ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Repeat sign

Oh hi there! Do you know what a repeat sign is? No worries if you don't, I'll explain it to you like you're 5 years old.

You know how sometimes when you listen to a song, there's a part that sounds really good and you want to hear it again? Well, musicians have the same feeling. Sometimes they want to play a part of a song again. So, what they do is put a special symbol in the sheet music that tells them to go back and play a certain section again. This symbol is called a repeat sign.

The repeat sign looks like a big, curly loop with two dots above or below it. If you see this symbol, it means that you need to go back to a certain point in the music and play it again from the beginning of that section. So, it's like hitting the "rewind" button on a song.

Repeat signs are really helpful for musicians because it saves them time and it helps them practice certain parts of the music until they get it just right. So, if you ever see a repeat sign in your sheet music, you know what to do - play that section again!
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