This piece mimics the nocturne style with a melodic focus on long-breathed phrases and harmonic warmth. It requires careful attention to tonal color and subtle dynamic control.
Practice voicing the top melody clearly above the syncopated chordal accompaniment.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Autumn Leaves is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 4.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Autumn Leaves lasts about 4 minutes.
Autumn Leaves is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Bonnie Brier Bush by Jacob Henry Ellis, Prelude in E minor, No. 4 by Frédéric Chopin, Black and Blue by Fats Waller — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.