Tip #30 - How To Draw Octave ( 8va ) Notation Above a Staff

Sometimes music is written an octave lower than it is actually played -usually so the notes will appear within the staff rather than high above the staff with ledger lines. The fact the music is to be played an octave higher than it is written is usually indicated by the letters "8va" followed by a dashed line to show the range of notes affected by the octave shift (see attached image).

The best way to draw this octave notation with MusEdit is by using "Staff Text", usually followed by a "Dashed Phrase Line". Put the caret above the staff where you want the octave notation to start, then select Insert|Extended Object|Staff Text (Ctrl+Shift+T, or hit the "Staff Text" toolbar button) and type "8va" in the text dialog. To finely tune the horizontal position of the phrase use leading spaces as needed, such as " 8va".

Next, hit the right arrow key to move the caret one or two spaces to the right and hit Insert|Extended Object|Phrase Line (Ctrl+Shift+H, or hit the "Phrase Line" toolbar button) and select "Dashed Right End", then click the mouse above the note where the 8va shift is supposed to end.

If you're dissatisfied with the way the 8va text and the dashed phrase line line up, or if the dashed phrase line will be very short, you may prefer to use staff text such as " 8va - - - - -", where you use spaced hyphens in the staff text to simulate a phrase line. This simplifies the 8va shift notation a bit because it keeps it all within a single extended object rather than requiring two objects.

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