8va

[paul1234]

Hi everyone...could someone please tell me if 8va appears above the right hand in a piano piece is the left hand also played an octave higher at that point or only the right hand.
Thanks in advance
 

[mikeowski]

Only the right hand. Same for 8vb (= one octave lower)

[timothy42b]

Only the right hand. Same for 8vb (= one octave lower)

However to the purist 8vb is not correct.  It should be 8va b.  Octava (8va) just means octave, and by convention is up.  To make it down, you add b.  There is no such thing as vb. 

[keypeg]

Oh, I think that I see the logic: 8va, 8vb, 8vc....  No, 8va is short for "octava" which is a word meaning "octave".  I imagine the "b" isn't part of an a,b,c,d,e sequence, but would be short for "bass".

[paul1234]

Thank you mikeowski.

[timothy42b]

Two octaves of course are 15va rather than 16va, though it may be counterintuitive.

[lloyd_cdb]

nitpicking, I believe its 'ottava'.

In the base I also believe I've seen just 'bassa' under the octave line symbol, but probably not standard stuff as I rarely see low octaves in general.

EDIT:

after looking it up, it's also 15ma and 8va, quindicesima and ottava

[ajspiano]

There is no such thing as vb. 

[timothy42b]

after looking it up, it's also 15ma and 8va, quindicesima and ottava

Arggh!  Thanks for checking.  At least I got the 15 right, but it seems I missed the m.

Probably I even knew the right answer once, but memory does fade. 

[chopin2015]

It can also just say 8, which is an octave. It will be indication mark underneath the left hand notation, as opposed to over top. But it is not for the right hand because it will look like a bracket that bends around the left hand from the top as opposed to the right hand being bracketed in. 

[timothy42b]

In vocal music, the tenor line is often written in treble clef but sung an octave below.

Seems like sometimes there is a little 8 on the clef sign itself.  But I don't have any in front of me to verify my memory - which has already been proven faulty in this thread.