Bowen Toccata

[pianoman98]

I'm thinking of using this for some upcoming competition applications. Please let me know what you think!

[swagmaster420x]

Whoa, I played this piece! I didn't think anyone else would play it because it seems obscure. And I think I'm like your age lol. Good job on a piece that I found really hard. Bowen put some crazy chord combinations that are pretty painful/awkward to execute. Some comments:
-1:00 - 1:05: random comment - this PART CAUSED ME SO MUCH GRIEF! a total crapshoot as far as Im concerned. I would say the most important quality to have during this part is focus and lack of tension.
 ~2:40. Practice this part so you can eNUNcIATE every note. I practiced it note by note, hitting as clearly as I could.

at like ~3:00, the transition from the fast part to the peaceful floaty part could be more graceful.

Btw, the "final stage" of the song, and by that I mean the BLITZ of a passage directly following the "heavenly respite" I just mentioned all the way to the end, I NEVER quite fully learned! I went into competition without having a complete handle over the finale, definitely should have practiced that more.

at like ~3:30ish, I think you're playing the three chords that lead into the low repeated notes too slow. also like at 3:50.

I would advise more deliberate/slow practice; I'm hearing some slipped wrong notes as well granted I'm more familiar with the piece than avg. You have the technique, but sometimes the chaos invades the territory of the music. It's a cool piece, I'm glad you're palying it!

[pianoman98]

Thanks for the comments! Regarding 3:30 and 3:50, I actually intend to play those chords slower. It adds a certain drama I feel is missing if you play them in time.

I'm not too worried about wrong notes; most people won't notice them, and I can always fix them.

Thanks for the comments about transitions and tension, I still need to work on that.

I dropped this piece a couple weeks ago because I am finally done with MTNA (I had to learn this piece in 3 months for the state level  though it got better by division). I pla to pick it back up later for some summer competitions, and will definitely work on cleaning it up and letting some more music speak in this technical piece.