The meaning of 8va above a passage: play it one octave higher than written. 8vb below means one octave lower, and the dashed line shows how far the instruction lasts.
Composers use it to escape ledger lines. Printed where it sounds, a high run sits six ledger lines above the treble staff and takes a second look to read; with 8va over it, the same run sits on the staff and reads at a glance. The notes do not change, only where they are printed.
How to spot it
A small 8va or 8 with a dashed line running above (or below) the notes, ending in a short downward hook at the last note it covers.
Find it in thirty seconds
Play an 8va bar as printed, then again an octave up. The second one is the composer's, and the hop between the two is the whole meaning of the sign.
Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each, clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Ledger Lines: Ledger Lines in piano music. Ledger lines are the short lines added above or below a staff to carry notes that are too high or too low to fit on it. Each one c…
Middle C: Middle C in piano music. Middle C is the C nearest the middle of the piano, and the note that sits on its own little ledger line between the two staves of pian…
Staff: Staff in piano music. The staff is the set of five horizontal lines that piano music is written on. A note's vertical position on those lines and the spaces be…
More in This Section
Pedal Marking: Pedal Marking in piano music. A pedal marking tells you when to press and release the sustain pedal: Ped. where it goes down, an asterisk or the end of a brack…
Quarter Note: A quarter note on the piano staff: how to spot the filled head, and a thirty-second hunt for one on a real page.
