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 Sarabande and Chaconne projects a mood that is both dance-like and meditative, with a polyphonic texture revealing singing lines wrapped in a grave, measured sway typical of slow baroque dances reworked through a Romantic sensibility. The student will need to pay close attention to Baroque Ornaments (4.4/5) — executing crisp small-note embellishments and appoggiaturas and fitting them seamlessly into the line — and to Sustain Pedal (3.1/5), which requires sparing, often half-pedal use to support without blurring the individual voices. The piece sits in the Romantic period and reflects Liszt’s practice of arranging earlier baroque material for the piano, combining fidelity to the source with a Romantic pianistic treatment.