In 1914, English composer Gustav Holst began writing what would become The Planets, a seven-movement orchestral suite inspired by the seven planets in the solar system (minus Earth) and each planet's astrological character.
The suite opens with "Mars, the Bringer of War" and continues with movements like "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" and "Neptune, the Mystic." The project took three years to complete, premiering in London in 1918. The suite has since been recorded more than 80 times for commercial release.
In 1977, two phonograph records, dubbed the Voyager Golden Records, were included aboard Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. A team led by astronomer Carl Sagan assembled the content of the records, which feature 115 images, spoken greetings in 55 languages and a variety of music, including Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Senegalese percussion, the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and panpipes from the Solomon Islands.
"The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet," Sagan is quoted as saying on NASA's website.
In 2023, it was announced that U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon would write a poem to be engraved onto the Europa Clipper. Limon's poem "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" ends "O second moon, we, too, are made / of water, of vast and beckoning seas. / We, too, are made of wonders, of great / and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds, / of a need to call out through the dark."
All of this to say, art and outer space have always gone together, with creators of all mediums endlessly inspired by the knowns and unknowns of the galaxy.
Add Jason E. Anderson and Kahyun (Kate) Uhm to that list. The two musicians created Music for Observations, a series of free live electronic music concerts paired with open viewings of the night sky at Washington State University's Jewett Observatory. The third and final edition of Music for Observations takes place Saturday, October 12. (The event is all ages and subject to cancellation based on weather and air quality. It's recommended that attendees bring a blanket and dress warmly. Public restrooms aren't currently available on the premises.)
At Music for Observations, Anderson will play a Serge synthesizer he's been building for three years. Anderson grew up playing a variety of instruments, but after studying audio engineering and working in studio environments, he became more and more familiar with electronic instruments.
"It's a way of stepping outside of the computer, some way of working with your hands but making electronic music," he says. "I started getting into modular synthesizers because I could get deeper sounds, and then I started building."
Anderson, who moved to Pullman from Seattle six years ago, was itching to perform in the area but found opportunities to put on shows featuring his style of experimental, improvised music lacking.
The pieces started to fall into place though when he and his family attended a star party at the observatory, where members of the public are invited to view the night sky through the observatory's telescope or telescopes from members of the Palouse Astronomical Society.
"My wife and son and I had gone to this and had a great experience, and I was thinking, 'Oh, the only thing it's missing is synthesizers," he says. "It's an obvious pairing, because people are used to weird sounds and synthesizers and looking at the stars or space. That had been brewing in the back of my head."
For his day job, Anderson works at WSU libraries within the systems department. As part of his position, he leads the Dimensions Lab, the library's lab dedicated to computing resources. He established media creation stations and built a sound studio.
To get more interest in the sound studio, he initiated a student group called the Digital Audio Collective last year. He met Uhm, an MFA student, through the collective, and the pair discovered they had both studied under the same professor at Evergreen State College at different times.
The duo started discussing some of the ideas Anderson had been thinking about since that experience at the star party and realized a series like Music for Observations could add to the stargazing experience while also sustaining the Digital Audio Collective over the summer, when most students go home for break.
Anderson and Uhm approached Guy Worthey, an associate professor of physics at WSU, about hosting concerts at the observatory. Worthey, an electric bass player in his band the Jazz Cats, was quick to say yes. Having hosted concerts and arts events at the observatory in the past, Worthey knew Music for Observations would fit right in.
"We used to have a jazz barbeque up there, which was cool," he says. "We used to celebrate Yuri Gagarin's space walk. We had an art and music show in the dome. They called me, and I was like, 'Yes!' It was not a hard decision."
The James Richard Jewett Observatory (named after the father of George F. Jewett, who, alongside his wife, made the observatory project possible), was designed in 1950 and dedicated on May 14, 1953. The observatory features a 12-inch-aperture Alvin Clark and Sons refracting telescope with an Alvin Clark and Sons equatorial mount. (The observatory shouldn't be confused with the WSU Planetarium, which features a digital full-dome projection system and offers sky tours and public shows.)
During the day, the Jewett Observatory is used as astronomy lab space and by the WSU Physics and Astronomy Club. At night, the observatory hosts star parties. Worthey said the observatory can get swamped when "something extraordinary" occurs in the night sky, like a close approach of Mars in 2003.
Though a storm was predicted for the night of the second concert and Uhm was worried about wind knocking over the speakers, both she and Anderson were pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the first concerts in the series (held July 13 and Aug. 10).
"I think that not everyone knows what to expect or even how to place the sounds," Anderson says. "The idea is that we're there just like people with their telescopes only we're making sound. People can navigate the environment as they feel, sit further away if you don't like the sounds, or come up closer if you want that to be more of your experience."
During a performance, Anderson and Uhm will alternate who's in the spotlight, each playing solo for anywhere between five and 15 minutes before stepping aside. Anderson says this makes for a fuller, more cohesive event.
For her Music for Observations contribution, Uhm will play field recordings she's collected and music she's composed on an analog synthesizer at Music for Observations.
"While studying classical piano, I didn't pay much attention to noise and sounds around me," she says. "However, when I was introduced to the Moog modular synthesizer, audio recording and sounds at Evergreen State College, I fell in love with the world of sound."
Anderson, Uhm and Worthey all believe such an event lends itself to contemplation. Worthey believes that there's something about sitting underneath the starry sky makes any thought you have feel expansive. Enjoying a piece of art or music can do the same thing.
Anderson hopes the atypical music might inspire the audience to think "What do I do with this?" echoes questions they might have while looking at the sky. "That's so huge and vast, and I am so small. What does that mean?"
In Uhm's experience, it comes down to creating music that will amplify the contemplative, expansive sensations of stargazing.
"I believe the music really enhances the stargazing experience because it doesn't overpower the moment," she says. "It's ambient music, serving as a subtle background that complements the scenery. This allows the audience's imagination to flourish, helping them create their own images and narratives in their minds as they take in the stars." ♦
Music for Observations • Sat, Oct. 12 at 9 pm • Free • All ages • WSU Jewett Observatory • Grimes Way and Olympia Avenue, Pullman • physics.wsu.edu/about/observatory
