Celestial Miniatures (DIGITAL)
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Composer: Robert McClure
Duration: 15:00
Scoring: solo piano
Materials: Digital Score (8.5 x 11)
*This item is a PDF-download. Digital downloads are non-refundable. The purchase of this item entitles you to download, save, and print one copy of this file for private use. The purchase of this PDF file does not include the conveyance of copyright. You do not have the right to distribute this material to any third party, by any means. The copyright holder maintains all rights over their intellectual property. By submitting your order you demonstrate your acknowledgment of, and agreement to, these conditions.
Duration: 15:00
Scoring: solo piano
Materials: Digital Score (8.5 x 11)
*This item is a PDF-download. Digital downloads are non-refundable. The purchase of this item entitles you to download, save, and print one copy of this file for private use. The purchase of this PDF file does not include the conveyance of copyright. You do not have the right to distribute this material to any third party, by any means. The copyright holder maintains all rights over their intellectual property. By submitting your order you demonstrate your acknowledgment of, and agreement to, these conditions.
Program Note
Celestial Miniatures was commissioned by the Ohio Music Teachers Association 2023 Commissioned Composer Award. The work was written for and dedicated to my friend, pianist Emely Phelps. The work is a set of seven miniatures with each focusing on a particular celestial body within our solar system. Our primary educational perspective of the solar system prioritizes the largest bodies: planets. However, through this piece I learned about the smaller objects and how very many there are. Dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and our own spacecraft.
1. Io, the closest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, is a hellish world of volcanoes, magma pools, and intense radiation. Tidal forces of Jupiter deform the moon by as much as 100 meters during its orbit. Two other Galilean moons, Europa and Ganymede, disturb Io’s orbit further subjecting it to these tidal forces. Being within Jupiter’s magnetosphere, Io generates electric current that manifests itself as lightning in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.
2. Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, is larger than Mercury, Pluto, and 75% the size of Mars. It is the only moon with its own magnetic field. Like Earth’s magnetic field, solar particles interact with gas in the upper polar regions of the moon producing bright and colorful aurorae.
3. Bennu is a near-Earth asteroid that is 4.5 billion years old. On October 20, 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descended onto the asteroid to collect material to return to Earth on September 23, 2023. It is thought that the sample might contain organic molecules similar to those that could have been involved with the start of life on Earth. This Touch and Go (TAG) event in which the spacecraft descended to the surface revealed the surprising fact that the surface of the asteroid is loose rock with a density similar to that of a children’s ball pit. The craft sank into the asteroid much farther and launched rocks and particles into space.
4. Haumea is a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. It has one of the fastest rotations in the solar system with a “day” being only four hours long. This blazing speed gives the dwarf planet a warped shape similar to that of a football.
5. Eris, discovered on January 5, 2005 and named for the Greek Goddess of discord, is about the same size as Pluto but three times further away from the sun, again in the Kuiper Belt. Its discovery prompted Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet status by the International Astronomical Union in 2006 causing controversy and strife for fans of Pluto making Eris a particularly fitting name.
6. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s 146 moons (currently, moons are still being discovered), is a world that hosts an ice-covered ocean. Saturn’s tidal force deforms Enceladus and is likely the culprit for one of Enceladus’ unique features; geysers. Enceladus sprays its liquid water ocean out into space which either falls back to the moon or collects into Saturn’s rings. Scientists believe that Enceladus has deep hydrothermal vents like our ocean. This makes Enceladus one of the most likely worlds other than Earth that could host life. NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn flew through one of these geyser plumes collecting information on the material within the ocean (though not designed for this purpose) and determined the ocean contained most of the elements necessary to support life as we know it.
7. Voyager 1, is currently the farthest object we have sent from Earth at 150+ Astronomical Units (the distance from the Sun to the Earth). Launched in 1977, the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were responsible for our first images and data of the Jupiter and Saturn systems (Voyager 1) and the Uranus and Neptune systems (Voyager 2). This included the moons Io, Ganymede, and Enceladus.
In 2012, Voyager 1 left the Sun’s heliosphere and entered interstellar space. Since its initial objectives, Voyager 1 has been shutting down instruments to conserve power and extend the mission. It is likely that by 2025, Voyager 1 will lose all power to communicate with Earth. It will wander interstellar space for eternity with the hope that at some point, it is found. Carl Sagan and his team, projecting into this future, included a Golden Record on the spacecraft that contained sounds, languages, and music from many different cultures on Earth. This music included Bach’s WTC Book 2 Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C, Beethoven’s first movement of the Fifth Symphony, and Stravinsky’s Sacrificial Dance from the Rite of Spring among many others. Voyager was Earth’s way of reaching out into the galaxy and searching. But, it was also our way of knowing where we are, as the now-famous picture of Earth as the “Pale Blue Dot” was taken by Voyager 1. We find ourselves in our solar system, in our galaxy as one of many celestial miniatures.
This work was jointly commissioned by Ohio Music Teachers Association and Music Teachers National Association in 2023 and was premiered on October 13, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio and I was subsequently named the 2023 MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year.
—Robert McClure
1. Io, the closest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, is a hellish world of volcanoes, magma pools, and intense radiation. Tidal forces of Jupiter deform the moon by as much as 100 meters during its orbit. Two other Galilean moons, Europa and Ganymede, disturb Io’s orbit further subjecting it to these tidal forces. Being within Jupiter’s magnetosphere, Io generates electric current that manifests itself as lightning in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.
2. Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, is larger than Mercury, Pluto, and 75% the size of Mars. It is the only moon with its own magnetic field. Like Earth’s magnetic field, solar particles interact with gas in the upper polar regions of the moon producing bright and colorful aurorae.
3. Bennu is a near-Earth asteroid that is 4.5 billion years old. On October 20, 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descended onto the asteroid to collect material to return to Earth on September 23, 2023. It is thought that the sample might contain organic molecules similar to those that could have been involved with the start of life on Earth. This Touch and Go (TAG) event in which the spacecraft descended to the surface revealed the surprising fact that the surface of the asteroid is loose rock with a density similar to that of a children’s ball pit. The craft sank into the asteroid much farther and launched rocks and particles into space.
4. Haumea is a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. It has one of the fastest rotations in the solar system with a “day” being only four hours long. This blazing speed gives the dwarf planet a warped shape similar to that of a football.
5. Eris, discovered on January 5, 2005 and named for the Greek Goddess of discord, is about the same size as Pluto but three times further away from the sun, again in the Kuiper Belt. Its discovery prompted Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet status by the International Astronomical Union in 2006 causing controversy and strife for fans of Pluto making Eris a particularly fitting name.
6. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s 146 moons (currently, moons are still being discovered), is a world that hosts an ice-covered ocean. Saturn’s tidal force deforms Enceladus and is likely the culprit for one of Enceladus’ unique features; geysers. Enceladus sprays its liquid water ocean out into space which either falls back to the moon or collects into Saturn’s rings. Scientists believe that Enceladus has deep hydrothermal vents like our ocean. This makes Enceladus one of the most likely worlds other than Earth that could host life. NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn flew through one of these geyser plumes collecting information on the material within the ocean (though not designed for this purpose) and determined the ocean contained most of the elements necessary to support life as we know it.
7. Voyager 1, is currently the farthest object we have sent from Earth at 150+ Astronomical Units (the distance from the Sun to the Earth). Launched in 1977, the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were responsible for our first images and data of the Jupiter and Saturn systems (Voyager 1) and the Uranus and Neptune systems (Voyager 2). This included the moons Io, Ganymede, and Enceladus.
In 2012, Voyager 1 left the Sun’s heliosphere and entered interstellar space. Since its initial objectives, Voyager 1 has been shutting down instruments to conserve power and extend the mission. It is likely that by 2025, Voyager 1 will lose all power to communicate with Earth. It will wander interstellar space for eternity with the hope that at some point, it is found. Carl Sagan and his team, projecting into this future, included a Golden Record on the spacecraft that contained sounds, languages, and music from many different cultures on Earth. This music included Bach’s WTC Book 2 Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C, Beethoven’s first movement of the Fifth Symphony, and Stravinsky’s Sacrificial Dance from the Rite of Spring among many others. Voyager was Earth’s way of reaching out into the galaxy and searching. But, it was also our way of knowing where we are, as the now-famous picture of Earth as the “Pale Blue Dot” was taken by Voyager 1. We find ourselves in our solar system, in our galaxy as one of many celestial miniatures.
This work was jointly commissioned by Ohio Music Teachers Association and Music Teachers National Association in 2023 and was premiered on October 13, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio and I was subsequently named the 2023 MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year.
—Robert McClure
Reproduction Notice:
This program note may be freely reproduced in concert programs, provided that proper credit is given to the composer.
This program note may be freely reproduced in concert programs, provided that proper credit is given to the composer.