We are so overstimulated by our technologies that we are not getting enough deep thinking time
A lot of people associate minor music with sadness and they’d be right. But the tempo of a minor tune if raised, can sound happy like REM’s “Losing My Religion” – the structure and lyrics are sad but you dance along all the same.
Its when you bring the tempo down and stretch the notes and repeat interlocking phrases with instruments such as strings and doleful angelic-voices and guitars that you get a weaving of sounds that can deliver what seems clearly more soul-searching and even melancholic.
I like the word melancholy. I’ve never associated it with real sadness. It’s like what Victor Hugo says about it: Melancholy is the happiness of being sad. Its the pleasure and soothing quality of slow or minor key music that creates a deeper expansive place for contemplation.
Of course the last thing I want to do is plop our One Mind Live members into a nose dive of misery ! I hope in this case “ Meditation in D minor ” I have the mix right…
The repeating guitar riff is always climbing – so thats the “happy / hopeful “ scaffolding upon which I drape the other instruments. The trance like qualities in this case are a direct reference to the astonishing beautiful and melancholic music by John Dowland.
John Dowland was a renaissance composer for the English and Danish courts. He was very, very popular. It seems that at the end of the day the noble folk would like to “get down and chill-ax” with Dowland’s minor-key droning lutes. His music clearly changes your state. If you are interested in exploring his work I recommend you listen to “ Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares “ as a starting place.
Personally I find great relief in Dowland’s music. We are so overstimulated by our technologies that we are not getting enough deep thinking time. Im hoping to correct this, just a little, by alerting you to the wonders of D minor and how it brings your brain action into a quieter place ( granted you have your iPhone in airplane mode ) for the benefits of contemplative quality time as you go scuba diving into your own creative depths…
The photo featured above is the view from my home as I write this blog. Spring is here and the landscape is rolling with thunder clouds and theatrical spotlights on the land. Very D minor …
Stephen Fearnley is an award-winning filmmaker, artist and composer. He composes transformational soundscapes for the meditation journeys guided by Naomi Carling and facilitated by Naomi Janzen for One Mind Live – a unique worldwide online group meditation community. To sample One Mind Live, go HERE