Toccata for carillon is not only Zaroogian's premiere work for carillon, but is also his premiere as a composer. This piece is the first composition completed by the composer and aims to develop a potential compositional language. The piece takes on a ternary form with greatly contrasting A and B sections and explores different devices in each section.

The A section takes motivic and harmonic inspiration from the structural figurations of Johan Franco's works (as evident in his Toccata No. 10) coupled with the acoustic scale in the pedal. The primary motive is as follows and should be considered throughout the A/A' sections of the piece:

The A section increases in fervor with metric shifts, crunchier harmonies, and manipulation of the primary motive, but comes to a grinding halt with the chord cluster concluding the first section of the piece.

Toccata dramatically switches character on its arrival to its middle section. This section amalgamates the modal counterpoint of Roy Hamlin Johnson, Franco's frequent use of power chords, and a direct quotation of a Caucasian melody (utilized by Komitas, Hajibeyov, Babadjanian, etc.) in the "countersubject" of this section. The contrapuntal section eventually gives way to monophonic iterations of the countersubject and comes to a gentle conclusion before the final section is reintroduced. The A' section largely undergoes a similar path and concludes with power chords of the B section's "subject."

—Zachary Zaroogian