Klarinet Archive - Posting 000735.txt from 1998/11

From: "Tim Roberts" <timr@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] 8va vs. 8basso (was: question on
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 15:10:31 -0500

On 19 Nov 1998 09:17:48, Lee Hickling wrote:
>I agree with Aimee that in piano scores which way you go can depend on
>whether the dashed line is above or below the 8va. You do see 8va basso
>too, and occasionally you find 16va.

As a piano player, I agree there does seem to be a substantial amount of
disagreement on how to notate this. For octave up, 8va seems to be universal.
For two octaves up, I've seen both 16va and 15ma; the 15 notation seems more
techinically correct, although not as intuitive.

For octave down, I've seen 8va, 8vb and 8va basso. For two octaves down, I've
seen 15ma, 16va and 16va basso.

Anybody with an Italian or Latin background care to comment on of what words
"8va" and "15ma" are contractions? And what would the equivalent phrase for
"octave down" be? Perhaps we can satisfy ourselves with an answer, even if
publishers do not agree.

--
- Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------