Inmusic notation,dal segno (UK:/dælˈsɛnjoʊ/,US:/dɑːlˈseɪnjoʊ/,Italian:[dalˈseɲɲo]), often abbreviated asD.S., is used as a navigation marker. Defined as "from the sign" inItalian, D.S. appears insheet music and instructs a musician to repeat a passage starting from the sign shown at right, sometimes called thesegno in English.[1]
Two common variants:
The Italian term 'dal segno' literally means 'from the sign.' In most music you will see either D.S. al Fine (which means 'go back to the 𝄋 sign and play the music again until you come to the bar marked Fine, then stop') or D.S. al Coda (which means 'go back to the 𝄋 sign and play the music again until you come to the bar marked To Coda, then jump to the coda'). ...You may also see simply...D.S. in the final bar of a score, which means to repeat from...the 𝄋 sign...then stop at the end. In music, these instructions always appear at the end of the bar from which you have to jump back (either to the 𝄋 sign or to the start of the piece).[2]
Al segno indicates that the player should go to the sign.Da capo al segno (D.C. al Segno), "From the beginning to the sign (𝄋)."[3]
In operas of the 18th century, dal segnoarias were a common alternative toda capo arias which began with an openingritornello, which was then omitted in the repeat (the sign being placed after the ritornello).
Thesegno sign is encoded in theMusical Symbols block of Unicode asU+1D10B 𝄋MUSICAL SYMBOL SEGNO.[4]
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