Difficulty ratings
Posted: 24 Sep 2010 19:44
As a music educator, I would love to be able to sort and search not only by period and voicing, but also by the difficulty of a piece.
I know that agreement on level of difficulty will vary widely among musicians; however, I don't think this is necessarily a reason to abandon the idea.
This could work in the following way: The editor of a score could voluntarily add a difficulty level (say, on a 1-5 scale?) as a category entry on the ChoralWiki page for each piece. It would not be required for adding a new score, but would help people to discover an editor's score, so many would probably be willing to participate. In the for-profit choral world, the publishers themselves determine and publish the levels for their pieces, so this is in line with that practice.
If there is a serious reason for disagreement with such a rating by the score's editor, other editors could mention it on the piece's talk page, and a general consensus could be reached.
I know that agreement on level of difficulty will vary widely among musicians; however, I don't think this is necessarily a reason to abandon the idea.
This could work in the following way: The editor of a score could voluntarily add a difficulty level (say, on a 1-5 scale?) as a category entry on the ChoralWiki page for each piece. It would not be required for adding a new score, but would help people to discover an editor's score, so many would probably be willing to participate. In the for-profit choral world, the publishers themselves determine and publish the levels for their pieces, so this is in line with that practice.
If there is a serious reason for disagreement with such a rating by the score's editor, other editors could mention it on the piece's talk page, and a general consensus could be reached.