SongSelect and Music FAQs

• How do you follow repeat bars?
  • A repeat section with forward and backward repeat bars is played twice unless instructed otherwise.
• What does D.S. al Coda mean?

  • Jump back to the sign, the squiggly “S” -   

    

    and play until you reach an instruction like “2^nd time to Coda” or “Last time to Coda”, where you will jump forward to the measure with the word Coda and an oval with crosshairs above it, 

    

• What does D.C. al Coda mean?
  • Similar to the D.S., D.C. simply means to jump all the way back to the beginning of the song and play until you reach the “2^nd time to Coda” or similar instruction.
• What does D.S. al Fine or D.C. al Fine mean?
  • Following the same pattern as the previous entries, you will jump back to the Sign or the beginning (respectively) and play until you reach a measure with the word “Fine” (FEE-nay) over it. That ends the song.
• What does the attribution mean?
  • When you see “as published by ___”, that means we created the sheet music from a publisher-provided piece of sheet music. What you see is what we were provided for product creation.
  • When you see “based on the recording by ____”, that means we were provided a recording by the publisher to use as our way of transcribing sheet music. We say “based on” because, while we do our best to accurately represent the melody, lyrics, chords, rhythms, etc., we often simplify and condense to make it easier to read and follow.
• Why doesn’t the sheet music match the recording?
  • Which recording? We are provided with a single recording approved by the publisher of the song to transcribe sheet music. It may be a different recording than the one you’re familiar with.
  • Additionally, we view songs in one of two ways: congregational or performative. Congregational songs are the ones more suited for large groups singing together; How Great Is Our God, In Christ Alone, Revelation Song. Performative songs are usually more musically demanding and meant for a soloist or a duet; think songs by Zach Williams, Phil Wickham, CAIN, For King And Country. There is obviously some crossover, and we do our best to make both kinds accessible by a wide range of skill levels by simplifying melodies, chords and rhythms where appropriate.
• Why does this song say “original key” in the attribution?
  • When the vocal range of a song is really high (or really low), we occasionally will lower (or raise) a song’s key to accommodate harmonies on the VS that we offer. We include the “original key” information so you can play the song in its original key if you so desire.
• Why is the tempo different than the recording?
  • The tempo determines the speed of the song. In 4/4, 3/4, and Common time, the tempo is predominately based on the quarter note. In 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, the tempo is based on the eighth note if we determine the speed to be under 150 BPM (beats per minute) for the eighth note and based on the dotted quarter note if we determine the speed to be over 150 for the eighth note.
• How do we determine the key of the song?
  • If the publisher provides a key for their song, we use that information. If we are transcribing solely from an audio, we use the melody and chord progression to determine the tonal center.
• Occasionally, some songs are not in traditional major or minor keys. These songs are in what’s called a “mode”, like Revelation song. When that occurs, we default to the major or minor key of the tonal center.
• Why do some chords have a slash in them?
  • A chord like C/E or Ab/Eb has an alternate bass note. When you see C over a beat or word, you know it means C major: C – E – G. C is the root of that chord, the lowest note. If you see C/E, the chord is still C major, but the lowest note is now E. Anytime you see a chord with a slash, remember the letter on the left side is the chord, and the letter on the right is the alternate bass note.