Many years ago I read through all of Debussy’s “Children’s Corner” and immediately liked several of the pieces. But somehow I did not much care for Jimbo. Maybe I missed the point reading through it. It just seemed a little boring or repetitive and I immediately lost interest. Some years later I owned a recording father rather famous pianist, but frankly I felt the same way.

His playing of the piece also left me cold.

Sometime much later in life I began examining the piece for other possibilities and suddenly found it extremely charming and ingenious, so I totally fell in love with the little elephant. I saw Jimbo in my mind having adventures and in general being a very lovable creature. I can’t help but think that this is what Debussy had in mind when he wrote this composition for his young daughter.

There are lots of interesting features both to hear and to experience while playing this music.

It features pentatonic, whole tone scales, at least one famous French folk song and other little details that make Debussy’s music so fascinating to me. However, I will warn those who are also attracted to this music and wish to play it that it is much harder than it sounds.