Piano Level Guide
Advanced
RCM Grade 9–10 · ABRSM Grade 8 / DipABRSM · Year 10+
Advanced is the level where the question shifts from technique to taste. You can sight-read any standard intermediate-difficulty piece, voice-lead a chord progression in real time, and improvise convincingly over modal or jazz changes — the question is what you choose to practise.
Verify your level
Take the placement diagnostic
A 5-minute, twelve-question placement test produces a per-skill map across reading, theory, aural, rhythm, technique, and keyboard harmony. It will tell you whether Advanced is your honest seat or whether the next level (or the one before) is more accurate.
Start the diagnosticGraded equivalents
What’s expected at Advanced
- Any scale or mode in any key, hands-together, at performance tempo
- Walking-bass lines under chord-melody right hand
- Tritone substitution and chord-scale theory applied at the keyboard
- Sight-reading at 140–180 BPM with key changes and rhythmic complexity
- Memorisation — a Bach prelude or Chopin nocturne in 3–5 sessions
- Pedaling — half-pedal, finger-pedal, and una corda with intent
- Improvisation — convincing solo over a 32-bar form in any major or minor key
Common gaps at this level
Most students who land at Advanced have at least one of these unresolved. Knowing your specific gap is more useful than knowing your level.
- These vary entirely by player. The dashboard places them per-skill, not at the level
- Specific repertoire eras the player hasn't lived in (e.g. a jazz player at this level may still find Scriabin uncomfortable)
- Performance anxiety / consistency under pressure
- Listening-and-reproducing — playing back what you just heard, in any key
Repertoire at this level
- Bach — Well-Tempered Clavier (selected preludes and fugues)
- Beethoven — Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 (Pathétique), full
- Chopin — Ballade No. 1 in G minor
- Debussy — Préludes, Book 1
- Liszt — Liebestraum No. 3
Where to start
Advanced — Frequently asked
How do I know I'm at the Advanced level?
The honest answer is to take the placement diagnostic — self-assessment is famously unreliable, especially for adult learners who are between formal grade exams. The lists above are useful as a sanity check: if you can do most of "What's expected at Advanced" without significant effort and at least one item from the gap list still applies to you, Advanced is probably your honest seat.
Are RCM and ABRSM grades exactly equivalent?
No. The grade numbers line up roughly through the early grades (RCM Grade 3 ≈ ABRSM Grade 3 in difficulty), but the syllabus content differs — RCM weights theory and aural more, ABRSM weights performance and sight-reading more. The ranges shown above are pragmatic equivalents music teachers use to translate between the two systems, not strict mappings.
What if I'm strong in some areas at Advanced and weak in others?
That's the rule, not the exception. The placement diagnostic produces a per-skill map, not a single level number, for exactly this reason — most students are stronger in technique than aural, or stronger in reading than improvisation. The level-as-a-whole label is useful for talking about your repertoire band; the per-skill map is useful for deciding what to practise.
How long does it typically take to move from Advanced to the next level?
Advanced is the top of this guide. Beyond it, players specialise — a classical track focuses on diploma-level repertoire (LRSM, ARSM, ARCT) while a jazz/contemporary track focuses on improvisation, voicings, and arranging. The skill-by-skill placement on the diagnostic is more useful than any global "what's after Advanced" answer.