Billy Joel "Piano Man" Arrangement Confusing Navigation Markers

by Barry
(Miami)

Hi, I have a Piano Man arrangement from 2001 Joel Songs, and the DS1, DS2, Coda1 and Coda2 have me confused. Are you familiar? Thanks, Barry


Maria's Answer:

Hello Barry!

Although I'm not familiar with that arrangement of "The Piano Man", I surely know that finding the "road map" with musical navigation markers can become rather confusing. (Sometimes completely crazy!)

I'd love to help, but without a snippet of the music it's difficult. Is it possible you could post a picture?

However, the picture I added here shows a common way of using Dal Segno. But first an explanation of the music symbols: D.S stands for "Dal Segno" (From the Sign) "al Coda" (to Coda) and also common is "al Fine" (to the end).



Here is how this example works:

1. Play from the beginning until where it says D.S al Coda.
2. Play from the slashed S symbol (that's the "Segno" =sign) to the oval with a cross (the symbol for Coda).
3. Jump ahead to Coda.

So with your example, you'll need to repeat the procedure one more time for D.S 2 and Coda 2.

I hope this helped.

Happy practicing,
Maria