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.
This study unfolds an angular, frenzied atmosphere, with abrupt breaks and percussive surges that evoke the tumult and confusion of its historical subject. You will face specifically Passages rapides (4.0/5), which require independent fingers and crisp articulation to keep fast figurations clear, and Gammes et arpèges (4.0/5), which demand precise finger sequencing and weight transfer control to preserve the line amid irregular accents. Written in Ives's modernist period, it stands in his catalogue as an experimental study that combines wit, collage techniques and rhythmic exploration within the solo piano repertoire. I do not list a reference interpretation because I am not fully certain of a single, widely recognized recording for this exact piece.