Golden Record Activity

My Criteria:

For my top 5 pieces of music, I chose to select ones that would be moderately calmer because I do not like very loud and “busy” music (such as the use of numerous instruments playing at the same time). When listening to sole music, I usually prefer the focus to be put on one instrument at a time because I find beauty in the tune of each one. In addition to this criterion, I selected music that included variations in the melody. This could mean that the tune would alter from fast to slow or from louder to quieter. Again, I preferred no lyrics so that I could focus on the beauty of artificial sounds (through instruments). Listening to sole music makes me calmer and when I close my eyes, I can feel the presence of only myself and no “distractors”. 

My Rationale for Each Selection: 

• Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow

• This was the first selection that truly stood out to me because it reminded me of traditional Middle Eastern music. I am Afghan and my cultural music is similar to Middle Eastern (Arabic) ones. This calming piece of music used bagpipe instruments to create variations in its melody. It also met my third criterion of not having lyrics attached to it, and this allowed me to sit back, close my eyes, and meditate. Finally, I really enjoyed the ending when the music slowly faded out and was not a sudden stop—this is also common in Afghan and Middle Eastern music. 

• Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano

• I like to listen to piano music as well and this one was more of a jollier tune which I admired listening to. It reminded me of classical music portrayed in older cartoons or movies where one pianist would play, and the crowd would admiringly listen and applaud. This piece especially met my criteria of variations in the melody by ranging from fast to slow and louder to quieter notes. There were no lyrics, yet it kept its beauty by using tactics like pausing and restarting. For example, at 2:56 the music paused for four seconds before restarting at a quicker pace at 3:00. After meeting all my criteria, this beautiful piece of music faded out for three seconds before coming to a complete end. 

• Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima

• As soon as this piece began playing, it caught my attention because of the whistling tune and consistency. I loved how there was a constant “marching” noise in the background, which was created by the drums. In addition, I have never heard of panpipes but was very pleased with it and I felt that it too is a calming instrument—I could easily understand the pattern and infer what note would come next. Moreover, there were other selections in the ultimate playlist which involved the use of panpipes as well, but the reason I liked this one was because the drums in the background accented the panpipes, not making the music seem very “monotone”. Overall, having no lyrics, being a calming piece, and the variations in the tune made this part of my top five list!  

• Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, "The Fairie Round," performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London

• For me, this set an example of what I consider a moderate calm music piece! When I closed my eyes and listened to it, I felt like I was a young child playing in prairie fields on a warm sunny day. The use of flutes made this a harmonic piece that represented variations in the overall melody. I especially liked the ending that was stretched to not end abruptly. The differently pitched flutes were smoothly blended together, and this is a worthy piece that is in my top five list! 

• Mexico, "El Cascabel," performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México

• I admire exploring different cultures and when this track played, I could immediately identify that it was Mexican. I enjoyed how the instruments were being played but realized that there were some parts to this track that included lyrics. However, overall, this was a well-played track that I could not leave out. Upon checking with my criteria, I realized that I wrote, “I prefer no lyrics”, and the fact that the lyrics were only in some parts, I chose to include this piece. My favourite part from this piece was from 1:00 to 1:40 and from 2:09 to 3:04 because the music went from seldom to faster and higher pitched. This solidified my criterion of variation in melody, surpassing the fact that there was a vocal aspect to it. Upon conducting some research about this piece, I learned that guitar-like instructed including jarana jochoro were used. Finally, I liked how the ending included all the vocalists, but then the instruments did the final touch for the final second.