Ottava

Ottava (often abbreviated 8va or ott.) is Italian for ‘octave’. As a performance direction it instructs the performer to play the marked passage one octave higher than written. The marking is typically shown as ‘8va’ above the staff with a dashed line extending to indicate where the higher-octave reading ends.

The direction simplifies notation. A passage that would otherwise require many ledger lines above the staff can be written in normal range with an 8va indication, making the music easier to read. The performer mentally transposes the indicated section up an octave.

The opposite is ottava bassa (8vb), which instructs the player to read a passage one octave lower than written — typically applied to the bass clef where many ledger lines below the staff would otherwise be needed. ‘Loco’ cancels either direction, returning to normal-octave reading.

Italian, ‘eighth’, from Latin octavus. The octave is the eighth scale degree from the tonic.

Play one octave higher than the written notes throughout the dashed line. When the line ends or loco appears, return to normal-octave reading.