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.
Does this rating look right to you?
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.
This C major sonata feels bright and brisk, with crisp answers and short phrases that require rhythmic clarity to convey its dance-like character rather than sustained lyricism; you often encounter imitative figures and abrupt chordal leaps contrasted with smoother runs. Concerning technical challenges, Analyse harmonique (3.6/5) here means you must quickly identify cadences and modulations to anticipate resolutions and shape accents, and Lecture clé de fa (3.1/5) requires fluent reading of the bass to preserve a balanced left/right hand texture—practically, work slowly on bass progressions and mark harmonic pivots with slight hand release. The piece belongs to Scarlatti’s large body of keyboard sonatas and typifies his baroque-era approach of combining dance rhythms with inventive keyboard textures.