Repertoire › Imitation and Counterpoint › What to play next
What to play after Imitation and Counterpoint ?
Béla Bartók · difficulty 13/100

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
Little Prelude BWV Anh.125
Johann Sebastian Bach
19/100 +5 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Six Little Preludes
Johann Sebastian Bach
18/100 +5 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 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
Canon with Sustained Notes
Béla Bartók
19/100 +6 pts 2-4 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Accompaniment in Broken Triads
Béla Bartók
17/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Minuet in G major K.1e
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
17/100 +3 pts 2-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Rythme général — 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
Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen
Johann Sebastian Bach
24/100 +11 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Two Major Pentachords
Béla Bartók
23/100 +9 pts 4-8 weeks
new reflexes moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Gammes et arpèges — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Broken Chords
Béla Bartók
27/100 +14 pts 4-8 weeks
new reflexes moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Staccato and Demi-pédale — 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
In the Style of a Folksong
Béla Bartók
31/100 +17 pts 12-24 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Gammes et arpèges — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
2-Part Inventions, BWV.772-786
Johann Sebastian Bach
32/100 +19 pts 12-24 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Challenge
Diminished Fifths
Béla Bartók
29/100 +15 pts 8-16 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Staccato — 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
Chorale
Béla Bartók
14/100 +1 pts 1-2 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Beginner (around grade 1 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Imitation and Inversion (1)
Béla Bartók
15/100 +1 pts 1-2 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Next piece in the same collection, Beginner (around grade 1 ABRSM/RCM): the order its editor chose, a progression already tested. What changes is the skill in play: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Same level
March in D major HWV 437
George Frideric Handel
16/100 +2 pts 1-2 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Beginner (around grade 1 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Phrasé — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
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.