fire green as grass

Fire Green as Grass has two major sources of inspiration: Dylan Thomas’s poem ”Fern Hill” and the research of Roger Shepard. In his poem, Dylan Thomas refers to the childhood as a time with “fire green as grass,” which is likely a metaphor. At the same time, Roger Shepard in his article “Circularity in Judgements of Relative Pitch” brings in the question of perception, but within the acoustic domain. He says, “the perception of pitch may be too complex to be adequately represented by a single linear scale” (Shepard). An example of this is “Shepard Tone” — an acoustical illusion of continuously moving sound. It is likely not possible to fully represent Shepard Tone by means of an ensemble, neither can I represent my childhood, real or perceived. However, both authors for me raise a question of illusion, and this piece is my attempt to look at the gap between reality and our perception of it.

Shepard, Roger N. (December 1964). "Circularity in Judgements of Relative Pitch". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 36 (12): 2346–53