<play>

The <play> element plays a section again at a later point in the score.

<section> declares that a section exists and takes its first place in the play order. <play> takes another one. The music itself stays where it was written, in that section’s <section-ref> content, and is not copied.

Parents

Attributes

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
`section`	Yes	IDREF	References a `<section id="...">` in `<structure>`.

Children

None.

Semantics

A <play> adds one play of the section it names, at the point where it sits. This is what makes ABA form writable: ท่อน 1, ท่อน 2, then ท่อน 1 again.

<structure>
  <section id="s1" name="ท่อน 1"/>
  <section id="s2" name="ท่อน 2"/>
  <annotation>กลับต้น</annotation>
  <play section="s1"/>
</structure>

The alternative, a second <section> holding a copy of the same lines, says something different and worse: it claims the piece has two sections that happen to be identical, gives every part a second set of notes to keep in step with the first, and prints the music twice on a page where a reader expects กลับต้น.

A <repeat> covers the case where the same run plays twice in a row. <play> covers the case where a section comes back after something else, which no <repeat> around a contiguous run can express.

Pass numbers

A <play> adds to the section’s total pass count, and passes are counted absolutely across every play of that section wherever it falls. In the example above ท่อน 1 has two passes: the first where it is declared, the second at the <play>. An <ending> with pass="2" therefore varies the return and not the first time through, which is the usual reason a piece returns at all.

Plays inside a <repeat> count the same way. <play> inside a times="2" repeat contributes two of them.

Notes

<play> does not declare a section, so a section still has exactly one <section> element and exactly one place its name and <line-repeat> children are written.
A <repeat> whose only content is <play> elements is fine. It has something to play.
Nothing stops a <play> naming a section that has not been declared yet in document order, but the two orders will not match, and reading the score becomes harder than it needs to be.

Conformance

section is required and must reference a <section> declared in <structure>.
<play> has no children.
Each <play> adds one play of its section to the total pass count, multiplied by the times of every <repeat> enclosing it. See <repeat>.

Rendering

A <play> prints nothing. The section’s grid is already on the page where it was declared, and a return to it is written by the arranger as an <annotation> such as กลับต้น. See Repeat brackets.