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Synthesized/MIDI
| Publisher Info.
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Michael Shuey
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| Performers
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Reproduction from software playback
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| Copyright
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Sheet Music
Scores
| Publisher. Info.
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Michael Gabriel Edouard Shuey
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| Copyright
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| Misc. Notes
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A fiery piece built almost entirely with octaves
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General Information
| Work Title
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Etude
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| Alternative. Title
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Octave Etude 2
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| Composer
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Shuey, Michael Gabriel Edouard
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| I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No.
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IMS 12
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| Key
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G minor
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| Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp.
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2002
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| Average DurationAvg. Duration
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2 minutes
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| Composer Time PeriodComp. Period
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Modern
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| Piece Style
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Romantic
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| Instrumentation
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piano
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| Extra Information
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a fiery piece built almost entirely with octaves
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Navigation etc.
I love octaves on the piano. I associate my love for octaves with a powerful “heavy” sound. Besides romantic classical music, heavy metal is my other favorite music. Octaves on a piano to me are akin to power chords on the electric guitar (even though power chords are fifths and octaves are, well … octaves).
I named this piece an Etude as a tribute the Chopin Etudes, or studies in English. I loved that Chopin’s Etudes always “featured” a particular technique or sound. Combining my love of octaves with Chopin’s Etudes, I had the idea to write a piece featuring octaves. This is actually the second piece I started featuring octaves (hence why this one is Octave 2). The first one is as of this writing still incomplete, and did not showcase the “power” of this one. When I put together outline of this piece, I was driven. I stopped working on the Other Octave Etude but do intend to come back to it.
Although fairly straightforward written on paper, this piece is one of the more technically challenging pieces I’ve written to play. The speed of the octaves, syncopation, and bringing out the dynamics using only octaves should give a challenge to many pianists. Because I was able to write the piece start to finish in such a short time, I’ve never played it myself smoothly at the speed it is written.
I wrote this in my senior year at university. My progression in piano and composition really were coming together at that point, which I identify as the main reason I was able to write this piece in only 2 days. It was by far record time for me. Writing efficiently felt like a bit of a capstone to my piano compositions, due to its complex sound and use of music theory to compose it.
With a little observation, one will note that I do break my own rule at a few times points in the piece. Contrary to the title, there is the occasional non-octave chord… I just couldn’t resist and felt some fuller chords at key moments were called for.
