Within each unique shade of green, therein lies a shade of music.  Within the sounds of these five instruments, I tried to connect them in ways to reflect my own interpretation of each shade.  The first movement, Emerald, is a bright and vivid shade of green, representing the gemstone; the music ‘locks’ together like properties of a stone.  II: Mantis, it has been observed in the insect world that a female mantis often eats its male counterpart, after or even during sex, starting with its head.  III: Paris, one of the most romantic cities in the world, is also the name of a highly toxic insecticide (and where the male mantis gets it’s revenge).  IV: Harlequin, the dance-like color of the light-hearted servant of French and English renaissance theatre.  V: Turquoise is sometimes described as a combination of two colors, pale blue and green; these two shades intersect to create music that is a combination of two thematic and harmonic ideas.  VI: Teal green was once color of my car, fairly standard and timid on the outside, but in her mind a ferocious tiger mantis.

-MM