Pleiades

To celebrate the 7th 5-year anniversary of SHOT, Poelman was asked to write a composition based on the number 7. The answer arrived with the myth of the Pleiades — the seven stars that shine every winter night, easily seen from his own backyard, and around which the Greeks, as ever, spun wonderful stories.

The number sparked a long-held idea: a single piece built around the seven scale modes, each with its own unique character. Seven sisters, each with her own emotions and story, fit those seven modes.

The Seven Sisters & their modes

• Maia — IonianThe oldest of the sisters. Nurturing and gentle, watching over her younger sisters. A stable personality depicted in the most heard and most commonly used mode nowadays.
• Sterope — MixolydianMeaning lightning, also called Asterope, is depicted by this bright mode. Speed and sudden brightness and tension all fit her energy.
• Taygete — DorianAssociated with Artemis, the hunt, and the wilderness. The Dorian mode has a disciplined but vigorous character, much like the clarity of a huntress in the mountains.
• Alcyone — LydianTransformed into a bird and tied to the “Halcyon days” of calm seas, she belongs in this ethereal mode that suggests tranquillity and transcendence. Lydian is dreamy, luminous, and slightly otherworldly (thanks to its raised fourth).
• Electra — PhrygianLinked with Troy (through her son Dardanus) and grief at its destruction. In some myths, she hides her star in sorrow. Phrygian’s lamenting sound mirrors her fate. The Phrygian mode has a tense, mournful, almost tragic quality.
• Merope — AeolianThe only sister to marry a mortal. This mode depicts her sorrow and fragility, but also the bravery of choosing her own path.
• Celaeno — LocrianThe most mysterious sister, unstable and shadowy, sometimes even faint. Locrian is the most dissonant of the modes, a perfect match for her nervous and short-tempered character.

The Story of Orion

The composition tells one story in particular about these Pleiades: the story of Orion, narrated by the sisters themselves through their musical identities.

Every night and day the Pleiades roamed the earth, flying through the sky, running in the forests, and resting at the oceans and seas. Life was good. But then Orion appeared. Being very attracted to the beautiful sisters, he became obsessed. Trying to get their attention and affection, he started chasing them all around the globe. The sisters were on the run every night and day, longing for a moment of rest. Tired and restless, they turned to Zeus and begged him to do something.

Zeus answered by moving the sisters from the earth to the sky, where they became a constellation. Released from Orion, they run every night and day from star to star. Meanwhile Orion hunted down every animal on earth. Gaia, protector of the earth, sent a large scorpion to sting Orion. Artemis, who was very fond of Orion, asked Zeus to place him in the sky as well. Zeus agreed, but he made sure that every night when he chases the Pleiades, he would never catch them.