Through the Kármán Line by Brett Abiga...

Through the Kármán Line: Black Above, Blue Below By Brett Abigaña

Grade Level: 4
Length: 7 minutes

Through the Kármán Line: Black Above, Blue Below was written about COL. Guion Bluford, the first African American in space. Through the Kármán Line is the line dividing Earth’s atmosphere from space. It begins with the sound heard inside an astronaut’s helmet (I actually went and found a recording!), and as the counterpoint gets gradually more complicated, including quotes of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, you cross the line and look up, seeing the International Space Station for the first time at letter C. After that, the melodies come back, but are changed, as you look down and see the Earth in all of its deeply flawed glory. The piece is also written so that it can be played exactly backwards, so you leave the ISS and re-enter the atmosphere, returning the grind down below.