Octaves (U+E510–U+E51F)

GlyphDescriptionGlyphDescription
U+E510
ottava
Ottava
U+E511 (and U+1D136)
ottavaAlta
Ottava alta
U+E512 (and U+1D137)
ottavaBassa
Ottava bassa
U+E513
ottavaBassaBa
Ottava bassa (ba)
U+E514
quindicesima
Quindicesima
U+E515
quindicesimaAlta
Quindicesima alta
U+E516 (and U+1D139)
quindicesimaBassa
Quindicesima bassa
U+E517
ventiduesima
Ventiduesima
U+E518
ventiduesimaAlta
Ventiduesima alta
U+E519
ventiduesimaBassa
Ventiduesima bassa
U+E51A
octaveParensLeft
Left parenthesis for octave signs
U+E51B
octaveParensRight
Right parenthesis for octave signs
U+E51C
ottavaBassaVb
Ottava bassa (8vb)
U+E51D
quindicesimaBassaMb
Quindicesima bassa (mb)
U+E51E
ventiduesimaBassaMb
Ventiduesima bassa (mb)
U+E51F
octaveBassa
Bassa
GlyphDescriptionGlyphDescription
uniE514.salt01
sedicesima
Sedicesima (16)
uniE515.salt01
sedicesimaAlta
Sedicesima (16) alta
uniE516.salt01
sedicesimaBassa
Sedicesima (16) bassa
uniE517.salt01
ventiquattresima
Ventiquattresima (24)
uniE518.salt01
ventiquattresimaAlta
Ventiquattresima (24) alta
uniE519.salt01
ventiquattresimaBassa
Ventiquattresima (24) bassa
uniE51D.salt01
sedicesimaBassaMb
Sedicesima (16) bassa (mb)
uniE51E.salt01
ventiquattresimaBassaMb
Ventiquattresima (24) bassa (mb)

Supplementary Groups

Octaves supplement

Implementation notes

These glyphs are for use in octave markings, sometimes called ottava lines.

8 (ottava), 15 (quindicesima), and 22 (ventiduesima) may be used to indicate the raising or lowering of pitch by one, two, or three octaves respectively; the position of these glyphs relative to a dashed line with hook, and the placement relative to the staff (above to raise, below to lower), indicates whether or not the pitch is raised or lowered.

To more explicitly indicate raising the pitch by one, two, or three octaves, the glyphs with superscript suffixes — 8va (ottavaAlta), 15ma (quindicesimaAlta), 22ma (ventiduesimaAlta) — may be used.

To explicitly indicate lowering the pitch by one, two, or three octaves, the glyphs with baseline suffixes — 8va (ottavaBassaBase), 15ma (quindicesimaBassaBase), 22ma (ventiduesimaBassaBase) — may be used, optionally with the additional indication bassa (octaveBassa).

In the case where an octave marking applies to only some of the notes on a given staff, the indication loco (octaveLoco), meaning “with the octave”, is sometimes also used. (This glyph is found in the Octaves supplement range.)

When an octave line crosses a system or page break, the octave marking is repeated at the start of the new system, and may optionally be enclosed within parentheses, which are provided as octaveParensLeft and octaveParensRight.

The 8vb (ottavaBassaVb), 15mb (quindicesimaBassaMb) and 22mb (ventiduesimaBassaMb) glyphs are included because they are sometimes used, but they are corruptions of the more correct forms 8va bassa, 15ma bassa, and 22ma bassa. 8va is short for “ottava”, 15ma is short for “quindicesima”, and 22ma is short for “ventiduesima”; as such, it is nonsensical to replace the suffix va with vb, or ma with mb. The recommended abbreviation for 8va bassa is 8ba (ottavaBassaBa), which is included.