In music notation, da capo is abbreviated "D.C." and is placed just above the staff at the end of a section or piece. It indicates that the piece should repeat a second time from the beginning, and is usually used instead of a repeat sign when an entire lengthy piece is to be repeated. The phrase means "from the top" in Italian.

When written with a staff, it looks something like this (compete with time signature and a quarter note scale):


    /\                                               D.C.
---| /----------------------------|---------------------||
   |/                             |        |            ||
---/------------------------------|---|----|------------||
  /|     4                     |  |   |    |        *   ||
-/-|/\--------------------|----|--|---|----|---*---|----||
|  |  |  4           |    |    |  |   |   *   |    |    ||
|--|--|--------|-----|----|----|--|--*--------|----|----||
 \ |  |        |     |    |   *   |           |    |    ||
--\|_/---------|-----|---*--------|-----------|---------||
   |           |    *                                    
  \|         -*--