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## Octave marks

Octave statements are used to mark notes that are to be played one or more octaves higher or lower than written. An "octave above" statement is used to specify playing higher than written, or "octave below" for playing lower than written. Each item must include a begintime and a text string. The text string is most typically "8va" although Mup will print whatever you say. For MIDI purposes, up to two digits at the beginning of the string are examined, and a string starting with 8 will be treated as one octave, 15 or 16 will be treated as two octaves (15 is really "correct," but a few publishers may use 16), 22 or 24 as three octaves, etc. It will always default to be printed in 12-point times ital font, although you can override that using the usual \f and \s conventions. If the octave shifting applies to more than a single chord, there should also be a duration specified, reaching to include the last affected note. In this case, Mup will draw a dashed line to mark the span affected. Note that specifying the exact beat of a chord indicates the horizontal center of the chord, so if you want the dashed line to reach a bit past the note, it will be necessary to specify a duration slightly beyond the point of the last chord to be included. Examples:

    1: 2f;g;
    2: 2d+;g;
    3: 2g;ce;
    octave above 1: 2 "8va" til 1m + 1.3;
    bar
    1: 2a;c;
    2: 2f;e;
    3: 4f;;c;;
    octave below 2: 1 "8va";
    octave below 3: 1 "8va" til 2.5; 3 "15" til 4.5;
    bar

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