What does D.S. al Coda Mean?

by Paul Fisher
(Sherwood Park AB)

I am a novice drummer learning from "fasttracks" drum music books. I have had about 20 lessons and for now just learning on my own.

The songs in my new book have "to Coda", "D.S. al Coda", and "Coda" and I lose track of the song at "D.S al Coda".

What does this mean and how do I follow it??

Thanks
Paul

ANSWER

Hi, Paul--

The D.S. stands for Dal Segno, which means "to the
sign". If you look on your music, you will find the sign somewhere.

It looks like a slanted "s" with a diagonal line through it and a dot on each side. Go back to that sign and then when you get to "to Coda", skip the rest of the song and begin playing again at where it says "Coda".

Best Wishes,
Lynne