Toccatina

Description

A piano piece written in 2008 by C. J. Brown (1947–2016). The score was typeset from the composer's manuscript with his permission and is published by the Mutopia Project. Toccatina means "little toccata," a traditional name for keyboard pieces that keep the fingers moving without a break. Biographical information is scarce, though this site has other pieces by the same composer.

The key signature has two sharps, the metre is 3/4, and 759 notes fill about two minutes and ten seconds. From the start the left hand repeats an eighth-note figure that rocks between C-sharp and D above a low F-sharp, an ostinato that underpins the whole piece. The right hand also moves mainly in eighth notes, now and then letting quarter and half notes bring a melody forward. The harmony keeps circling around C-sharp and F-sharp, and the piece ends on a low F-sharp.

It is rated intermediate. This is not a showpiece of fast runs; the challenge is stamina, keeping the same eighth-note motion even from start to finish. So that the left-hand repetition neither drags nor rushes, listen to it alone at a slower playback speed first, then use the hand colours to see how it lines up with the right-hand melody. The range runs from C#3 to B5, which fits a 61-key keyboard.

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