Here is a video of another one of my improvisations which I named Before Totality. Totality is that moment during an eclipse when the sun becomes completely obscured by the moon and the light is swallowed.
Just before totality the world goes quiet and it feels like a veil is dropping, the light takes on an eerie and surreal quality as twilight seems to have come at the wrong time and the shadows become sharper. It’s a moment of feeling like something is about to happen, and reality has shifted.
There are moments where shadow bands appear — rippling, undulating wavy lines caused by refraction of the sun’s crescent by the turbulence of earth’s atmosphere. There is also a moment where a piercing “diamond ring” appears around the sun, or we see a flash of a “Baily’s bead” — the final brilliant point of light before the blackout of totality.
These moments in the liminal space before totality carry a sense of electrified anticipation, kinetic energy in the dancing shadow bands, and an awe-inspiring interaction of light and darkness — before the eerie stillness descends.
This piece of music is about that threshold before the light goes out.
This interplay of light and dark was represented by the unsettled darkness of the G Dorian sharp 4 mode, with its piercing augmented 4th and suspended, anticipatory sound; the twilight effect of the B flat Lydian dominant’s eerily brightened augmented 4th and shadowed flat 7; and the ethereal illumination of the A Lydian mode. The movement of the shadow bands was echoed by the fast broken chord textures I used in this piece of music.
Modes Used, Note Names and Parent Scales
| Mode | Parent Scale | Note Names | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Dorian ♯4 | D Harmonic Minor | G, A, B♭, C♯, D, E, F | IV — 4th mode of harmonic minor |
| B♭ Lydian Dominant | F Melodic Minor | B♭, C, D, E, F, G, A♭ | IV — 4th mode of melodic minor |
| A Lydian | E Major | A, B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯ | IV — 4th mode of major |
Interval Formulas
- G Dorian ♯4: 1 — 2 — ♭3 — ♯4 — 5 — 6 — ♭7
- B♭ Lydian Dominant: 1 — 2 — 3 — ♯4 — 5 — 6 — ♭7
- A Lydian: 1 — 2 — 3 — ♯4 — 5 — 6 — 7
Learn about the Dorian sharp 4 mode here, the Lydian Dominant mode here, and the Lydian mode here.
Learn about modes in general here: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales
