My choices:
Sound has always been a big part of childhood and linguistic background. I learned Laotian through conversations between my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and dad. I depend on my auditory senses to regain my past memories, to communicate, and to infer on my emotional/physical surroundings.
- Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
- Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
- Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48
- “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
- “Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
- “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15
- Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, “The Fairie Round,” performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17
- Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet. 6:37
- China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37
- Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
The Voyager Gold Record had many unique tracks. I chose the records that brought humankind happiness and historical significance. I selected tracks that depicted the development in classical music to music theory and modern country/blues. I took on the perspective of extraterrestrial life out there if they had found that Earth’s Golden Record. I feel that the rhythms I chose, had more positive and wackening beats that made sense. As discussed in the podcast by “Twenty Thousand Hertz”, I assumed basic human feeling that came from beautiful sounds was connected to other species being able to ‘mathematically understand’ the track. It was interesting to know that as a civilization, we had digitized frequencies and music into a single record, to depict the evolution and compact processes of human life out into the galaxy.
Resources:
Brown University. (2017, July 11). Abby Smith Rumsey: “Digital memory: What can we afford to lose?”Links to an external site. [Video]. YouTube.
Smith Rumsey, A. (1999, February). Why digitize?Links to an external site. Council on Library and Information Resources. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden recordLinks to an external site. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.