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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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.
Ibert's Waltz for ballet breathes a light, danceable charm with a slightly teasing character, shifting between flowing waltz pulses and more hesitant gestures that call for flexible phrasing. You will need to focus on the Tempo rubato (3.9/5) — here that means subtly yielding the pulse within melodic lines while keeping harmonic direction — and the Polyrhythmie 2 contre 3 (3.1/5), which requires one hand to articulate ternary groupings against duple figures in the other, demanding precise finger attacks and controlled small accents to stay aligned. Placed in the modern period, the piece belongs to Ibert's lighter, theatrical output and relates to his stage and ballet writing rather than his large-scale concert works. I will not name a reference performance because I cannot be fully certain of a single recording widely recognized for this specific piece.