"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits that this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." -Carl Sagan
Pale Blue Dot: A Song for Carl is a tribute to visionary American writer and scientist Carl Sagan. In 1977, the Voyager I spacecraft left Earth on a one-way journey beyond our solar system. In 1990 and at the suggestion of Sagan, it took a photograph of the Earth some six billion miles away which appeared as a tiny blue dot in a massive emptiness. The blue coloration comes from distortion of the planet's atmosphere - the thin layer of gasses that has supported all life, human or otherwise. My short work for concert band depicts Voyager's flight in two parts: first, leaving the earth and breaking beyond the solar system, and second, looking backward at home in its fragility. Hopefully, a sense of both optimism and apprehension are captured as we all continue to cling to our sacred, beautiful, damaged, pale, blue dot. This work was commissioned by Dr. Erik Johnson and the Colorado State University Middle School Outreach Ensemble.
-Notes by the composer, April 2025, Fort Collins, Colorado