Estimated from our difficulty score, not taken from an exam syllabus. Checked against 333 works on the ABRSM syllabus: the exact grade is right 7 times out of 10, and within one grade 99 times out of 100.
Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.
Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.
The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.
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This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.
Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.
The safest next step.
A genuine step up, without a jolt.
A useful leap with guided practice.
The piece has a sharp, rather austere energy, with variations alternating between striking, percussive figures and more contrapuntal episodes that require crisp, unwavering articulation. Among the technical challenges, Connaissance des formes (3.8/5) is crucial to locate reprises and thematic transformations and to shape each variation accordingly, and Polyrhythmie 2 contre 3 (3.1/5) demands independent hand control to layer conflicting rhythmic groups without losing the melodic line; the concrete gesture here is mentally aligning the right-hand motif while keeping the left hand's steady accentuation. The work belongs to Hindemith's modern period and reflects his preference for clear contrapuntal construction and variation form over immediate Romantic expression. I will not name a reference interpretation because I am not fully certain of a single widely recognized recording for this particular piece.