| Piece | Composer | Genre of music | Length |
| Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047: I. Allegro | Johann Sebastian Bach | Classical music / Baroque music | 4:40 |
| Cengunmé[13] | Traditional | Folk music / Percussion | 2:08 |
| Sokaku-Reibo (Depicting The Cranes In Their Nest) | Arranged by Kinko Kurosawa | Folk music / Honkyoku | 4:51 |
| Partita for Violin Solo No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en Rondeau | Johann Sebastian Bach | Classical music / Baroque music | 2:55 |
| Muğam (Çahargah ahəngi) | Traditional | Folk music | 2:30 |
| The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 870 | Johann Sebastian Bach | Classical music / Baroque music | 4:48 |
| The Fairie Round | Anthony Holborne | Classical music / Renaissance music | 1:17 |
| Naranaratana Kookokoo (The Cry of the Megapode Bird) | Traditional | Folk music | 1:12 |
| Liu Shui (Flowing Streams) | Traditional; associated with Bo Ya | Folk music | 7:37 |
| String Quartet No. 13: in B♭ major, Opus 130: V. Cavatina | Ludwig van Beethoven | Classical music / Romantic music | 6:37 |
To choose my ‘Golden 10,’ I omitted any song with vocals. There was already enough speech on the record, and it is unlikely that words in any language would be understood.
Tim Farris, who led music selection, was not worried about mistakenly threatening extraterrestrial life forms, stating there was no evidence in the history of the human species to suggest this (Taylor, 24:45). When I first listened to the tracks, I immediately considered how they might be perceived by extraterrestrial beings. Thus, I omitted anything I thought sounded offensive in tone or threatening in any way. I fully acknowledge that there is no way to tell how other life forms will interpret the recordings, but I needed something to determine the criteria.
Last, I picked songs that for me resonated with one or more of the following terms: cheery, friendly, lively, light, welcoming, or calming. Surprisingly, once I set my criteria, I struggled to find 10 songs I truly wanted to include. Do these songs fairly represent all of humanity? Undoubtedly not. But in my view, they reflect the best of what we should aim to share.
References:
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019, April). Voyager golden record. [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz. Defacto Sound.
Hi Taylor, I appreciated your ideas about how the songs would be considered by other life forms. I liked how you chose a set of criteria to choose the songs from. Your post reminds me of how we can all interpret the same inputs in completely different ways. As Smith (1999) states, there are many challenges of accurate preservation and presentation in digitization. They criticize the idea that curation through digitization guarantees neutrality. Your struggle to find songs that are neutral reflect this same problem!
Smith Rumsey, A. (1999, February). Why digitize? Council on Library and Information Resources. Retrieved February 25, 2025.