Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Is the 8va notation for both hands or just one?

I used the search function but nothing comes up for a search on "8va" so if this has been answered a million times please forgive me.

When the notation 8va appears, is that an idication for just one hand or both hands?

For instance: in Scarborough Fair, 8va is notated above the treble clef for the second time through. Should I be playing both hands one octave up the second time through or just my right hand?

And the last two measures also have an 8va notation. Since that follows the 8va of the second time through, do I actually play that 2 octaves up from the start position or did the first 8va cancel out at the end of it's section?

Hope I've described this clearly enough.

Thanks much.

Linus

It's and indication for one hand, otherwise, it would appear both in the right hand and in the left hand. So if you only find one 8va indication in the right hand, then you only play an octave higher that hand. It's used to make the reading easier.

Linus,

Here's a recent thread about the topic that you may find helpful:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/977347/Question%20about%208va.html#Post977347

In a nutshell, 8va only applies to the notes in the staff it's written above, so generally that means only the notes played by the right hand.

I say "generally" because on occasion 8va might apply to notes played by the left hand, too: (1) when it appears over the lower staff, and (2) when notes played by the left hand are notated in the upper staff (as shown in an example in the thread I mentioned above).

8va always means just one octave above; subsequent uses don't have a compound effect.

Steven

Thank you for the quick response!! I appreciate it.