Étude in A-flat major, Op. 8 No. 8, by Scriabin
Every score here is public domain, free to read, print and keep. Open it in the browser and it plays, at whatever tempo you can read it.
Get the practice plan for Étude in A-flat major, Op. 8 No. 8
Here it is. Check your inbox for day 1.
- Hear it through at Slow (30 bpm). Open it in the reader, choose Slow, and follow the page with your eyes without playing. As it plays, count 3 to the bar.
- Learn the right hand of bars 1 to 8 on its own, in A♭ major. Say the note names out loud the first time through, then play it three times without stopping.
- Find the chords under it: E♭6, D♭maj7, E♭7 and Fm. Play each one as a block in your left hand and say its name, so you know what the harmony is before the left hand has to move.
- Learn the left hand of the same bars on its own. Keep it quiet and even: it is the floor the tune stands on.
- Put hands together at Slow, 30 bpm. Bars 1 to 8 only. Stop after every wrong note and play that bar again before moving on.
- Move up to Steady (44 bpm) once Slow feels easy three times in a row. Then learn the next 8 bars the same way: right hand, left hand, together.
- Play the whole piece (about 3 minutes) from the start, at whatever speed keeps it going. A steady run with a few slips beats a fast one that stops.
About this piece
A slow, lyrical study marked Lento, tempo rubato, with a tender melody over flowing accompaniment. It is more a nocturne than an exercise.
How to play it
Take time with the rubato but keep the left hand flowing. Let the melody sing with a warm sound.
Reading it, and printing it
The score opens in Artform's reader, which shows the music as engraved notation and plays it back so you can hear the line before you try it. You can slow the tempo down, loop a passage that is not working yet, and print the page when you would rather have paper on the stand.
The file itself is MusicXML, which MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and Dorico all open, so the notes are yours to keep whatever you read them in.
More free Scriabin sheet music
Who Scriabin was
Russian composer and pianist who began his career sounding almost like a direct descendant of Chopin, then spent the rest of it pushing further and further from any conventional harmony at all, chasing an increasingly mystical, almost occult vision of what music could do to a listener's mind. He believed sound and colour were fundamentally connected and built a machine, a "colour organ," meant to project light in sync with his orchestral piece Prometheus. He died suddenly at forty-three from an infected lip sore, midway through sketches for a work he claimed would end the world.
Learn the music behind it
Reading a piece and understanding it are different skills. If you want the harmony under this one, the chord trainer teaches chords the way songs use them, and the scale pages cover the fingering for every key, including A♭ major.