After reading an overview of the project on the NASA, I made a mental note that although I did not yet have criteria for selection, my goal was to be as unbiased as possible. I skipped the podcast because I find that authors rarely pull off being neutral and I did not want to be swayed by anyone’s opinion. Instead, to get more facts, I watched a short documentary that explained how it was made and how to decode it.
Prior to listening I did some breathing exercise to clear my mind and be present, trying to avoid reading the titles and closing my eyes when listening. I played them in order hoping they would “speak to me” and lead me to a selection metric as I still did not have a plan. I got nothing from the first two, then the third (still with eyes closed) evoked a feeling.
So I decided to chose 10 songs that: 1- Conveyed an unequivocal feeling (whether the emotion or the song itself be pleasant to the listener). 2- The emerging feeling was pure and unbiased by lyrics or context. The idea is that this feeling would transcend humanity.
Of course, I could be extremely naive in thinking that I am unbiased and the feelings that I perceived are universal. I am however, surprise at my final 10, (let’s just say they are not songs I’d put in my spotify list), but they did indeed “touch me”. I am also surprised by the ones that I did not pick, like the Mexican one; I am half mexican and this is a folkloric dance song that my mother performed in International expos when I was younger. I actively listened, detaching from all positive associations, and got nothing from it.
So here are the songs and separately below, are the feelings that I perceived. I am curious to know if others got the same.
- Bach – WTK 2, no 1, Glenn Gould
- Men’s house song – Papua New Guinea
- Navajo night chan
- Panpipes and drum song – Peru
- Melancholy Blues-L Armstrong
- Jaat Kahan Ho – India – Surshri
- Fairie Round – cond David Munroe
- Bach – Gavotte en Rondo – A Grumiaux
- Beethoven 5th, part 1, Otto Klemperer
- Cranes in their nest-Japan(Shakuhachi)
……. (Scroll for associated feeling)
- Bach – WTK 2, no 1, Glenn Gould: Hope
- Men’s house song – Papua New Guinea: Worry
- Navajo night chant: Unity
- Panpipes and drum song – Peru: Rejoicing
- Melancholy Blues-L Armstrong: Relaxed
- Jaat Kahan Ho – India – Surshri: Melancholy
- Fairie Round – cond David Munroe: Innocence
- Bach – Gavotte en Rondo – Grumiaux: Dialogue (communicating)
- Beethoven 5th, part 1, Otto Klemperer: Power
- Cranes in their nest-Japan(Shakuhachi): Loneliness
Hi Johanna – I find your method of curating your list quite interesting. I listened to the podcast before I made my list and it seems like your intentions for selecting were fairly similar to the original producers of the album. I didn’t even think about the emotive elements of the music – which is odd because music is quite a large part of my life, and I experience the communicative and expressive properties quite often. My approach was to focus more on the potential audience (the extra-terrestrials who might encounter the album), and to try to represent as much cultural variety as possible.
My question for you is – how timeless do you think your choices are? Would they still evoke the same emotions and have the same meaning 100 or 200 years from now? How much do you think the effects would change (if at all)?
Hello Johanna,
I enjoyed reading about your process of selection because you chose songs that you felt conveyed an “unequivocal feeling”. The future relevance of a piece of music is hard to determine, but I think feelings will always exist and as you said, “transcend humanity”. Your process made me reconsider my own process. If I were to redo the task, I would incorporate feelings into the selection process in some way.