12 Levels of Technical Difficulty | Piano 

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its cus the coda of la campanella is quite easy

Yeah, I find the coda of La Campanella very easy. This is probably because octaves are one of my strong points.

​​@@jinxzy1071Indeed but only if you feel comfortable with octaves. I heard opinions the coda is pretty hard just because of the octaves. I haven't played La Campanella yet however I guess the coda is going to be no problem after me played Scriabin's D# minor Etude😅

@vanek_9397 Trust me, the coda is not something to worry about. The hardest part about it is the jumps in the left. You’ll be fine. However the parts with trills in the right with 4 and 5 are just evil. But if you have good control there the rest is fine.

@@FriskaPianoi practice it with 45 because etude but if i had to record it i would use 35

The coda of la Campanella really isn’t that hard.

Nah the la campanella coda is easy

The pre coda section is harder ngl, those jumps really needs cross eye vision to get it right.

@@BlueBedrockGaming Or good muscle memory.

@@FriskaPianola Campanella coda actually not very hard, but it takes power and strength a lot, can play or play well are two different things

Alkan symphony for solo piano based

@@Jartiousoh no. I typed it wrong, it should be concerto for solo piano

Also Liszt Spanish Fantasy

Level 11 and 12 should be switched, Liszt Rhapsody 2 is just that hard. Very close to chopin b4.

Level 21: S140 no.4b on original tempo

Have you seen the left hand? 😂

River flow in you is effortless

@@Pamela-dv7gb It's true, I believe the jump from RFIY to twinkle twinkle (vous dirai-je maman) but in octaves is the biggest jump in the video, even more than 5 to 6, which is the most controversial part of this video.

@@FriskaPianoAs a pianist I understand you, jumping octave is anoying and requires precision

both are really easy

Thank you! 😄

It was easy until level 5

Thank you so much for the support, this was a very controversial video 😂

The coda has no polyrhythms, what about it makes you struggle?? You have the worst behind you if you are on the coda now. Thank you so much for the comment!

​@@FriskaPianothe fucking technique that you have to change the hand position very fast, and i cant my hand just hurts a lot

And the polyrhythm is very easy i think

It’s annoying I know, but I think the trick is to be lead by 2 and 3, and sort of pivot on them rather than a jump. I might make a second tutorial channel where I could cover it in more detail.

I struggled in the polyrhythm perspective personally, probably since I came from a very rhythmic background (rondo alla turka, flight of the bumblebee, solfeggietto etc.).

You’re most definitely right, but I based this off of passages from pieces, that’s why la Campanella comes up 3 times.

@@FriskaPiano You just earned a sub from me :)

@AllaboutDale you too!

Yes much harder

No, la campanella in the first part hasnt much notes (idk how it says in english srry) fantaisie impromptu it technically more difficult

Personally, I find it very easy. I am better at octaves than jumps so relative to me, it is not deserving of a higher spot.

@@FriskaPiano that's more understandable than I first thought

​@@FriskaPianosame too, I learned the coda faster than the beginning jumps

Yeah it’s definitely easier than the beginning

I am actually currently working on Bach's Goldberg variations, but I have sort of left Mozart because generally I don't enjoy his pieces that much.

Thank you so much! 🍣🍣

Level 16 franz liszt improvisation level (the whole hungarian rhapsody 14 was made in impro so it’s really impresive)

@@Pamela-dv7gb Yea but it was made based on existing Hungarian dance themes he was inspired by. Blank state improvs and spontaneously improvising on random and not always necessary very musical inputs is still much more difficult and a better indicator of raw talent.

Surely every improvisation is somewhat inspired, maybe subconsciously but still inspired? I don’t do much improvisation so I don’t know entirely, but I’m surely inspired when I do.

A lot of great classical pianists don’t really improvise. It’s more of a jazz thing now

@@OziCastle I agree, but that doesn't make improvisation any less impressive.

They are different styles after all, easiest of all three pieces (thinking of them as full pieces) is definitely the Ballade. Very little of the first ballade is very difficult, but if you can get the hang of the coda, RH arpeggios and LH jumps, the piece won’t seem as daunting as other people make it so.

@@FriskaPiano I don’t think I’m ready to try to ballade any time soon… from what I’ve gathered this is much too big of a difficulty jump. Prob will try Scherzo 2 at most and see if I could handle that

@jasonhe5578 That makes sense. Definitely a great piece to aspire to though :)

@@FriskaPiano is jumping from waltz in a minor to feux follets good?

@@TwitterChannelOfficial Do you mean Chopin waltz?

Thanks :)

It's OK :)

Thanks! Nice pfp by the way.

@@FriskaPiano Thank you😊

@@alborzpiano No problem!

Very nice!!! I might make a part two of this video and I am thinking it might be a collab between a few RU-vidrs. Just wondering if you would like to be one of those people?? It might be a while since I am away and have 2 videos to work on before, but it would be great to have someone like you. It might end up being a different video but it will still be a compilation based video (like this one). Thank you so much for the support and the comment :)

@@cyb9011 Thank you so much!!

Thanks for the sub! I have a camera on a stand that’s originally meant for lights, but I had two so I only used one light and put the camera about 1.5 meters high on the other stand.

I believe so, I learned flight of the bumblebee on almost exactly 2 years, by maybe a month or so more, so you’re already ahead of me. Well done for the fast progress!

Looking back, I would have switched it with Flight of the Bumblebee but it definitely isn't deserving of a higher spot on the list. HR2 friska as the whole section is harder easily than Ballade no.1 but individual parts I believe only a couple parts exceed the difficulty of it. Most of it is fine I think.

@@FriskaPianoBut the beginning of La Campanella is easy?

With enough muscle memory it is, but not easier than other parts before on the list.

Could have done Cadenza

Thanks, but the coda of La Campanella most definitely isn't the hardest part of La Campanella, the beginning might be easier, but that comes down to muscle memory, which I don't have much of since I don't play it for a long time before this video.

It sounds easy??

@@FriskaPiano ok by easy I mean doesn’t sound as hard as it is

@@abrahamjh5742 fair enough

This list references passages, so only parts of pieces. What part of Maple leaf Rag would you like me to reference to the list??

@@drewrothe7281 Don’t see it as competition, I only wish to motivate and inspire, and as audience I hope to inflict that on you. Thanks for commenting by the way!

Why? I’m presuming that you don’t struggle technically.

I don't get the whole twosetviolin sacrilegious thing. Idk where it came from originally.

Hello! Happy birthday in advance! I use a Sony a6400, which is directed mainly towards photography, in which I greatly recommend it, but it is a bit of a pain to work with when it comes to using it with your phone. If you have a high-end budget and are looking for a good video camera look at RED, but a great mid range brand is Blackmagic. The main difference between these cameras is resolution and frame-rate, but all other aspects depend on the lens, which is the thing you want to focus on the most, as lenses define your range of aperture, field of view and focal length. So honestly if I were you, I would look for a mid range Sony camera but a great lens, most cameras will give you 4k@60fps in any price range anyway, which is above the film industry standard of generally 2-4K@24-30fps. I hope this wasn’t too confusing, if it was, let me know and I’ll try find a way to be more straightforward.

@@FriskaPiano Wow sounds like you really know your stuff! Thanks so much 🙏 will look into the Sony a6400 though it aught to be very expensive. I’ll likely go cheaper but thank you again for your response

@OziCastle No problem, generally with Sony, you can’t go wrong. But focus on the lens is my tip. Find out what style you are going to be doing and find the lens that corresponds to it.

@@pseudo_klavier Thank you ❤️

Nice! Ever since I finished Fantasie Impromptu I have been working on multiple pieces at the same time but never settling for a specific piece. Until recently that is, where I started Mereaux's Etude no. 45

@@FriskaPiano can you help me learn it?

Sure, what would you like help with first?

@@FriskaPiano the second part. What messenger do you use

Cool!

lol

somewhere in the 4-6 range depending on what part.

@@ryzikxpiano Yeah, I got that pointed out quite promptly, sadly it was too late.

Nice!

My mistake, you're right. Thank you :)

@@FriskaPiano welcome. Didn't mean to come off as a 🤓

@@Numberonesorabjifan Dw you didn't. As long as criticism is constructive and not pure insult, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Hr2 just sounds flashy. Ballade no 1 is imo harder

The ballade coda so much harder than any part of la Campanella. I am one to speak: I learned them!

Rhapsody 2 IS seriously that hard. I'd even say it's close to Chopin ballade 4, maybe even the same level. (YES I HAVE PLAYED BOTH.) The stretches are absurd and it physically hurts playing them. Same with the fast scales near the end. People say the repeated notes are hard but after a few months it gets way easier, while the stretches and scales just stay difficult even after all that practice.

As a pianist who can play Ballade No. 1 and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 I think that Ballade No. 1 has some more difficult techniques but I respect your opinion

Just not that this is referring to the parts I played only, not entire pieces. HR2 is significantly harder than B1 but I find the coda harder than the part I played of HR2.

Never tried it myself, but it does seem harder than Ballade no.1 coda. In that case it would go above level 12, which is the highest level, so 13. Thanks foe the comment :)

@@FriskaPiano Ballade 1 Coda Is pretty hard, though.

@@EdwinSamaniego-d8p Idk, I've never tried it myself so I can't tell where I would put it. Sorry.

The coda is the hardest passage of all played in this video. I am one to speak: I played everything in this video.

Yeah it is very easy and overrated but I wouldn’t compare it to the TM coda, 3/4 of the time it’s one note in the left, and the right hand is very simple. I think the challenge in both of these lies in playing them well.

Thanks :)

I'm thinking of making a gd playlist of videos where I make piano covers of gd songs. Also congrats on 200 subs!

The piano is a Kawai CA98 (amazing piano? Definitely recommend) I have a soft box light and a Sony a6400 on a tripod, some of my vids use a green screen but that’s it.

Thanks for the comment! :)

@@FriskaPiano very nice I love the camera angle and how good it is

CA98

Thank you!

The coda of La Campanella sounds much harder than it actually is, and octaves in both hands twinkle sounds easier than it actually is. The gap is smaller than most think.

@@FriskaPiano twinkle twinkle little star in both octaves is easy like very easy every pianist can play it in less than 1 day. But in the La Campanella coda is so much harder because you need 5 Years + expierience to play it and it takes months or maybe years to learn La Campanella coda

Idk, I didn’t see much of a gap personally. It’s not easy but it’s simple, left hand octaves to 3 chords with a good gap of time for the jump, and the right is just the melody in octaves. It really wasn’t that hard for me to learn.

It's quite a controversial list, if that's what you mean. :/

Check what’s in bold in the description, that should explain it for you.

@@FriskaPiano That makes more sense, although I may still argue that at least one of the parts in La Campanella might be a at least around Ballade no 1's coda: depending on which one finds easier, lots of chords and fast hand movement or pinpoint precision note hitting lol. Also it might just be I happen to recall a number of classical songs with difficult parts, but there are probably some honorable mentions: maybe for a separate list lol The other 3 Ballades definitely have some awesome parts in them, and in the codas

@@stephencarlton-jones7119 I see where you're coming from, however I definitely feel the Ballade no. 1 coda is is the hardest passage in this video. Other parts of the HR2 Friska do come close however I still think it's harder. That part of La Campanella you referenced is very difficult to me to play with dynamics and consistency. However this list is purely subjective, and I greatly appreciate the comment, thank you =D

@@FriskaPiano your welcome, maybe its down to what styles are easier or harder for people individually: as the style may be more conducive for some than others. Either way Ballade no 1's coda is one of the hardest piano bits to get down, let alone well. I can play it, and the whole Ballade, but its a royal challenge: especially to maintain stamina for the whole piece and to practice enough to be able to handle it.

It's generally more known as twinkle tinkle thanks to the nursery rhymes, so I did it for the sake of recognition. Its actual name is "Ah vous dirai-je, maman", which is quite funnily French for "Ah! Would I tell you, mum!". But you are right it is written by Mozart. However I didn't play any of his official 12 variations, so in that case it may be more accurate to call it twinkle twinkle too.

Indeed.

Winter wind is very muscle memory based but not as technically intense as some of the things on the list.

@@FriskaPianohow bout rach2 / op 16

@@nhs.14 that’s probably harder than winter wind.

Amazing! Are you going to learn a cadenza?

@@FriskaPiano Idk which one to learn which do you recommend

@@randomkidbelkke12 Depends on your skill level and interest, what level would you say is your highest on the list?

@@randomkidbelkke12hamelin cadenza!!

@@ItzJay_XD I see what you mean, what part of Rondo Alla Turka??

@@FriskaPianooctaves part of it

depends on if you can do the right hand jumps

@@FranzLisztVeryReal no. I learnt the piece, it's all muscle memory. With correct wrist movements and rotations it's really easy, trust me - it's just looks so hard and cool. If you try with just your fingers it's so hard yes, but if you use the movements of waving your hand (like waving hands with someone) then it should do the trick.

I find the coda easier because it is octaves mainly, which I am better at than jumps.

I do agree that it is very much muscle memory based though. Also I personally found the coda much, much easier to get the hang of, and I do not believe that the beginning is the easiest part of the whole piece. Not by far, but I think the coda is definitely easier.

I have never attempted a transcription of symphony 9, however it seems that most of the difficulty comes from the length, and the focus of this video is difficulty based on passages so that it's all rated by technical skill and not really anything else, so in this case I would put it at about level 9 to 10. The Réminiscences de Don Juan however, looking at the coda, it would be at around level 12, but at lowest at around 11. I have also not attempted this one though so this is just an estimate.

I'm actually not that experienced either way with about 4y, so looking at pieces by notes or others playing them I can't really tell all that well where the difficulty stands until I attempt them myself, so take my estimations with a pinch of salt.

@@Pamela-dv7gb Would you agree?

I would say don juan is a 14 with just the coda being a 15. The beethoven transcription is a 17-18, its objectively one of liszts top 3 pieces, and one of the hardest classical pieces ever.

@@matthewm5066 where would you put the coda of Scherzo Alla Napolitana by Mereaux? Just out of interest.

Mereaux 45?? You have pretty much the same pfp as my discord.

@@FriskaPianothat piece killed me

@@ryzikxpiano I watched that short like 80 times (no exaggeration) in mesmerisation. Also read the comment speech that you made, and tried to reply but none of my comments seemed to upload to the server :(

@@FriskaPiano yea i deleted the entire thread a while ago. what were u trying to say?

@ryzikxpiano just how I agreed with what you said but I would definitely steer away from synthesia if you are looking for long-term improvement. Not much in fairness.

Thank you so much!! I started off with my first piece being Fur Elise, and I managed to memorise it fully because I couldn’t sight read, and that just kind of stuck. Ever since I used a similar approach to learn pieces. I didn’t actually learn La Campanella, I gave up when it wanted me to play trills with 4 and 5 because that’s genuinely evil, but the major parts I can play are all in this video, Hungarian Rhapsody I only learned small parts of too, I would have featured it in this video more if I knew it. But I am still working on it as we speak. I guess I do revise pieces a lot so I do maintain the memory and muscle memory for quite long. I guess this is all thanks to a lack of sight reading ability, as then I am forced to memorise them.

Also lockdown helped a bit 😂

bro where is hehehha pfp

Should have added it to the list, I’m 14 by the way.

@@kseniazolotov6427 Yes I am :)

Classical music only 😠

​@@FriskaPianoRush E is a warm-up for any classical pianist. and little star is not a classic piece

Twinkle is actually a piece by Mozart (called “A vous dirai-je, Maman”) but was adopted for nursery rhymes, it’s used for twinkle and the alphabet song.

@@Chromaticly Depends what part, imo the part I played from the friska is a lot easier than the ballade coda.

I put it there because I find the lh jumps difficult.

@@FriskaPiano so thats why 🤔

@@funmadboi Yeah, this video is subjective to me: it's all in order of what I find difficult.

Agreed

The RIGHT hand is the issue. The stretches are insane. Months after learning the whole piece I still struggle with the part in the Lassan where you have to stretch your 2nd and 4th fingers to reach a sixth before playing a trill with your 4th and 5th finger. Friska only gets worse especially the >9th stretches with broken arpeggios. The ending with the fast scales too. Repeated notes and LH jumps I don't find difficult at all after a few months of practice but the rest still remains a problem.

Comparing the pieces themselves I would agree, but the coda of the ballade is certainly harder than what I played in the video. There are parts in HR2 which definitely surpass the difficulty of the ballade.

@@FriskaPiano ofc the coda is terrifying, but HR2’s Friska is a monster

@@gabrielpdt My point is that the part that I played of HR2 in this video is not that difficult compared to the part I played of B1.

Nice, how's it going?

Only about 25% of it is hard, most parts sound more daunting than they actually are.

Это круто, это очень сложная часть! Кстати, спасибо за комментарий.

@@FriskaPianodam u speak russian pretty cool

I used google translate for this one, though I am fluent in a couple Slavic languages.

What do you mean? Which piece are you specifying? I practice all of these with a metronome except some more expressive pieces which slightly dynamic tempos bring out more emotion during performance. I wasn’t playing these at performance standard so they may have seemed off for that reason.

@@user-hi3ky7ci2h Yeah, maybe part two??

Read what’s in bold in the description

What about it are you struggling with?? Is it polyrhythms? Also why are there so many gd channels commenting and following my channel? I play gd myself but both of my yt accounts don’t have anything to do with it. Not saying it’s a bad thing though.

​@@FriskaPianowtf i also play GD

@@Lechon_asiatico demon count??

@@FriskaPiano I’m ashamed to admit… I’ve always been too broke for piano lessons. So I got a really cheap keyboard for christmas in 2020 to pass the time during covid and decided to teach myself via. Piano tutorials (the falling notes ones). So I’m not a professional WHATSOEVER. I’m just a little teenager with autism that hopes to be as good as the people I see online 😭😂 I really wanna quit my family doesn’t support me and neither do I

@TridentTrist I started the exact same way! I got this cheap keyboard for Christmas and I used the on-board piano tutorials to learn half of Cannon in D. I eventually ended up spending hours and hours on it so eventually I got a Kawai CA98 on Christmas (the piano you see in this video). Since then I spent a ton of time doing my best to improve, and it was easy to be motivated by such an instrument. I’m no professional and I couldn’t sight read to save my life but I can tutor you if you would like?? I wouldn’t be available that often but like once a month I could ring you up on discord and I can give you free tutor sessions.

I didn't even play the hardest parts of it 😭

Lol

Awesome!

@@FriskaPiano Rachmaninoff note placement is some of the hardest tho😂

The reason Fantasie Impromptu came above La Campanella is not because it is in any way a harder piece, but rather that passage of Fantasie Impromptu is (to me) harder than the first two mentioned passages of La Campanella. Thanks for the list, but in your case, how on earth is HR2 above the entire piece of La Campanella?

So it's not based on the whole song but rather on little snapshots of them. That's the reason why there are 3 sections with La Campanella.

@@FriskaPiano yep yep (replying to the levels of difficulty vid) I don't want other people confused. They might not notice that this list is subjective, so if you don't mind, I'll leave it here for others to compare subjectivity to objectivity (meant for educational purposes)

@@FriskaPiano (HR2 above La Campanella comment) Most people say it is. Examining the piece, you could choose a candenza from difficult to extreme (Hamelin??). It's also longer and contains more musical depth. If played at concert tradition speed, most report that it's tougher than La Campanella. For you, I'm glad that HR2 isn't too bad; that shows virtuosity within you already

@@JerryEboy69 It's fine, thank you for the support :)

I personally don’t really believe so.

No worries :)

@@LORD_EYCH Yes

@@dark_holiday2 As long as you enjoy it, it doesn’t matter if you improved (unless you rely on improvement for motivation etc,)

@@fluffybuttercup2132 It’s a CA98, it has the full Kawai grand piano key mechanism and insanely accurate sound but it’s a digital piano. I love it though and I definitely would recommend it, if you like a grand feel, this is the best there is (as I know of) for electric pianos.

I don't know if that was a compliment or not.

@@FriskaPiano I'm complimenting the quality of the lighting and the production but nothing else lol, the video idea is interesting so I thought it would've been executed better

@hisky. That’s fair enough 😂

@@FredericChopinReal I was comparing the passages I played, not the entire friska to the ballade coda, just what I played, and I can tell you with confidence that what I played from the friska is much easier than the ballade coda.

@@FriskaPiano well i guess we just are good at different techniques, for me almost any part of friska was much more difficult

Why are you on liszt’s side rather than your own!? You’re the real Chopin! Jokes aside, I agree that it is probably just different skill sets.

@@FriskaPiano Well, I and Liszt have an understanding, he focuses on virtuosity while I make my pieces emotional and sublime so that we dont complete as much, I never claimed that my pieces are super difficult.

@@FredericChopinReal That’s fair enough. Out of curiosity I’m going to see if @FranzLisztReal is an actual channel.

I can explain...

Nice! Keep it up!

Bumblebee is just chromatic 😂

CA98 is the one I have.

@@BlueBedrockGaming It’s not that difficult from a technical perspective, but still I believe deserves its place on the list.

Nice!

I’m 14 😅

@@FriskaPiano .......damn highest respect

You're literally amazing, how long have you been playing??

4 years, started at the age of 10

Thank you for the support by the way!! :) Especially on such a controversial video 😂