Previously titled D Major
After further exploration into my inspiration for this piece, I’m changing the title from D Major to D Minor.
It all began many years ago…
It was in the early 2000s and my son was somewhere in the mid-teens and already steeped in music interests. One day we were talking about sound-color synesthesia, or more specifically chromesthesia.
Chromesthesia is “…a neurological condition … where sounds, such as music, speech, or even everyday noises, can evoke the experience of colors.”
He shared with me that he experienced this in a limited way, specifically and strongly with the color green of forests and woods. That green was the sound of D Major, and D Major was the color of green.
Now twenty+ years later, my son and I recently revisited this rather synergistic experience of his. He is now an accomplished pianist and composer working on his Doctor of Music (the equivalent of a Phd). He clarified that the characteristics and nuances of D Minor more strongly represent the sound of green.
I generally prefer minor keys. A lot of people feel that minor keys are sad and they can sometimes communicate that. But for me, they are serious and contemplative, communicating deeply human mystery, angst, regret, longing, etc. There is often a quiet instensity that resonates with me. For my son, it is the sense of mystery in the forest that is expressed in the minor key of D.
Maybe my recollection of it ever being D Major was not quite right, or maybe his evolution as a musician brought him to a deeper experience of this relationship between sound and color. Although I can’t hear the sound of green myself, I absolutely agree that a minor key would be a more comprehensive expression of the magical mysteries to be experienced in green forests or woods.