🎹 Ballade No I
🎭 Emotional Character
Bleak and unhurried, the sound of winter at dusk, active and densely woven throughout, expressively ranging from soft to loud.
👤 Suggested For
🎓 Intermediate Students
🏆 Advanced Students
🎹 Concert Pianists
🎼 Scale Technique Focus
🎤 Recital Repertoire
⏰ Estimated Practice Time
17
weeks to performance-ready
A serious study piece — consistent daily practice over several months is realistic.
5hper week
97htotal est.
3hard segments
* Estimate assumes ~5h focused practice/week for an average-level student at this difficulty tier.
🎯 Difficulty Assessment
Advanced
63
/ 100
Challenging - needs solid technique and independence
5,067
Total Notes
35%
Interleaved
3.58
Avg N/Beat
53
Ornaments
Score Breakdown
🎼
Hand Interleaving
9/25
35% of notes interleave - moderate interleaving
⏱
Note Density per Beat
12/30
Busiest beats: 6 notes/beat (avg 3.58) - moderately busy
✨
Ornaments & Grace Notes
0/20
53 ornamental notes (1%) - no significant ornamentation
📏
Pitch Range (per hand)
15/15
Right: A1–F7 (68 st) | Left: A#0–D#6 (65 st)
↕
Largest Interval Leap
10/10
43 st (3Oct+P5) - extreme leaps
#
Chromatic Complexity
8/8
40% black-key notes - heavy accidentals, hard to sight-read
♬
Polyphony / Voices
4/7
~3.1 notes active per beat (max 8) - melody + accompaniment with inner voices
⏳
Piece Length
5/5
8m 55s - long piece: stamina & memorisation required
🎚 Dynamics
f
Wide dynamic range (f avg) - strong expressive control needed
pppmpmfffffff
🎹 Note Range - Piano Keyboard
Upper dot = RH (Right Hand)
Lower dot = LH (Left Hand)
White dot on black key = sharp/flat note used
📐 Note Range per Hand · Sheet Preview
🤚 Left Hand
| Lowest | A#0 |
| Highest | D#6 |
| Span | 65 st (5Oct+P4) |
| Notes | 2,159 |
| Widest leap | 43 st F4→A#0 |
🖐 Right Hand
| Lowest | A1 |
| Highest | F7 |
| Span | 68 st (5Oct+m6) |
| Notes | 2,908 |
| Widest leap | 39 st A#6→G3 |
🖐 Hand Span & Chord Density
Left Hand
Max chord span: 12 semitones (Oct)
0 stOctave2 Oct
Avg chord: 2.4 notes · 507 chords
Right Hand
Max chord span: 14 semitones (1Oct+M2)
0 stOctave2 Oct
Avg chord: 2.3 notes · 598 chords
⚠️ 4 stretch chords (>octave)
↪️ Scales & Thumb Crossing
Detected 20 scale/arpeggio runs requiring thumb crossing.
This piece has extensive running passages — smooth thumb-under technique is essential.
🖐 RH: 18 runs · longest 43 notes
🤚 LH: 2 runs · longest 28 notes
🔁 Repeating Phrases
15%
Repeated
Only 54 of 364 bars repeat — this piece is largely through-composed with mostly unique material throughout.
Repeated bar
Unique bar
🎯 Suggested Practice Passages
?Each "passage" is 2 consecutive measures (ô nhịp). The algorithm scores every passage by note density and interval leaps, then picks the 3 hardest for focused practice.
The hardest passages in this piece — spend extra time here before running the full piece.
📍 Measures 163–164
Hardest
📍 Measures 306–307
2nd hardest
📍 Measures 360–361
3rd hardest
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How difficult is Ballade No I on piano?
Ballade No I is rated
Advanced
on PianoMetric's piano difficulty scale, with a score of 63/100.
It was composed by Chopin. This piece requires solid technique including hand independence, dynamics control, and expressive phrasing. The piece runs approximately 8m 55s. It contains 5,067 notes in total.
How long does it take to learn Ballade No I?
Based on PianoMetric's analysis, learning Ballade No I to a
performance-ready level takes approximately
17 weeks
(~97 total practice hours) for a advanced level student.
A serious study piece — consistent daily practice over several months is realistic.
Where can I download the piano sheet music PDF for Ballade No I?
You can download the piano sheet music PDF for Ballade No I directly on this page.
The sheet is 10 pages long.
Click the 'PDF Download' button above to get the full score.
Is there a video tutorial for Ballade No I piano?
Yes — a piano video tutorial for Ballade No I is embedded on this page.
You can watch it here or follow the 'Play on YouTube' link.
The tutorial covers the full arrangement at 180 BPM.
What piano level is required to play Ballade No I?
Ballade No I is suited for
Advanced
level pianists (difficulty score 63/100).
Expect to work on hand independence, dynamics shaping, and nuanced phrasing — this is a serious repertoire piece.
What is the mood or feel of Ballade No I?
Bleak and unhurried, the sound of winter at dusk, active and densely woven throughout, expressively ranging from soft to loud. It belongs to the Piano
· Classical Piano
· Nhạc Piano cổ điển
· Classical Piano
· Nhạc Piano cổ điển
genre.
The piece is played at 180 BPM.
