Impression on Totality
original composition by Alex Guebert

"Have you ever had the lucky opportunity to see a total solar eclipse? If so, you remember the journey to the destination, the anticipation, watching (through special shaded glasses!) the moon begin to block the edge of the sun, the hours-long wait for it to cover the sun completely. Shortly before it happens, alien shadows begin to sweep across the landscape. The period of totality — when the moon is completely eclipsing the sun — is only a minute or two long, and is safe to watch with the naked eye. It is an eerie, twilit silence. It feels like an instant, and it feels like an eternity. The delicate shimmer of the sun's corona glows behind the disc of the moon. If you're lucky, you might see red-orange flares licking around the sides. Suddenly, a shimmering flash causes you to squint — it is a point of light where the sun breaks past the shadow, illuminating the circle — a heavenly diamond ring. You put your shaded glasses back on now — to see the crescent sun emerging. The rhythm of the spheres continues, and you walk away feeling changed, and privileged to have witnessed the beauty of its convergence.

Impression on Totality is based on my own viewing of the August 2017 total solar eclipse. The piece is simply an expression of my personal experience — my "impression on totality." — Alex Guebert

Impression on Totality has been chosen for the 2021 Distinctly Bronze event.

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