The Little Shepherd (Children's Corner, No. 5)

Background

The Little Shepherd is the fifth of the six pieces in Claude Debussy's Children's Corner, a suite he wrote for his young daughter Claude-Emma, nicknamed Chouchou, who was born in 1905. The set was published by Durand in 1908 and first performed in Paris that December by the pianist Harold Bauer. Debussy gave all six pieces English titles.

The picture here is an old one in music: a shepherd alone in the hills, playing a simple pipe. Debussy loved the sound of a single wind instrument heard on its own. His orchestral Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune of 1894 begins with an unaccompanied flute, and in 1913 he wrote Syrinx for flute alone. In this piano miniature the right hand becomes the pipe, playing by itself, while soft chords answer it like the quiet landscape around.

How to practise it

The piece is in A major and falls into a clear pattern. Three times, the shepherd plays a solo line with no accompaniment at all. Between the solos come a little dance tune decorated with quick grace notes and a few soft, low chords that answer the pipe.

Start with the first solo. Its rhythm is free, so this diagram shows only the order of the notes:

Play it as a wind player would breathe: a long first note, a gentle fall, a quick ripple of three notes, then a leap up and a long note to finish. Use one hand only, keep it close to the keys, and aim for a single unbroken line. Later phrases bring in F and G natural, which give the tune its old, slightly modal flavour; play them as calmly as the rest.

The dance passages are the trickiest part. Each grace note is a tiny flick just before its main note, and they come one after another. Practise these bars first without the grace notes, then add them one at a time, keeping them light and all the same length.

The answering chords are low and soft. Some spread wider than one hand can comfortably hold; share them between the hands, or roll them gently from the bottom, and let the pedal carry the sound. In the solos, use little or no pedal so every note stays clear.

The piece ends with a wide, quiet chord of A major. Hold it until the sound has almost gone.

A plan:

1. The three solos alone, until each feels like a single phrase.
2. The dance passages without grace notes, then with them.
3. The chords, practising the balance and the pedal.
4. The whole piece at about half speed, then gradually faster.

This arrangement has flexible timing, so let the solos breathe. Everything should sound distant and gentle, as if the pipe were heard from across a valley.

Another piece from the same suite is Jimbo's Lullaby.