Da Capo, Da Coda

Da Capo means "from the beginning" or as we often say, "from the top." One way to explain this to your students is to say Da Capo means "go to the corner of the piece." The upper left hand corner, to be exact. Da Capo is abbreviated D.C. - an important distinction since most music will indicate it this way. You will see that we have marked the Da Capo on this song with a pointing finger and a label that says "D.C. means Da Capo." This is at the end of measure 30.

Once students have taken the D.C., they follow the music along until they get to the Coda bug, where it also says "To Coda." This sign is at the end of measure 26. There is another pointing finger and label there on the music, and we've even thrown in the voice of our very own "Coda bug" on the recording to emphasize the point.

"Da Coda" is just our cute way of saying "the Coda," which is the concluding portion of the music. It is indicated by the bigger Coda sign (or Coda bug) and the word "Coda." Once again, we have added a visual helper for students to find and recognize it on the music. The talking Coda bug on the recording joins in to give encouragement.

The song is very upbeat and fun to sing, as our studio singers prove. We've added a synth melody guide on the instrumental performance version to help young students follow along. There's also a great guitar solo on the D.C. to spice things up. If you have any air guitar players in your midst, let them wail along.

Please note that although the second vocal part sounds great, it is optional. Singing part one only is perfectly acceptable. Though as always with optional parts, consider using older kids to help out.

(Note: Be sure your students don't confuse D.C. with D.S., which is a different thing. That will be another song in the future...)