Claude Debussy - Children's Corner (suite)

I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum 0:07
II. Jimbo's Lullaby 2:30
III. Serenade for the Doll 6:40
IV. The Snow Is Dancing 9:34
V. The Little Shepherd 12:13
VI. Golliwogg's Cakewalk 15:25
Performed live in MIDI By: Katsuhiro Oguri
MIDI Edited By: Wayne Yang
Software used: Logic Pro X
Piano sound used: Yamaha P-225
Based off of: Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano
Mastered by: Wayne Yang (Instagram @wayneongaku)
Audio in 24-bit, 44.1 kHz
#Debussy #midi

[@waynepiano]

Hey everyone - Claude Debussy’s Children’s Corner is one of my favorite pieces for its beautiful range of colors portrayed. One can sort of imagine based on the names given for each of the piece’s six movements. The first movement is dubbed “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum,” named after sets of piano exercises of the same name. One of them was composed by Carl Czerny, a well-known composer of piano exercises. The second movement, Jimbo’s Lullaby, is named after a Mali (French Sudan at the time) elephant “Jumbo” who briefly visited Jardin des plantes, the main botanical garden in Paris. The third movement, Serenade for the Doll, is named after a porcelain doll and features the pentatonic scale throughout. The fourth movement, The Snow Is Dancing, depicts snow falling softly from the sky. The fifth movement, The Little Shepherd, depicts a shepherd playing his flute. The final movement, Golliwogg’s Cakewalk, has ragtime influences and depicts a dance well known to African-Americans in the 19th century. The MIDI here was originally sequenced by Katsuhiro Oguri, with some modifications that I made. Aside from lowering the velocity for notes throughout the piece to avoid that harsh sound, I also upped the tempo with “Jimbo’s Lullaby” to be closer to the tempo shown in Debussy’s own recording (via piano roll). The visual aspect here with the keyboard is more complex as I assigned a different color for each movement, all recommended by ChatGPT with specific HSLs. Katsuhiro Oguri, whose MIDI files I have been using, is/was actually a music professor at the Seitoku University in Japan. He is a composer, arranger, and pianist with a bachelors and masters degree in Composition from The Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. A few of his compositions have won prizes in different events. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to his very fine interpretations of various pieces and there are many more on the way. Hope you all enjoy this one and have a great weekend!