I curated my own Golden Record from the 27 tracks that were selected by a group of scientists, musicians, and historians in the late 70’s for the Voyager’s Golden Record which was created as a 90-minute time capsule of the Earth’s sounds, language, and music.
My curated list follows:
- Track 1: Brandenburg Concerto (First Movement)
- Track 7: Johnny B. Good
- Track 10: Gavotte en roudeaux
- Track 12: Tchakrulo
- Track 14: Melancholy Blues
- Track 15: Bagpipes (Azerbaijan)
- Track 17: The Well-Tempered Clavier
- Track 18: Fifth Symphony (First Movement)
- Track 24: Flowing Streams
- Track 26: Dark Was the Night
The parameters and criteria I used to curate this list of tracks was not scientific, mathematic, or academic. I simply chose tracks that appealed to me. I believe that everyone is drawn to sounds and music for different reasons. Music, sound, and lyrics evoke emotions and memories. As I thought about curating my own Golden Record this week, I thought about the chance of someone finding the Voyager’s Golden Record and the original record being played again, which is more likely that you will win the lottery than that happening. I asked myself, would I want to hear this again? If the answer was no, I moved on and I continued to do this until I had a list of 10 tracks.
Well, what a logical and simple system. Of course, the idea that an alien might want to listen at all . . . or know how to . . . is always curious . . . might they just blast Voyager out of their universe?
But there is something romantic about a bit of us floating in the milky way and beyond . . . Megs K.
Hi Margaret!
My decision making skills are usually logical. But I also kept thinking, if I was an alien and listened to this over and over, what would I want to hear again and again? 🙂
Thanks for visiting my page!
Robin
Hey Robin,
I super appreciate this post! I also really worked from what I liked to inform my curation, and then worked from there to research the track to identify further links to bigger philosophies and ideas.
Do you think this was a set of parameters used to select the original 27 by the people who made the Golden Record?
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Jamie!
Among other criteria, I think that it was personal preference and the emotions that are connected to music that had influence on the selections that were made by the people who curated the Golden Record.
Thanks for visiting my page!
Robin
Hi Robin,
I took the same route to selecting my curated list! I figured there was no way to get a ‘perfect’ representation of the world, and as an individual curator that can’t be a realistic expectation, so why not select music that appealed to me personally. Obviously there were no specific rules or guidelines for doing this, so it seemed as valid as any other method.
Did you run into issues selecting too many or too few songs? Meaning did you select any you actually don’t like to reach 10, or were there tough choices where you had to exclude some that you really liked?
Hi Brian!
Thanks for visiting my page. I actually was able to get my first list down to 12 or 13 relatively quickly. To get to 10, I listened one more time and was able to get 10 right away.
Talk to you soon!
Robin