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Photo credit: Henry Romero/Reuters. "A solar eclipse is seen from Mazatlan, Mexico April 8, 2024."
Downloaded from: www.pbs.org/newshour/science/...
Sheet music: harpcolumn.com/music/all-musi...
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MY FIRST VIEWABLE SOLAR ECLIPSE!!!!
Here in the Metro Detroit area, we enjoyed a 99.2% total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024!
It was so cool - dare I say "chill?" - to feel how relatively instantly the temperature dropped from 70 to high 50s. And the light went DIM! It was disconcertingly blue-light (our normal day-light color), which felt VERY different from dim orange-light (evening and sunset color). I lack words to adequately describe the surrealism. It was simply....clear, watery, and extremely eerie.
As the eclipse continued, all the day song-birds went quiet, and the evening birds started calling.
When it passed, the warmth bloomed again, the light returned full-force, and the day-birds resumed their normal chatter. Just like that!
This experience made me appreciate our sun all the more, and the power of light, life, and energy it brings. (Also, science is so flipping amazing!!! :-) What wonders we have discovered and can appreciate through technology and knowledge!). I am so grateful to have viewed this historical moment - and from the comfort of our own backyard + in comfy, reclining lawnchairs with my husband, no less! (Visit my instagram at themichiganharpist to see a candid photo of the two of us eagerly watching the eclipse with our safety glasses!).
I've had this piece in my repertoire for several years, but lacked occasion and inspiration to record it. As soon as we got back inside from the eclipse viewing, I knew that this would be the perfect time to bring it out and share it! I love how it expressed my feelings on this day: the strangeness of the movement of the spheres, the rush of excitement, and the startling humility (and perhaps a bit of fear!) of starting to realize just how much we rely on the dependability and power of this magnificent ball of hot gas in order to make our planet flourish and support its multitudinous, vibrant life forms.
(As per my husband: "And that's not even a huge or hot star! The sun is only G-class star!" Gosh, is all I can say!!!)
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Composition information from HarpColumn.com:
Originally, Linda DeBrita wrote this lever harp solo, “The Light of Darkness,” to be played during a Maundy Thursday communion service. Meditative and dark, with glimpses of hope, much of the piece is in the lower register. In the key of D minor with only two accidentals, the piece is playable on full-range lever harp.
7 апр 2024
