124: Repeats - making some instruments play in one of two (or more) repetitions

It's sometimes desirable for instruments to play either the first or the second time through a particular passage, marked by repeat bars and some text (e.g. 2nd time only). Sibelius 3 (and later) can playback repeats and you can specify barlines to playback a number of times in the Playback properties panel. Please see the Repeats topic in your User Guide for more information about this. If you're not yet using the latest version of Sibelius, get an upgrade.

Sibelius 2 and Sibelius 1 don't have this feature, but you can still achieve similar results using MIDI messages - see the MIDI messages topic in your Sibelius 2 or 1 User Guide for background information on this special kind of text - and follow the instructions below.

• On the relevant staff, just before the repeated section, insert ~C7,0; this will mute all subsequent playback (turns staff volume to zero).
• At the end of the 1st-ending bar, insert ~C7,127; this restores staff volume to maximum level for all subsequent playback.

In this way, the section will be muted the 1st time and play back the 2nd time. In Sibelius 2, MIDI messages are hidden automatically. To hide these MIDI messages in Sibelius 1.x (i.e. when you come to print your score), switch off Show text after tilde in File > House Style > Text.

To make an instrument play the 1st time only, delete the first step above, so playback is normal 1st time through. Then replace the 2nd step with ~C7,0 to mute 2nd time playback, and then restore normal playback with ~C7,127 at the end of the 2nd ending (or wherever you want to restore playback, e.g., before the pickup to the next bar).

This procedure can be used for other similar effects, e.g., muted 1st time, open 2nd time, instead using program changes rather than the volume control change, and so on.