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What to play after May Song ?
Edward Elgar · difficulty 20/100

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
Skizze
Edward Elgar
25/100 +5 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: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Children's Album: 24 Easy Pieces, op. 39
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
25/100 +5 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: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Les Boules de neige, landler
Jacques Offenbach
25/100 +5 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: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Souvenir d'enfance
Modest Mussorgsky
25/100 +5 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: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Ländler, WoO 11
Ludwig van Beethoven
24/100 +4 pts 2-4 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Beginner (around grade 2 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.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Serenade
Edward Elgar
30/100 +10 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). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
Pastourelle
Edward Elgar
30/100 +10 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). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
2 Scherzos, D.593
Franz Schubert
34/100 +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). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Chantant
Edward Elgar
35/100 +15 pts 12-24 weeks
close skills moderate 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: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Challenge
Griffinesque
Edward Elgar
35/100 +15 pts 12-24 weeks
close skills 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: Connaissance des formes — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
The New Doll Op.39 No.9
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
18/100 -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. 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.