1  4  %  5        bar 3 repeats bar 2 (the 4)

% replays the previous bar — engraved, bar 3 repeats the 4:

Repeat a line — xN

Put x and a number at the end of a line to play the whole line that many times:

1 4 5 1 x2        these four bars, played twice (eight bars)

Repeat a span — |: … :|

Wrap bars in repeat barlines to mark a section that plays twice:

|: 1 4 | 5 1 :|

The |: … :| only marks the repeat — the bars are still written once. Use bar lines | between them when the span is more than one bar (as above), since a bare |: 1 4 5 1 :| would pack everything into a single bar.

First and second endings

When a repeat ends differently the second time, mark the alternate endings with [1] and [2] — placed right after a bar line, on the bars they apply to:

|: 1 | [1] 4 :| | [2] 5 |

That reads: play the 1 bar, take the first ending (4) and repeat back; the second time through, skip to the second ending (5). Write [1,2] for a bar shared by both endings.

That's the whole tour

You can now read and write every part of a Keyflow chart — the header and sections, the chords, rhythm, melody, and lyrics, the key and meter changes, the markings, and now the repeats that tie a song's form together. Open a real .kf file and start playing with it — that's the best teacher from here.