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 Polonaise mixes a dance-like, swaggering drive with dramatic outbursts: it combines the stamped energy of the dance with moments of lyrical expansion that require sustained control. Technically, pay close attention to the Octaves (4.3/5), which demand wrist alignment and relaxed forearms for clean, sustained attacks, and to the Rythmes pointés (4.3/5), where precise separation of short and long notes must come from controlled wrist movement and clear finger articulation. From the early Russian Romantic period, the piece sits within Glinka’s compact but formative output, bridging national idioms and the concert piano style of his time. I will not recommend a specific recording here to avoid any risk of misattribution.