The 3 pieces or sounds of my golden record are:
- Shostakovich Piano Concerto no. 2 – II – Andante. This movement is my favourite piece of classical music. Although it is slow and romantic, it showcases a melancholy feeling throughout the piece. It is not as well known as many of his other works, but I personally feel as though it showcases his talent very well, since in such a short and simple piece of music he expresses so many different emotions.
- Sounds of the ocean waves. I would include the sound of ocean waves crashing onto the sand in my golden record. This sound is very important to me as I have always lived by the sea, and it is an important sound to me that I miss very much whenever I am not near the ocean.
- Pink + White – Frank Ocean. When I saw the prompt, this was the first song that popped into my head. It feels almost ethereal, like it’s floating above the clouds. When I listen to this song, it makes me picture scenes in nature, like a rainforest and towering mountain ranges.
I think these 3 things that I listed are worthy of being sent into space for extraterrestrials to hear because they make me feel in tune with myself and the earth when I am listening to them. The Shostakovich Piano Concerto makes me feel calm and in tune with all of my emotions and what is around me. The sound of sea waves on the sand makes me feel at home, like I am in a familiar place. It makes me remember all of the generations before me who sat on the same beaches that I do now, listening to the same sound as I am. It makes me feel connected to the earth and all others who have been there. Pink + White makes me feel at peace, and allows my mind to wonder freely, picturing my favourite and most beautiful parts of the earth that I have seen. I would like extraterrestrials to be able to experience those things too, and I hope that they would feel even partially some of what I experience when I hear these things so that they might understand what life on earth sounds like – even just from my perspective.