Repertoire › No.146 — Ostinato › What to play next
What to play after No.146 — Ostinato ?
Béla Bartók · difficulty 62/100

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
Etude D flat major KK IIb, 3,3
Frédéric Chopin
68/100 +6 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer 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: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
No.145 — Chromatic Invention (1)
Béla Bartók
66/100 +4 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer 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: Style baroque and Polyphonie à deux voix — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
No.142 — From the Diary of a Fly
Béla Bartók
66/100 +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). New compared with the previous piece: Syncopes and Ornements romantiques — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
La Danse de Puck
Claude Debussy
66/100 +4 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer 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: Staccato and Rythmes pointés — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Toccata in Dorian mode, SwWV 286
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
65/100 +3 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer 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: Staccato — 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
Scherzo No.2 in B-flat minor Op.31
Frédéric Chopin
73/100 +11 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer 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: Octaves — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
No.150 — Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (3)
Béla Bartók
74/100 +12 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: Syncopes and Passages rapides — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
No.149 — Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (2)
Béla Bartók
72/100 +10 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: Syncopes and Passages rapides — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
Kreisleriana Op.16 No.1
Robert Schumann
71/100 +9 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer 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: Staccato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Ballade No.2 in F major Op.38
Frédéric Chopin
79/100 +17 pts 28-56 weeks
new reflexes 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 Octaves — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
Piano Sonata (1926)
Béla Bartók
78/100 +16 pts 28-56 weeks
new reflexes 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 Trilles — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
VI. Allegro moderato, molto capriccioso
Béla Bartók
78/100 +16 pts 28-56 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. The skill that will carry the work: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Bagpipe
Béla Bartók
60/100 -2 pts 4-7 weeks
new reflexes 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: Rythme général — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Same level
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 3
Franz Liszt
64/100 +2 pts 4-7 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The skill that will carry the work: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
No.140 — Free Variations
Béla Bartók
60/100 -2 pts 4-6 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: Connaissance des formes and Ornements romantiques — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
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.