Three Canons (Op. 33) are piano solo pieces written for children up to the 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school. They were composed in 1969, commissioned by the "Music Class for Children" (then headed by Sadao Bekku), affiliated with the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Although intended for children, these three pieces, which bring out the fascinating interplay of melodies chasing, overlapping, and intertwining in a canon, and even evoke a unique emotional atmosphere, can also be enjoyed by adults. To borrow Shibata's words, the first piece is composed in a "normal major key," the second in an "ethnic scale (or an old church mode)," and the third in a "major scale and its inverted major scale starting a semitone below."

An overview of each piece is provided below.

Piece 1

The first piece is fundamentally structured as a canon at the octave. The left hand begins the melody first, with the right hand following one measure later. (An exception occurs only before the recapitulation, where the delay is a half-measure.) Although the left hand may appear to be an accompaniment at first glance, a hidden melody lies within it, which the performer needs to bring out.

Piece 2

The second piece evokes a somewhat exotic atmosphere. It consists of three sections: A-B-A. Section A is a canon in contrary motion centered on E, while section B is a canon at the octave centered on A. Conversely, by not being confined solely to the canon form and instead performing with flexibility while considering the rhythmic interest of each motif and the flow of the phrases, the piece suddenly resonates with vitality.

Piece 3

The third piece is a canon in contrary motion. The composer's ingenuity is evident in the scale setting. The right hand uses C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, while the left hand uses B, A, G, F#, E, D, C, B, creating a structure that, so to speak, expands outwards. While dissonances occasionally arise when the right and left hands combine, they serve as a spice, adding stimulation and richness to the work. Regarding the aforementioned scales, if one places the starting note C in the right hand and superimposes B (a semitone below) as the starting note for the left hand, arranging the notes accordingly, a correspondence between tonic and dominant can be found. Particularly in the third canon, the dialogue between the melodies, colored by tonic and dominant, becomes the driving force of the entire piece. The "horizontal lines" of melodies formed by the different scales in the right and left hands, and the "vertical lines" of harmonies created at their points of intersection. The canon woven by these two elements, though a short piece, is full of ingenuity.