Tale
Piano solo
In brief

This piece has the feel of a concise narrative: abrupt, suggestive statements separated by breathing spaces rather than long lyrical lines. Technically the main challenges are phrasing (2.5/5) and legato (2.5/5): you will need to shape clear small-scale phrases by controlling dynamics within short units and preserve smooth connections between neighboring notes despite jumps or rhythmic accents, which calls for careful touch control and finger independence rather than raw speed. The piece appears among Bartók’s short piano works, but the precise dating and place in his catalogue are not specified here, and it reflects his interest in fragmented rhythmic and folk-like motives.

MusicCoach difficulty
37/100
Elementary
Likely range : 31–43/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 4

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.

Where this work sits
050100

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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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
4
38/100 normalised · 2 obs.
Relative difficulty
50%
Among Béla Bartók
29%
Era
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Legato
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

See the whole progression