Teach Yourself to Fly From This Pale Blue Dot
for percussion and piano
On August 25, 2012, the Voyager 1 probe became the first human-made object to leave our solar system. Its twin, Voyager 2 followed it 6 years later on November 5, 2018. When they were launched in 1977, both probes contained a copy of the Golden Record, a compilation of images and sounds curated by Prof. Carl Sagan and others. Acting as both a time capsule and a message in a bottle, the sounds on these records include music from around the world and across several centuries, and greetings in a multitude of languages. Should the probe ever be encountered by extra-terrestrial intelligent life, these sounds and images would provide a snapshot of human society.
Teach Yourself to Fly From This Pale Blue Dot imagines the journey of these probes through interstellar space. As they travel alone far beyond our planet will their components degrade? Will they encounter dangerous spatial phenomenon? Will they encounter intelligent life? Or will they simply drift away never to been seen or heard from again?
Teach Yourself to Fly From This Pale Blue Dot was commissioned by Brianna Matzke and Chris Graham for The Response Project. The 2020 Response Project asked composers to respond to the sound mediations of Pauline Oliveros. As such, the work is heavily influenced by Oliveros’s Teach Yourself to Fly and Wind Horse. Throughout the work, the performers respond to each other and randomized recordings from the Golden Record, creating a new and unique space for Deep Listening in each performance.
Teach Yourself to Fly From This Pale Blue Dot imagines the journey of these probes through interstellar space. As they travel alone far beyond our planet will their components degrade? Will they encounter dangerous spatial phenomenon? Will they encounter intelligent life? Or will they simply drift away never to been seen or heard from again?
Teach Yourself to Fly From This Pale Blue Dot was commissioned by Brianna Matzke and Chris Graham for The Response Project. The 2020 Response Project asked composers to respond to the sound mediations of Pauline Oliveros. As such, the work is heavily influenced by Oliveros’s Teach Yourself to Fly and Wind Horse. Throughout the work, the performers respond to each other and randomized recordings from the Golden Record, creating a new and unique space for Deep Listening in each performance.