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Extra Measure

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(@wishus)
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Is there a term for when you have an extra measure at the end of a progression? For instance, I have a song in which the chorus is a 4 bar progression repeated 4 times - after the 4th time, there is an extra measure before it goes back to the verse. I have some other songs that use this trick as well, but I'm having a hard time communicating it to the drummer. Is there a standard term for this?

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 cnev
(@cnev)
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I've seen where they start a song with part of a masure and then the end of the song has the remaining beats in the measure.

I'm sure if that's exactly the same, but I'm sure there is a name for it, unfortunately I don't know what it is.

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(@noteboat)
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No.

If you were to write out something like that, the easiest way would be to write it as a 15 bar progression with endings - endings 1, 2, and 3 would be one bar each; ending 4 would be two bars.

The only thing I've ever heard it called is 'extra measure'... hardly a technical term (as in "we'll do it with an extra measure on the fourth repeat") :)

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(@kingpatzer)
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it's sort of a coda .. but coda's are usually longer than a single measure.

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(@noteboat)
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Not a coda - a coda is a section added at the end of a song, and one you don't get to by playing all the way through the piece... you might jump from a verse to the coda (instead of to the chorus), or from bridge to coda (skipping chorus again) etc. Since this one goes back to the verse, it's just a longer section ending.

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(@nicktorres)
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Old Dal Segno, I knew him well.

And his trusty sidekick Al Coda.

I think that will be my next band name:

The Dal Segno Band with Al Coda


   
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(@kingpatzer)
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Not a coda - a coda is a section added at the end of a song, and one you don't get to by playing all the way through the piece... you might jump from a verse to the coda (instead of to the chorus), or from bridge to coda (skipping chorus again) etc. Since this one goes back to the verse, it's just a longer section ending.

I learned that a coda is "An ending to a piece of music, standing outside the formal structure of the piece."

You're right that GENERALLY you jump to the coda from somewhere from within the piece, but there's nothing to say that the the segno can't be on the first measure and you jump to the coda from the last measure to play one extra measure.

Frankly, though, I don't think it's a good choice of terms here either, I'm just saying I can imagine it being written as a coda.

I think your solution of endings 1,2,3 and a seperate ending 4 is a better choice for a single measure. And I don't know of any formal term for that.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@ciaran)
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You're right that GENERALLY you jump to the coda from somewhere from within the piece, but there's nothing to say that the the segno can't be on the first measure and you jump to the coda from the last measure to play one extra measure.

He's right full stop. (That's period for you US English speakers :? )

The coda is the end of the piece. An extra measure before you go back to the verse isn't the end.


   
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(@kingpatzer)
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Doh -- going back and re-reading I see that it returns after the 4th repetition.
My bad. I retract my comment and am immediately taking a remedial reading course.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@noteboat)
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You can have a coda without a segno - that's done all the time. At the end of the last written measure before the coda, it'll say "D.C. al Coda" (da capo, literally from the head to the coda)

If the last written measure other than the coda leads right into the coda... well, you wouldn't write it as a coda. It'd just keep going through to the double bar - so the measure preceeding the coda is always somewhere other than the end of the 'main' piece.

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