On Thursday morning, much of the student body assembled in the gym once again to hear a presentation, but this time, the topic was the northern lights, aka the aurora borealis, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for wind - boreas. (In the southern hemisphere, the southern lights are known as the aurora australis). The presenter was a French Quebec photographer who spends many days on the road, photographing the northern lights all over Canada. He spoke in French while the guidance counselor, Pascale, translated into English.
An aurora is a natural light display high in the night sky and can be seen in the Arctic & Antarctic regions of the Earth. Although, there have been times where they can seen in regions further away from the poles. I can recall seeing northern lights in Ottawa and in Winnipeg. Auroras are caused by solar winds colliding with nitrogen & oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere (starting at 80km above sea level). The sudden 'boost' of energy excites the oxygen & nitrogen atoms and they emit various colours. The colourful waves of light move along the Earth's magnetic field. The type of gas determines what colours will be emitted. Oxygen can emit red, yellow-to-green, green, and brown-to-green. Nitrogen can emit blue or red. Sometimes, the solar winds may collide with hydrogen & helium atoms in the high atmosphere, producing blue & purple colours but those are hard to see.
So far, I have only seen the northern lights twice in Iqaluit. Both times, they were that of long green waves floating in the sky, disappearing and coming back every few minutes.
Besides the explanations above, the presentation also contained many photographs the presenter took and short compilation videos he made himself, and explaining the challenges of photographing the northern lights. You need a hi-def SLR camera with really good lenses; it can't be done with a regular digital camera. He also shared several Aboriginal and Inuit legends about the northern lights. Overall, it was a pretty interesting and informative presentation. To finish it off, he showed a popular YouTube video of the International Space Station filming the Earth from above, capturing the northern lights, city lights, and many different weather patterns.
On Sunday, February 12, a community choral concert was hosted by the Iqaluit Music Society at Inuksuk High School. It was supposed to have taken place on the 11th but it was postponed due to a snow blizzard. (Driving through that was an interesting experience). Six children choirs and the Iqaluit Fiddlers children's club performed two pieces each and then came together for a massed choir finale, numbering a little over 100 singers! The musical genres included: Newfoundland folk, gospel, traditional Inuit song & drum dancing, and popular music. There was even a throat singing performance between two young girls. All I have to say is that throat singing is a lot more complicated than it sounds.
The concert was attended mostly by the parents of the children. I attended to make myself known to everyone and because I had part to play myself. I was drafted by the guest massed choir director, Dr. Lori-Anne Dolloff to play drum set for the gospel song 'Feeling Good'. Ms. Dolloff, who is the Coordinator of the Music Education Division at the University of Toronto, was in Iqaluit for the upcoming teacher's conference the following week. She travels frequently and has visited Iqaluit several times in the past for business and pleasure.
Overall, the 90 minute concert was a success. A lot of young children got a chance to showcase their musical talents to family & friends. There were some moments where the voices sounded off but that was probably due to stage fright. As for me, my guest appearance on drums turned out well, adequately backing up the singers & piano with a simple rhythmic beat. After the concert came the task of moving the drums & music stands back to the music room, and disassembling the stage risers to make way for tables and chairs that would be used for the upcoming teacher's conference.
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