Music notation glossary · Further signs
Octave sign (8va)
play an octave higher
In the score
What it means
8va with a dashed line above the notes: play an octave higher than written. 8vb below the staff means an octave lower. It saves ledger lines.
Octave signs
Four notes high above the staff: without the sign they hang on ledger lines that have to be counted while reading. With 8va the same passage drops into the staff and is taken in at a glance. The keys pressed are identical in both pictures — you hear no difference because there is none.
Related pages
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Photograph a page of sheet music or play the melody — Anotona finds the key, engraves the notes and transposes them into any other. Free.
See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.