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Is there a definitive notation for repeating a section more than twice? Say you want a section to be played four times. I have mostly seen this:
x4
𝄆 .... 𝄇
meaning "play four times", but I have also seen this:
x3
𝄆 .... 𝄇
meaning repeat three times.
I've seen the first version often in the sheet music I've sung at a choir, but transcription software I've used (TuxGuitar) outputs the second version. They can't both be right, so which one is correct?
Could try something like this:
If it's choir music, then the number of times to repeat is usually apparent from the number of verses in the lyrics. Here's an example from the Lilypond documentation:
You are correct. 'X3' and 'X4' are ambiguous. Put 'Play 4x' preferably at the BEGINNING of the repeated section.
If your notation software requires a particular other notation for playback, perhaps you can retain it, hidden, and add a non-functional text instruction for the benefit of live musicians. Sibelius can certainly do that. TuxGuitar I don't know.
The most common way to indicate multiple repeats is to write
Play X times
at the beginning of the repeated part. "Times" is often abbreviated with a lower-case "x".
For example:
X: 1
T: Multiple repeats
M: 4/4
K: none
L: 1/4
[K: clef=perc stafflines=1] B B B B [|: "Play 3x"B B B B :|]
NOTE: One needs to be clear on the difference between "play 3 times" and "repeat 3 times".
@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.
What I know is writing this % in middle of the measure, means going over one time the preceding measure, with two slashes means repeat two preceding measures, yesterday I saw in a promotion clip that you could use even four slashes between the circles to notate four measure repeat. I hope this answers you question.
