They describe it as “basically incorrect”, too 
Well, the letter “h” in German for the note “b” in English is also “basically incorrect” but “common by now”.
I like these little inconsistencies that have evolved in different cultures over the centuries, and I’m sad to see that automation (such as with computer programs) leads to a standardization on a global scale and a notion of “right” or “wrong”. What counts is that players of the written music understand what is meant, regardless of how it’s written.
The standard and very sensible practice seen in publications by the major publishers for well over a century is:
8---- above the staff for octave above and
8---- below the staff for an octave below.
The necessity for bringing back the 19th century 8va and it modern incarnations as 8vb etc. eludes me.
1 Like
Seems entirely unambiguous to me. Certainly when I’m sight reading I only really see the the dashed line and either 8 or perhaps 16 and whether it’s above or below. I most definitely wouldn’t notice whether there was a vb or a ba or any other variation. Position is the key and what we look for. Just think of how you look for familiar icons on your desktop.
Dear Robert,
I suppose you meant 15? However, I agree with those last two posts. Simple, efficient. Clean.
If “historically informed” movement gets going, I guess a bit of “historically misinformed” fluff around the edges is inevitable.
Yes I did mean 15. It would sound rather unusual otherwise.
As long as notation is unambiguous I can live with variation. What I like less is the current mess reg. chord spelling. Take a look at the thread about add2/sus2/2 chords — I’d very much like a little disambiguation here.
Hello, I am late to the party!
I checked some scores (classical and contemporary music) and it’s all either 8ba or just an 8.
How many scores did you check? How many scores exist?
Catch my drift?
No. I checked scores with a certain reputation and age (pre-naughties).
Any updates on this? Looking to have “8vb” in one of my parts. I have never seen 8ba in commercial music in my region and I know my musicians have likely not seen it either. From what I can gather, engraving options > octave lines > design > suffix for ottava bassa should include the option for “8vb”. I understand this is not historically accurate, however that doesn’t matter for musicians who would be confused by a marking, and spending time asking questions during the 10 min rehearsal the piece gets before they play it.
Work-around would be to use some sort of bracket with text? I don’t necessarily care if it plays back correctly.
1 Like
Assuming you’re using the factory settings on the Octave Lines page of Engraving Options, you can make Dorico display “8vb” instead of “8ba” by choosing Library > Music Symbols, choosing the Octave Lines category, finding the Ottava bassa (ba) symbol in the list, and then editing that one. On the right-hand side, choose Octaves (U+E510–U+E51F) from the list of categories, and you’ll see the “8vb” symbol in the grid below. Select that and click Add Glyph. Select the “8ba” symbol that’s also now shown in the preview next to the desired “8vb”, and click the trash can to delete it. Confirm the dialog, and that should be it.
4 Likes
Nice, thank you!
I have a query related to this: for student lead trumpet parts I would like to be able to write “Opt. 8va” (i.e. put it up the octave if you can manage it) and at the moment can only do an 8va line and write “Opt.” before it in plain text which looks clunky - anyone have any suggestions? Thanks
1 Like
Welcome to the forum @favelabrass
I’m not sure but there may be an option to add custom text to the line by selecting the line and then opening up the lower zone (properties).
1 Like
One possible way of doing this:
Enter Opt. as staff-attached text followed by a space. After the space, right-click and select Insert Music text… . In the dialog which opens, enter ottavaAlta in the Search field and click OK. If you need a line such as the one which normally shows the extent of the 8va, you will need to choose the appropriate line from the line palette in the right-hand zone, and then align it manually in Engrave mode.
1 Like
You could consider using an ossia staff?
1 Like
Thank you Daniel!
I was thinking on exactly the same lines but didn’t see an option to customize the text in the lower zone.
Just tried that and it’s much cleaner than what I was doing. Just have to play around to try and get the fonts to match now. Thank you!