Repertoire › Puppets, Book 1, H.137 › What to play next
What to play after Puppets, Book 1, H.137 ?
Bohuslav Martinů · difficulty 55/100

Choose your level of commitment: consolidate, move up a tier or prepare a challenge. The top-ranked cards combine difficulty, risk, shared skills and confidence.

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Gentle step

The safest next step.

Gentle
Les Ritournelles, 6 pieces, H.227
Bohuslav Martinů
60/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Dances of Marosszék
Zoltán Kodály
60/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Klavierstück in D
Percy Grainger
60/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
À l'ombre de Torre Bermeja, "Homenaje a Ricardo Viñes"
Joaquín Rodrigo
60/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Puppets, Book 3, H.92
Bohuslav Martinů
59/100 +4 pts 5-10 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Staccato and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Things in Themselves, 2 pieces, op. 45
Sergei Prokofiev
65/100 +10 pts 12-24 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
The Alcotts
Charles Ives
67/100 +12 pts 12-24 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
10 Promenades, FP24
Francis Poulenc
64/100 +9 pts 12-24 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Nocturne, H.95
Bohuslav Martinů
68/100 +13 pts 12-24 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Voix chantante and Ornements romantiques — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Scherzo, H.138bis
Bohuslav Martinů
72/100 +17 pts 28-56 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Staccato and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Piano Sonata no. 3 in A minor, op. 28, "From Old Notebooks"
Sergei Prokofiev
72/100 +17 pts 28-56 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Style moderne et contemporain — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, H.318
Bohuslav Martinů
70/100 +15 pts 28-56 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Style moderne et contemporain — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Fables, H.138
Bohuslav Martinů
55/100 same level 4-6 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Demi-pédale and Style moderne et contemporain — the pedal is set by ear, note by note: misjudged, it blurs the harmony instead of joining it.
Same level
3 Czech Dances, H.154
Bohuslav Martinů
55/100 same level 4-6 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Progressions computed from difficulty, skill overlap and style between works. A What do we play next? recommendation should remain a pedagogical starting point, not an automatic prescription.