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.
Death of Machines has a distinctly mechanical, percussive character: expect motoric gestures, clipped chords and metallic resonances that require a crisp attack and controlled release. Technically, the Polyrhythmie 2 contre 3 (3.1/5) demands keeping a steady binary pulse in one hand against ternary groups in the other, which is practiced by isolating wrist and forearm motion so each hand preserves its micro-pulse without blurring; Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) is also important to map repeated sections and quick transitions, aiding where to place accents and breaths in the driven passages. From the modern period, this piano sonata fits within the composer’s output as an exploration of industrial sonorities and rhythmic effects. I do not give performance references here because I am not fully confident of a single, widely recognized recording for this specific work.