From the Golden Record I narrowed down my playlist into 10, these are in no particular order:

Classical

Rock

 Folk

 Blues

Traditional sub genres/Native American

Selection Criteria

I love music! And really appreciate all genres, so I was excited to explore the Golden Records. To be honest, I read about it a long time ago, but it didn’t soak in until I was doing this task. I can imagine the curation in its original form must have been difficult as I was struggling to make my choices. First, I listened to all 27 songs to decide what criteria I was going to explore. While listening I realized a lot of genres were not represented so my next process was to make my selection based on different genres, for example, rock, blues, classical. I found it difficult to make a smaller playlist. Carl Sagan somewhat supported my criteria because in the curation of the Golden Record they added musical selections from different cultures and eras. Even though not all were represented, a snapshot was provided.

Selecting my top 10 was somewhat biased because in addition to identifying variabilities in genres I was also going for the sounds or instrumental pieces used that appealed to my ear and evoked positive feelings. Most importantly, I wanted to have some cultural representation in my final 10. It is challenging to find the right way to curate the songs. I also found it difficult to connect with my personal preferences because there was not a lot of cultural representation and diversity. However, the fact that music is a universal language I could connect with most of the music because of the instruments used. I think the fact that I appreciate music helps, if someone else was listening who had no interest their response might not be the same.

One of my favorites from the list is “Jonny B Goode”, this is my type of music and something I can dance to. I did a little research and found out it was written by Chuck Berry in 1955, the song is about a semi-literate “country boy” from New Orleans. Berry acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical and that the original lyrics referred to Johnny as a “colored boy”, but he changed it to “country boy” to ensure radio play.  I see the link with Apple (1992), “during times of social upheaval that this relationship between education and power becomes most visible” (p,4). You see how this continues to manifest in the singer changing words of the song to get airplay because of being considered “colored”.

“Melancholy Blues” was also sure to make my list because the trumpet is one of my favorite instruments and it reminded me of Sunday evenings in my household. Growing up my Dad would play music like this; we all grew to appreciate it because it was so soothing. Fast forward to years later it is still a timeless piece. Just listening to the different instruments, a composition like this can hardly be compared to much of the music created today.

The “Night chant” track represents natives to America. The chant symbolizes rituals being done and demonstrates the uniqueness of cultural activities. It gives us an ear into what other cultures do to celebrate life or death.

“Dark was the Night” by Blind Willie Johnson – I could relate to the gospel element because I grew up in the church. The raw emotions are captivating along with the high tenor and rasp voice being sung. It also has a touch of country because of the story being told. Listening makes you feel so at peace.

The “Fifth symphony” (first movement)- this is a popular symphony still played today, the transitions are so soothing, and the variations of the sounds keep the suspense of what’s coming next.

The “Well-Tempered Clavier” had to be included because it sounds so beautiful. Each key has a distinctive tone, and it is pleasant to the ear. I could use this music to keep me relaxed any day. It puts you in a reflective mood and makes reference to how far we have come.

“Fairie Round” was selected because of the melodious sound and the joy it brings, it takes me back to a fun experience on the merry-go-round as a child. It just brings happiness and serves as a reminder that there are so many things in this life to be thankful for.

“Brandengburg Concerto” and “Bach – Gavotte en Rondo” – A Grumiaux both selections gave me a ballroom vibe and each is a timeless classical piece. If you enjoy dancing like I do, you will appreciate these pieces.

Finally, I chose “Bagpipe” (Azerbajan) because I was introduced to bagpipes a few years ago and I wanted to compare it to the sound of today. This was hard for me because I just could not connect with this musical instrument. I decided not to exclude it from my list because I wanted to give it a space on my list and maybe someone else who connects with it can give me their own interpretation.

From this curation of the Golden Record, you see how much we have evolved from a phonograph record, analog to digital. Two points that stood out to me in my readings from Smith (1999) are:

“Digitally encoded data do not represent the infinitely variable nature of information as faithfully as analog forms of recording.

One of the most important qualities of information in digital form is that by its very nature it is not fixed in the way that texts printed on paper are. Digital texts are neither final nor finite, and are fixed neither in essence nor in form except when a hard copy is printed out, for they can be changed easily and without a trace of erasures or emendations”.

References

Apple, M. W. (1992). The Text and Cultural Politics. Educational Researcher, 21(7), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X021007004

Smith Rumsey, A. (1999, February). Why Digitize? Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Council on Library and Information Resources website: https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80-2/

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