Author: Didy

Out of the 27 pieces on the Golden Record, the following are the 10 that I would curate, as well as my reasons for selecting them.

1. Senegal, percussion: No words or voices, just pure percussion goodness! Regardless of where you come from, I believe that everyone and everything can react to and enjoy rhythm. The tempo of this piece is also upbeat, exciting, and easy to move along to.
2. Mexico, “El Cascabel”: Another exciting piece with a fast tempo. The high tones and lower tones of this piece pair beautifully together. We can feel the emotion of the Mariachi band even without knowing or understanding the language.
3. “Johnny B. Goode”: If aliens could understand English, they might be moved and inspired by the lyrics of this song–a boy’s dreams of making it big one day. Along with the catchy guitar intro and chorus, this “rags to riches” song is a great example of rock and roll music, a genre that was criticized at first but now adored by many.
4. Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru no sugomori”: The sad, almost haunting melody could show the depth and complexity of human emotion, that we are not always happy and excited. There are moments of sadness, despair, and longing as well.
5. Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin: Dancing does not always have to be paired with obvious beats and percussion sounds–a gavotte is proof of that. I also believe that classical music is timeless and appreciated by people all over the world. Perhaps the beings out in space would enjoy this genre of music as well.
6. Peru, panpipes and drum: The rhythmic drumming in this piece almost sounds like a heartbeat, which is why I selected it. What if other lifeforms in the universe do not have hearts? Could this piece show them what a heartbeat sounds like? I think so.
7. “Melancholy Blues”: Jazz music, less rigid and structured than classical music, could show that humans are fun and creative. Since an important aspect of this genre is improvisation, showing the universe a jazz piece by the legendary Louis Armstrong could present humankind as a species that is versatile and one that can adapt to others.
8. Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement: Perhaps one of the most iconic classical pieces in all of musical history. You do not have to be a fan or frequent listener of classical music to appreciate this piece by Beethoven. The dramatic introduction of strings express anger and frustration, but then with the horns comes along a softer, calmer string melody, which then passionately builds and reverts back to the angry and dramatic melody. The human experience is an emotional one, where in a single moment we feel so many things all at once. This piece can symbolize how we live navigating between the ups and downs of life, torn between feelings of happiness and hope and frustration and despair.
9. China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams”: A slower piece with many pauses and long, drawn-out notes. It could even be a lullaby for some with its calming melody. While the other pieces I selected sound “busier” and more complex, this piece gives a “less is more”, simple but beautiful feeling. Among the chaos and busyness of life, there are also moments of calm and quiet.
10. India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho”: I was mesmerized the moment I heard this piece, and I believe that other lifeforms could be as well if they heard its beautiful melody. If aliens could get goosebumps, I think they would after listening to this piece. Even without understanding the words being sung, the piece is entrancing and haunting.

References

NASA. (n.d.). Voyager – music on the Golden Record. NASA. https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/

https://view.genial.ly/6535d569d9f621001190bc37/interactive-image-whats-in-my-bag

(Click on the yellow heart icons to hear the audio, Ctrl-left click on the blue link icons to find where to buy the items/read more about them)

Reflection

In a previous MET course, I learned about genially from some of my classmates, so I decided to use this tool for this week’s task. It actually took me less time than I thought to figure out how to use the website, and I am excited to use it more for this course and others in the future!

Task 1 was about describing the contents of my bag through a visual image with text explanation. I decided that for Task 7, I would use the same visual image as in Task 1 but in a more interactive way that would allow the reader to see and hear the explanation of my bag’s contents. Audio gave the image more “personality”, since the listener could hear my voice and tone when explaining the items. I also added links to where to buy some of the items, or to websites that explained the items in cultural contexts. By having the image as an interactive one that featured both sound and external links, I believe that the reader would be able to gain an understanding of why I have these items in my bag and/or be inclined to buy or search for similar items–consumerism at its finest! It is similar to how some influencers on social media sites will provide links to the items in their posts so that their followers will buy the same items or follow the brands featured/promoted in the posts.

I therefore believe that mode-changing can allow us to influence others/be influenced more than a visual image alone can. I myself have been caught in such traps while scrolling through my social media feeds, clicking on links and sometimes purchasing the items in the links. These actions result in more advertisements of similar items being pushed onto my feeds, and the vicious cycle continues!

Reflection

I initially had many works to chose from for this task. After looking through my iPhone’s emoji keyboard, I decided to chose the most recent work I watched and one that I thought would be easy to translate into emojis. The work is very popular on the streaming service I use, so I assumed that one could easily identify what work I was referring to for this task.

I started off with the title and relied mostly on words and ideas. As I use emojis fairly regularly day-to-day, I thought that this task would be easy; however, trying to translate words into images proved to be quite difficult. I had to consider whether or not the emojis I used had the same association/meaning for others looking at this task, since millennials, gen z and gen alpha sometimes have different meanings/understandings/usages for the same emoji. Furthermore, since the slang used by various generations sometimes differs, this can affect the meanings and nuances of the emojis they use.

It was also a challenge to decide how much of the plot to include in the task. With a detailed plot, more emojis needed to be used, which would make the task much harder, so I ended up describing the plot of the work with a “less is more” mindset.

This task also gave me the realization that the amount of emojis included in the emoji keyboard has increased so much over the years. There were moments during the task where I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of choices in keyboard. Fortunately, the Apple emoji keyboard has a search function to find emojis more easily, and that definitely helped me for this task. I also ended up discovering some emojis that were added to the keyboard after recent updates, and I am quite excited to see if I can use them in my day-to-day messaging!

Analysis

I originally thought this task would be difficult since I usually type when producing texts; however, I found it quite easy to pour my feelings and let my thoughts flow freely. Deciding on what I wanted to write about was probably the most difficult part of this task, but once the topic was decided it was fairly easy to get the words down onto the paper. The pen I was using was also a friction erase one, so I could easily fix any spelling or word-choice mistakes I made along the way. There were moments where I considered changing around some sentences, but decided against editing my text because I wanted everything to be as raw and unfiltered as possible; had the text been typed, there would have definitely been more editing done to it.

I believe that writing by hand is often times more spontaneous and untouched than mechanized forms of writing. When typing texts, it is easy to change and delete sections that you may not like without leaving obvious traces of those edits on the final product. When writing by hand, especially using ink, the changes you decide to make to your text are often visible at the end. I also like how raw and in-the-moment writing things by hand can be–imagine a writer, even a detective, jotting things down on a notepad or a napkin as ideas come to them. That is not to say that typed texts are not poetic or romantic! But there is just something about a handwritten letter versus a typed one that hits the heart differently.