Here is a piece that has a D.C. al Fine. Gould shows Full bar examples in ‘Behind Bars’. But what do you do when the Fine occurs on a specific beat in the next measure?
I think putting a Final Bar line after beat ‘1’ looks a little odd, and I am wondering if you guys feel this is accurate/correct enough, or if there is something else I should do?
Robby
How about a dashed bar line immediately after beat 1 of bar 8?
I would scrap the DC al Fine and write it out. It’s only 8 bars.
This is often done by putting a caesure ("//") after beat 1 and placing the “Fine” right above it.
All very good suggestions and thoughts. Thanks for the info.
The only issue with scrapping the D.C al Fine, is that this book is a redo of something we already publish. It is designed for beginners (teaching about the D.C./D.S, etc.), it’s also in the middle of the book, and to keep the pagination correct, I cannot add the additional 8 bars at the end.
Robby
How was it done in the original version? I don’t think using a caesure is right because then the students will pause the first time through. I’ve seen such examples with the ending bar after that first beat and it works very well. It’s also a good teaching point to show that double bars can be put anywhere to show the structure, not necessarily at the ends of complete measures. Why is the double bar where it is? Is there a structural reason to have a double bar at that point? As I interpret the short example you included in the .png file there is no reason to have that double bar where it is.
You are right, but it all comes down to what you are used to.
The “caesura + Fine” is quite common in German and Austrian marches, so one would never take a break there. 
This piece was engraved by myself in Finale over 15 years ago. At the time, we used a thick bar line to bring attention to the upcoming Fine. The double bar line is merely used to show the Fine.
I am really at odds here… the final bar line is the most accurate way to notate this. But I find that odd to place one in the middle of a bar (to a beginner who may be reading from this book without an instructor might be confused?).
Robby
Robby,
Can you do this as a D.C. al Coda or D.S al Coda? To my thinking, it would be more clear to have the quarter note end as its’ own final ending bar (hence a coda) with rests to pad out the bar.
@MusicMaven, sadly I believe the answer to this is a no. This book has little to no room to play with, in terms of spacing and such. The page is already pretty tight. I agree it would be far more clear to have it as a full proper bar at the end. And a D.C. al Coda would be a tremendous idea if we weren’t limited to space. This book has been published for 16+ years, and the pagination is super critical. If page layout and page numbers didn’t matter, I would certainly push for the D.C. idea.
So aside from that, here is a pic. Regarding the first pic in the original post, which one do feel looks the best? The one from above, or this one (with the final bar line in the middle of the measure)?
I like the look of this last one better. It seems more clear, and, given your tight space requirements, I believe it’s a good compromise. Good work!
Thank you MusicMaven. I appreciate your response.
Robby
