Repertoire › Crossed Hands › What to play next
What to play after Crossed Hands ?
Béla Bartók · difficulty 46/100

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
2. Allegro
Béla Bartók
51/100 +5 pts 5-10 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Six Bulgarian Dances No.1 from Mikrokosmos Vol.6
Béla Bartók
51/100 +6 pts 5-10 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 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.
Gentle
Fantasy (Duobus subiectis) g minor BWV 917
Johann Sebastian Bach
51/100 +6 pts 5-10 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Fugue E major HWV 612
George Frideric Handel
52/100 +6 pts 5-10 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à deux voix — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Piano Sonata F major Hob. XVI:29
Franz Joseph Haydn
49/100 +3 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 5 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 step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Piano Sonata C major Hob. XVI:21
Franz Joseph Haydn
57/100 +11 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 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
No.141 — Subject and Reflection
Béla Bartók
57/100 +11 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Chords Together and Opposed
Béla Bartók
56/100 +11 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 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.
Balanced
Fugue g minor HWV 605
George Frideric Handel
58/100 +12 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à deux voix — 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
Sonata in B-flat major K.333
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
66/100 +20 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. 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.
Challenge
No.142 — From the Diary of a Fly
Béla Bartók
66/100 +20 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Syncopes and Staccato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Challenge
In the Style of a Folksong
Béla Bartók
31/100 -15 pts 12-24 weeks
new reflexes moderate risk to confirm
Next piece in the same collection, Elementary (around grade 3 ABRSM/RCM): the order its editor chose, a progression already tested. 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.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Hommage à R. Sch.
Béla Bartók
44/100 -1 pts 3-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. What changes is the skill in play: Rythmes pointés and Ornements romantiques — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Same level
1. Molto moderato
Béla Bartók
43/100 -2 pts 3-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. The skill that will carry the work: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Same level
Invention No.14 in B-flat major BWV 785
Johann Sebastian Bach
43/100 -3 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. What changes is the skill in play: Style baroque and Polyphonie à deux voix — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
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.