Posted by Rick Denney on February 22, 2003 at 13:39:32:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 8va heros posted by Rick Denney on February 21, 2003 at 15:06:15:
Okay, I'm home now. Gardner Read states that "8va" means all' ottava, which means "at the octave." There is no directionality assumed. He prefers two possible ways of notating this: either "8va" or simply "8". Two octaves is properly notated "15ma" or "15" which means quindicesima. This means "at the fifteenth."
The directionality is determined by whether the octave notation is above or below the notes being modified, unless that is impractical, in which case the notation "8va bassa" is used and the markings are placed wherever practical. He does provide the proper abbreviation "8a b." in lieu of "8va bassa", which is probably where "8vb" came from. He thinks "8va bassa" when the marking is under the note is not needed, but also not wrong.
If the composer meant the tubas to play a section in octaves, the proper notation is "Coll' 8va" or "Coll' 8". This is an abbreviation of coll'ottava, which means "with the octave" and is meant to denote that the piece should be split into octaves. So, the Read-authorized notation for Eternal Father, Strong to Save would be "coll'8va (if possible)" below the notes, unless one expects that all the players would play it down.
All this discussion starts on page 45 of Music Notation, A Manual of Modern Practice by Gardner Read, 2nd edition, published by Crescendo Books, 1979. I would take it for what it's worth, the same as The Chicago Manual or Style or my favorite The Elements of Style by Strunk and White for written English. Feel free to disagree with these chaps, but do so on purpose and not by accident.
Rick "again, just the messenger" Denney