Repertoire › Melody against Double Notes › What to play next
What to play after Melody against Double Notes ?
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
Hungarian Song
Béla Bartók
26/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer 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 — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Méditation
Béla Bartók
26/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Nuances — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Gentle
A Quaker Reader, 11 pieces for organ
Ned Rorem
25/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Little Prelude in C minor BWV 934
Johann Sebastian Bach
25/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Legato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Minuet in G major WoO.10 No.2
Ludwig van Beethoven
25/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Legato — 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
Piano Sonata (Wunderkind) B flat major K. 8
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
31/100 +10 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 demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Legato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Thirds
Béla Bartók
34/100 +13 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills moderate risk fair confidence
Next piece in the same collection, Elementary (around grade 4 ABRSM/RCM): the order its editor chose, a progression already tested. The skill that will carry the work: Doubles notes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Playsong (with two pentatonic scales)
Béla Bartók
35/100 +14 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer 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: Lecture à vue — keep it up with daily reading of easy pieces rather than grinding one passage.
Balanced
Prelude in E minor Op.28 No.4
Frédéric Chopin
35/100 +14 pts 6-12 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Elementary (around grade 4 ABRSM/RCM). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Legato — 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
6. Andante
Béla Bartók
40/100 +19 pts 12-24 weeks
partial transfer 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: Nuances — 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
No.119 — Dance in 3/4 Time
Béla Bartók
36/100 +15 pts 12-24 weeks
new reflexes moderate risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Elementary (around grade 4 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Syncopes and Indépendance des mains — 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
Canon with Sustained Notes
Béla Bartók
19/100 -2 pts 1-2 weeks
partial transfer 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
partial transfer 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.