SAB
“My students and I loved the challenge of Eclipse. The rhythms and the ostinato pushed us all to have to truly be a part of the music. We performed the piece in the fall and when I told them it would be our choice piece for contest, they all cheered. To say it was well-liked by my students is an understatement.”
— Heather Baker, Clyde High School
Eclipse is also featured on J.W. Pepper’s Editor’s Choice list:
Lyrics
Darkness covers the sun
With all of the light overrun
A challenge to what we once knew
The light did fade from our view
Not knowing what was going on
We cried as one: “Please bring back the sun!”
A final drop of sunlight
Gave way to chaos in the new night
And with no other source of hope
We cried as one: “Please bring back the sun!”
Sun shine down
Sun shine down on us
Let your light return to Earth
Let Your light return!
Behind the Music
During the Summer of 2024, I was itching to write some new choral music. However, I wanted to work with a director and ensemble in putting it together. After deciding to reach out to local choir directors, I soon began working with Heather Baker and the Clyde High School Concert Choir to create a never-before-heard piece just for them. Not only that, I even recorded a series of videos that catalogued my journey in writing the piece from start to finish. Overall, I’m so happy and grateful that I was able to work with Heather and her choir, as it led to the creation of two very cool things. The first was this piece, Eclipse – the story of a people that experiences a solar eclipse for the first time without knowing what’s actually happening. The second was the video series that is now on the Christian Fortner Music YouTube channel, called Choral Music From Scratch. The Clyde High School Concert Choir premiered Eclipse in October of 2024 in Clyde, Texas.
Additional Content Featuring Eclipse
A 30-minute documentary about how Eclipse came to be, including the commission, composition, and premiere of the piece. This is a great video to use as a sub plan for your choir students while you are out!
This 10-part series offers an in-depth look at how Christian composed Eclipse. Watch in real time as Christian thinks through his composition process out loud, notates, and engraves the full score. This is an excellent resource for those wanting to learn more about composing music for choir.
Heather Baker –
My students and I loved the challenge of Eclipse. The rhythms and the ostinato pushed us all to have to truly be a part of the music. We performed the piece in the fall and when I told them it would be our choice piece for contest, they all cheered. To say it was well-liked by my students is an understatement.