One Small Step

So today is the day. 50 years since the Apollo 11 space mission landed on the surface of the moon. It seems like yesterday I was sitting in my mother's laundry basket watching the events unfold. She told me it was important and I had to pay attention. I knew it was a big deal at the time but being so young its true significance escaped me.

An amazing feat of human creativity, engineering, and endurance. Not to mention bravery.

Last week, in celebration of this great event, 8Dio, a leading independent developer of software instruments and deep-sampling, announced a music scoring competition. Thirty seconds of original music score using only their libraries, accompanied by a photo or video of the moon.

So here is my entry. Rather than being inspired by the moon per se, it is inspired by the idea of humans landing on the moon. The strange, beautiful, yet foreboding environment. The tension within the lunar module as it approaches the surface. The creaks and strains of the relatively old and primitive technology that was used. The counting down. And finally the sound of metal landing on the moon's surface.

Technical note: no sound on the moon? Why write music for it? Although there is no sound in space due to space being a vacuum, the surface of the moon enjoys a gravity of 1/6th that of earth. So, with at least some density in the air, the transmission of sound waves just might be possible, in some form.

I guess Neil and Buzz were never quite game enough to take their helmets off, sniff the air, cup a hand to their ear and listen out for the sweet song of the lunar lyrebird.

By the way, that laundry basket I mentioned could fly at over 2000 mph. Just like the Apollo spacecraft.

And boy, could I fly that basket!