Return to Answer

@Len, the problem is that the performer won't know whether the sign x3 written at the end of the repeated section means "play 3 times" or "repeat 3 times". It could mean either, so therefore you can not say that either way is correct.

Your computer program is obviously programmed to treat one way as correct, but that won't help if musicians don't regard it that way. Some people even gets confused when you say "repeat 3 times" and think it means play 3 times, so they missed that the first time is not a repeat.

In ensembles I have played music with multipple repeats several times. Often it was not clear what the intention was, but since the composer was present it could be solved.

Based on those experiences I think I will prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played, like "Play 4x" as @Laurence Payne suggested. Except if it is written the way suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.

@Len, the problem is that the performer won't know whether the sign x3 written at the end of the repeated section means "play 3 times" or "repeat 3 times". It could mean either, so therefore you can not say that either way is correct.

Your computer program is obviously programmed to treat one way as correct, but that won't help if musicians don't regard it that way. Some people even gets confused when you say "repeat 3 times" and think it means play 3 times, so they missed that the first time is not a repeat.

In ensembles I have often played music with multipple repeats. Often it was not clear what the intention was, but since the composer was present it could be solved.

Based on those experiences I think I will prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played, like "Play 4x" as @Laurence Payne suggested. Except if it is written the way suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.

@Len, the problem is that the performer won't know whether the sign x3 means "play 3 times" or "repeat 3 times". It could mean either, so therefore you can not say that either way is correct.

Your computer program is obviously programmed to treat one way as correct, but that won't help if musicians don't regard it that way. Some people even gets confused when you say "repeat 3 times" and think it means play 3 times, so they missed that the first time is not a repeat.

In ensembles I have played music with multipple repeats several times. Often it was not clear what the intention was, but since the composer was present it could be solved.

Based on those experiences I think I will prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played, like "Play 4x" as @Laurence Payne suggested. Except if it is written the way suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.

@Len, the problem is that the performer won't know whether the sign x3 written at the end of the repeated section means "play 3 times" or "repeat 3 times". It could mean either, so therefore you can not say that either way is correct.

Your computer program is obviously programmed to treat one way as correct, but that won't help if musicians don't regard it that way. Some people even gets confused when you say "repeat 3 times" and think it means play 3 times, so they missed that the first time is not a repeat.

In ensembles I have played music with multipple repeats several times. Often it was not clear what the intention was, but since the composer was present it could be solved.

Based on those experiences I think I will prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played, like "Play 4x" as @Laurence Payne suggested. Except if it is written the way suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.

@Len Look at it this way: A repeat sign means you play it again. Thus one repeat means that the section is played twice. So if it says repeat two times, it will be played one more time than just one repeat thus the total times played is three. And with three repeats you get a total of four times and so on.

But some people might misunderstand that notation and play it only three times if x3 is written above the repeat sign at the end of the section.

The problem is that the performer might not know whether you mean "to be repeated three times" which will mean you play the section four times in total or whether you mean "to be played three times" which of course means you play the section three times in total.

Therefore write "Play 4x" so it is 100% clear what you mean

Whether you write "Play 4x" in the beginning as @Laurence Payne suggested or you write it at the end might not matter that much although I think it makes sense to write it at the beginning. What is really important is that you make sure that it is totally clear to the performer what to do.

EDIT: I have played music several times with repeat signs where the section was played more than twice. As far as I remember it was sometimes not clear what to do, but since the composer was present it could always be solved. When I think back on those events I think I will definitely prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played. Except if it is written the way @suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.

@Len, the problem is that the performer won't know whether the sign x3 means "play 3 times" or "repeat 3 times". It could mean either, so therefore you can not say that either way is correct.

Your computer program is obviously programmed to treat one way as correct, but that won't help if musicians don't regard it that way. Some people even gets confused when you say "repeat 3 times" and think it means play 3 times, so they missed that the first time is not a repeat.

In ensembles I have played music with multipple repeats several times. Often it was not clear what the intention was, but since the composer was present it could be solved.

Based on those experiences I think I will prefer that it is stated in the beginning how many times it is supposed to be played, like "Play 4x" as @Laurence Payne suggested. Except if it is written the way suggested by @Meekohi with a box that says 1.,2.,3. and a box that says 4; but such boxes are only applied if there is a difference at the end of the section the last time it is played.