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.
Tippett's Piano Sonata unfolds with a nervous rhythmic drive and a sequence of angular chords that create a tense, percussive atmosphere rather than a lyrical one, with sudden leaps and unexpected accents demanding careful attention to inner lines. You will specifically face Analysis harmonique (3.6/5): here you must identify shifts of harmonic focus and shape your touch to foreground pivot tones and inner voices, requiring precise control of hand balance; and Polyrhythmie 2 contre 3 (3.1/5): some passages require unequal groupings where the practical gesture is to subdivide the beat mentally, lock local rubato while maintaining attack alignment, and drill 2:3 superpositions slowly with a metronome until they become automatic. The sonata belongs to the composer's modern-period output and exemplifies his interest in rhythmic complexity and non-standard harmonic procedures within the sonata form.