What does ottava mean in music?

Notation & reading

Ottava

Italian, "octave" · Also: 8va, 8vb, ottava alta, ottava bassa

Ottava is an instruction to play the marked passage an octave higher or lower than written, notated 8va above the staff or 8vb below it, and cancelled by the word loco.

It exists to keep music readable. A violin passage high above the staff would need six or seven ledger lines; writing it an octave lower with 8va above puts the notes back on and near the staff where the eye can read shapes rather than count lines.

The dotted line after the numeral shows how far the instruction extends, and loco, Italian for "in place", means resume playing as written. 15ma, two octaves, exists but is rare outside piano music.

Double bass parts are a special case: the instrument sounds an octave lower than written as a matter of course, so an 8va marking in a bass part is relative to the already-transposed notation.

Ledger line: A ledger line is a short line written above or below the staff to extend it, allowing notes outside the five-line range to be notated.
Transposing instrument: A transposing instrument is one whose written notes sound at a different pitch than notated, such as the double bass, which sounds an octave below what is written.
Double bass tuning: The double bass is tuned in perfect fourths, E1, A1, D2, G2, unlike the rest of the string family, which is tuned in perfect fifths.
Staff: The staff is the set of five horizontal lines on which music is written; a note’s vertical place on the lines and spaces, read against a clef, gives its pitch.

Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.

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