Repertoire › Canon at the Lower Fifth › What to play next
What to play after Canon at the Lower Fifth ?
Béla Bartók · difficulty 21/100

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
Sonatina in G major Op.36 No.2
Muzio Clementi
27/100 +6 pts 2-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style classique and Connaissance des formes — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Broken Chords
Béla Bartók
27/100 +6 pts 2-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that 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.
Gentle
Thumb Under
Béla Bartók
27/100 +6 pts 2-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Doigté complexe — settle and write the fingering in at first reading: changing it later costs weeks.
Gentle
Praeambulum in F major, BWV.927
Johann Sebastian Bach
24/100 +3 pts 2-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 3 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 step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Variations
Béla Bartók
32/100 +11 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
In the Style of a Folksong
Béla Bartók
31/100 +10 pts 6-12 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: Gammes et arpèges — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
371 vierstimmige Chorale
Johann Sebastian Bach
30/100 +9 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills 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: Style baroque and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Fugues G major, D major K. 154a (Anh. A 61/62)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
35/100 +14 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Elementary (around grade 4 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
6. Andante
Béla Bartók
40/100 +19 pts 12-24 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 4 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. 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.
Challenge
Invention No.13 in A minor BWV 784
Johann Sebastian Bach
40/100 +19 pts 16-32 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. 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.
Challenge
Little Dance in Canon Form
Béla Bartók
17/100 -4 pts 8-16 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Next piece in the same collection, Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM): the order its editor chose, a progression already tested. 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
Canon with Sustained Notes
Béla Bartók
19/100 -2 pts 1-2 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Waves
Béla Bartók
19/100 -2 pts 1-2 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Beginner (around grade 2 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Staccato — 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.