Music is only graded for difficulty if it is on an exam syllabus.

I play the oboe and the difficulty with the oboe is that if a composer writes low notes marked pp this takes a lot of skill, because often a very big dynamic range is needed, to show all the contrasts. In order to play exactly what a composer has written I have to go against what is easy to play on an oboe.
The easiest thing to do would be to play all low notes loud.


I know some people who always play high notes on a flute loud, even if the music is marked pp, because they don't have the control yet to play the notes quieter.

So if a slow melodic quiet flute piece has lots of high notes in it, would it be on a low grade syllabus because it is slow and has easy fingerings, or would it be on a high grade syllabus because the skill required to play it musically needs to be more advanced?

It would not be on a low grade syllabus if it had a lot of high notes in it.

I'd of thought that music is used in an exam situation because it requires a level of technique that is expected to be shown at that particular stage of learning. As the exam syllabuses are tailored with that in mind, grading music outside of that environment becomes a more complicated task, as you've indicated.

I'm afraid I can't speak for a wind instrument, but for Cello, the exam pieces from grade one up follow the techniques that you learn as you progress. Naturally they start with short pieces with few, if any accidentals, only basic dynamic changes and they're all in first position, with either a backwards or forwards extension.

As the grade increases in difficulty, the technique required does so. Fourth position, then second and third, Tenor and Treble Clef, tougher key signatures, staccato, spiccato, vibrato, harmonics, thumb position - as well as musicality. The pieces are selected specifically to challenge the student to the level expected.

Picking up music from outside of the exam syllabuses needs the player to understand where they are technique wise, and I can only guess that all instruments have the same issue. Sometimes music that people think about is probably within their reach, whilst something that sounds simple requires considerable instrument mastery to play well. For example, the Cello part for Beethovens 1st symphony is well within the grasp of a AB grade 5 player, the techniques and musicality needed would be within their skill level.

In contrast, a Cellist of the same level buying the Bach suites would flick through and think - this doesn't look too bad, until you attempt it and realise that there's an awful lot more needed to play these pieces well, than the music written implies. I believe, when Casals re-discovered them, he spend a good few years interpreting them, before he felt able to play them in public.

In short, yes - music is only graded for an exam syllabus, with reason - it needs to asses whether the student grasps the techniques to move on. It's a marker to help you understand where you are, and what you need to work on. Some of that comes with practice, some, with experience. So a Flautist could answer your question easily (like the one above)

What a contrived question, and what an obvious answer it has.

The piece could be on either a low grade, a high grade, both, or neither.

The difficulty of playing high notes pp would be taken into account by the examiner. So at a low grade it would be acceptable to play them louder than is ideal, and still pass. At a higher grade the assessment would be stricter, and the notes would be expected to be pp, as marked.

I agree with this. As an example, Mozart's oboe concerto 2nd movement is on the grade 8 oboe syllabus. Mozart's oboe concerto is also often asked for at professional orchestra auditions. A grade 8 player isn't going to play it well enough to pass a professional orchestra audition. So what standard is the music?

Roughly the same as the length of this piece of string.

Of course in the orchestral audition the panel are looking for far more than the ability to play the right note at the right time at the right dynamic (which would go a long way to getting a decent mark at Grade 8).

Incidentally, music isn't only graded for exams. Several online suppliers of music give "difficulty" or "skill level" to pieces.

My thoughts on this are as follows:

Music isn't "of a standard" per se .... unless a composer is composing music to specifically target/improve/ practise a specific skill or set of skills as is the case with some who compose music specifically for instrument tutor books.

A composer will simply compose for the love of doing so and for the love of the end result. It may be on occasion (depending on the composer's method) that the standard of a composition may be limited to the composer's own level of playing. - For example a pianist who composes his/her own music by playing it.


However, a non player may compose something technically very difficult. I remember composing a simple clarinet melody for my GCSE many years ago. It would have been very easy to play on clarinet. I added a harmonising flute part. As I'm not a flute player I had to hope it was ok and checked with my sister that it didn't go too high/low etc. I later added other parts - percussion and piano.

I remember my teacher commenting that I'd written a really rather lovely piano accompaniment and that it was probably working in my favour that I wasn't a pianist as if I was I would never have written the rather tricky but lovely ornamented ending ....

I think that the simple answer to your question is that a person's ability may be somewhat arbitrarily measured by their ability to play a certain piece of music and whilst doing so meet a certain set of criteria: observation of dynamics, correct articulation, expression etc etc (e.g. graded exams) but the music alone is simply music and cannot be said to be of a "set standard" unless written expressly for the purpose.

edit: grading for difficulty .... can give a buyer a guide to whether the music is suitable for you - so you don't find it far too hard or easy but bear in mind that whilst a challenge is always good for stretching us/improving our skills as players for performing it may be better to play something that is "easier" well than struggle with something "too challenging". Your audience will certainly enjoy it more.