...innocence...

I consider …innocence… to be a milestone of musical storytelling in my early composing career. This piece emerged from a place deep inside me that I was not aware was affecting me. I heard my soul and natural musical lines begin to cry and scream out at me. It pushed and pulled me in numerous ways. It forced me to come to terms with my past and the events that caused me to lose my childhood and innocence at a very young age. As I’ve continued to compose I’ve noticed my music reveals and foreshadows my ever-changing emotions in a way I’ve never had control of. These sounds and lines arrived prior to the actual emotions arriving in my conscious mind. …innocence… is a piece in 5 movements that tells the story of a child’s journey through the loss of innocence. The opening movement is the most tonal of the piece, it shows the naive child looking at the world in its purest of forms. The second movement takes the established tonal center of D Major and begins to twist it into D Minor before eventually losing all tonality. This is the most abstract and confused movement as if showing the child what the world really is. The third movement showcases the child’s attempt to cry out for help. The child doesn’t know what’s wrong, but knows something is wrong. Eventually the child loses hope in being saved which leads to the fourth movement. This is the hardest movement both to play and listen to. It pushes the audience and performers past the line of comfortability, but in doing so allows for change and healing to occur. The fifth movement allows for this healing and resolution as the child is finally given the chance and hope of recovery. This piece is intense and at times hard to listen to, but I encourage you to allow the music to speak to you. Allow the music to show you its power. By allowing this you allow the music to heal you as it has healed me. This piece goes out to those who lost their innocence as children for events that were not of their own doing. Trauma in children is real and we as a collective whole need to be more aware of it, so that our children may finally have peace in these troubled times. Daniel Perzan (2024)