Repertoire › Songs without Words, Book 2, op. 30 › What to play next
What to play after Songs without Words, Book 2, op. 30 ?
Felix Mendelssohn · difficulty 63/100

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
Songs without Words, Book 8, op. 102
Felix Mendelssohn
68/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Mazurkas, op. 50
Frédéric Chopin
67/100 +4 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Gentle
Songs without Words, Book 7, op. 85
Felix Mendelssohn
66/100 +3 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
12 Lieder, S.558, R.243
Franz Liszt
70/100 +7 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
12 Lieder von Robert Franz, S.489
Franz Liszt
70/100 +7 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Nouvelles études, B.130
Frédéric Chopin
74/100 +11 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Balanced
Rondo capriccioso in E major, op. 14
Felix Mendelssohn
74/100 +11 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Staccato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Variations brillantes on march from C.M. von Weber's Preciosa, for piano
Felix Mendelssohn
72/100 +9 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Rondo in C minor, op. 1
Frédéric Chopin
72/100 +9 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Variations sérieuses in D minor, op. 54
Felix Mendelssohn
80/100 +17 pts 32-64 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Trilles — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
Fugue in E minor
Felix Mendelssohn
80/100 +17 pts 32-64 weeks
close skills high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
Polonaise no. 6 in A flat major, op. 53, "Heroic"
Frédéric Chopin
84/100 +21 pts 32-64 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Rythmes pointés and Passages rapides — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Variations in B flat major, op. 83
Felix Mendelssohn
65/100 +2 pts 4-7 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Piano Sonata no. 5 in C minor, op. 10 no. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven
61/100 -2 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes and Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Allegro, Chorale, and Fugue in D
Felix Mendelssohn
60/100 -3 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer 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: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
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.