Children's Corner

Hey guys I just wanted to write about my lasted accomplishment. This is Claude Debussy--one of my favorite composers. He wrote a collection of 6 pieces called "Coin des enfants." That is French for Children's Corner.

I learned the first one, "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" a long time ago; when I was still taking lessons from Sally. Later on I learned number 6 "Golliwogg's Cake-Walk." That one was so fun.

Anyway a while after that Mom bought me a two CD set of Debussy pieces and these happened to be on there. I noticed that there was one pianist who performed all of them. I thought to myself "gee, I'd like to be good enough to learn all of these."

A while after this, when I was in college, I brought my book to my piano lessons, not thinking about it and I got to learn number 4 "The Snow is Dancing." It was great.

Much time went by. One evening I was just reviewing some pieces that I learned and I fell upon Snow is Dancing. "I think I learned this once." I thought. So with a little reviewing I got it back to performing level.

Then... I looked at number five, "The Little Shepherd." "I think I can sight-read this." I thought. And I did. I was so pleased with my progress I decided then and there to learn the other two. Number 3 "Serenade for the Doll" looked really difficult. But I had listened to it and I loved the sound of it, so I worked really hard and got it! It was a lot easier than first anticipated. It's one of my favorites now. (of course that's not saying much because I love them all SO much.)

My Last hurdle: "Jimbo's Lullaby." I was hesitant to start learning this one because it just sounded SO boring. And When I sight-read through it the first time I still thought it was boring. I told Dad this and he said something like, "Sometimes the things we think we like least turn out to be the best thing for us." I took this in mind and I kept at it. "Find the Music in it," Dad would say.

One day I played it and when I stopped I couldn't get this one part out of my head. I finally found the music! Bueno! I felt so good! I learned the entire set! I loved knowing that I did one of the things I had tried to do for so long. I feel like I haven't accomplished a big musical goal in a while so this was a big thing for me! And the Best moment was playing the entire set all the way through. It felt so great. It feels great. I love music. And if we get the time and you would like to, while you are up here, I wouldn't mind performing them for you. Let me know. Love ya'll.