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I am trying to digitize an old piece of music, and I'm confused by a notation that says B♭ arpeggio (photo below). I'm used to apreggios being a wavy line next to the notes, so I'm not sure which note(s) that it should get attached to.
Also, why is it B♭6? What does the six mean?
The piece written in E♭ major with a 6/8 time signature
B♭ chord is the first, third and 5th notes of the B♭major scale. That's B♭, D and F.
B♭6 adds the 6th note of the scale. So that's B♭, D, F, and G.
Not sure quite how that fits in with the notation you showed us. But that's what B♭6 means. I guess you know what an arpeggio is?
B♭6 means B♭-D-F-G (the formula for a major 6th chord is R, W+W, W+H, W, where R is root, W - whole tone and H - semitone).
As for arpeggios and how they are notated - I do not know for sure. I play 2 monophonic instruments and rarely deal with this sort of symbols. I think notation depends on time period and what instrument it was written for (I vaguely remember arpeggios for guitar being notated in a different way).
It's pretty common for jazz and some rock scores to prompt the musician to play a chord or its variation instead of what's on the sheet (it's the first time I see something like that in a classical score). I would assume it prompts you to play an arpeggiated major 6th with your left hand (the bass) instead of 2 B♭'s an octave apart. This is how I would interpret it:
