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PODCAST

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces

‘Wide-ranging and insightful’ - Guardian (pick of the week, January 2024)A show for anyone who has ever listened to, played, improvised, written, or just enjoyed music and wanted to know more about these mysterious sounds. Are they "auditory cheesecake" as cognitive scientist Steven Pinker claims, or actually a fundamental part of what has made us into modern humans? With an enormous variety of guests ranging from well-known musicians, producers and industry figures through to those for whom music

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All Episodes

1:36:02

Spirited Away, modular expression and mild despair

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/05/08

In a specially-extended episode, Steve has a detailed conversation with some of the creative team behind the smash hit stage version of the Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away. Director John Caird, co-adaptor Maoko Imai and Musical Supervisor/Orchestrator Brad Haak tell Steve how the show came to be, and give some absolutely fascinating insights into composer Joe Hisaichi's work, including Brad demonstrating some beautiful examples on John and Maoko's gorgeous grand piano.But first, Steve

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52:38

Eliza, a cello made of U boats and Igbo flow

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/04/23

In another varied episode, Steve talks to soul singer Eliza about revealing her pregnancy live on stage, cellist Verity Simmons demonstrates her beautiful cello (and explains how it's partly made from a German U boat), and then Steve breaks down the fascinating genre of Igbo Rap in the Genre Tombola, including an in-depth transcription of some of the brilliantly complex rhythms.Sign up for the Patreon, mailing list and everything else here: http://www.originofthepieces.comEliza's website:

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1:15:03

Worldwide Washboard Registry, autistic art, rockets...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/04/06

To celebrate Autism Acceptance Week, Steve has two brilliant autistic artists on the show - poet Maddi Crease and musician Robyn Rocket. They talk autistic art, inclusive gigs, autistic joy, space trumpet and much more.And in between Steve takes us back to New Orleans for an interview with one of the world's leading exponents of the musical washboard! Alex Macdonald has made his living from playing the washboard for over 20 years, and here takes Steve on a quick tour through zydeco and cajun music,

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1:22:53

Frank Turner, Trumpet Mafiosi and not talking about...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/03/24

A bit of an interview special this time, with TWO incredible guests - Grammy-winning trumpet player Ashlin Parker and number 1 UK singer/songwriter Frank Turner.Steve asks these brilliant guests about the point of music, the history of hardcore punk in the UK, the challenges and opportunities of working as a musician in New Orleans, and how angry hippies and neo nazis can sometimes find themselves liking the same music...Ashlin Parker: http://www.ashlinparker.com/main/Frank Turner:

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52:51

Lofi hip hop, Zigaboo grooves and New Orleans...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/03/08

In this first episode since coming back from New Orleans, Steve discusses the importance of that city to the history of music, and, with his guest, New Orleans resident (and former London-based musician) Hannah Davis, examines its present, from the community nature of music making, through to the idea of music as a 'service industry' and what this means to both musicians and audiences.He also features a track he produced for lofi hip hop artist rruaris, and uses it to demonstrate the role of a mix

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1:29

Down in New Orleans

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/02/25

Steve finds himself in New Orleans for some on-the-ground research into Deep Funk (check out last episode if this doesn’t make any sense to you!), and more interviews, gigs, chats and music than you could shake a big voodoo stick at. Episode 11 will be along soon, but meanwhile check out the first 10 episodes for a pretty broad variety of weird, curious and fun musical shenanigans, and sign up to Patreon for access to my full 2 hr live show recorded at Wilton’s Music Hall with a full choir, Hackney

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54:16

East Anglian cowpunk, trombone marathons, the 'i'...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/02/08

In maybe the most varied episode yet, Steve speaks to Nathanial Dye about how terminal cancer reinforced his passion for music (and running the London marathon whilst playing the trombone), then, via a brief foray into the importance of reverb (as performed at Wilton's Music Hall on 20th January), finds himself making a cowpunk song set in East Anglia, with the help of his trusty AI lyricist.Show website: http://www.originofthepieces.comPatreon (including access to full recording of Wilton's Music

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36:49

Naked gigs, choral musings and Filament Choir with...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/01/25

Steve talks about and plays some music from recent live gigs (including one with a rather special dress code), and we hear a beautiful performance and fascinating chat from Filament Choir. No genre tombola this time, so strap in for an exploration of Cowpunk next episode…Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.comPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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47:57

Samplers, orchestras and fancy dress harpists

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2024/01/13

Steve kicks off 2024 in typically contrasting style by celebrating the London Symphony Orchestra's school outreach program, and getting lost in a world on samplers and synthesisers as he sets out to create a UK Hardcore version of the podcast intro, courtesy of the genre tombola...Wilton's Music Hall tickets for 20th January: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-piecesSteve's website: http://www.stevepretty.comPatreon:

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1:13:13

End of year Space and Slides Special, with Chris...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/12/30

To close out the year, in this bumper Space Special, Steve is joined by astronaut Chris Hadfield, trombonist Rosie Turton and composer Steve Thompson - all of them trombonists with a number of additional skills in their portfolio!Steve Thompson tells us about his project 1201 Alarm and how his album Hello World will be the first album on the moon! Then trombonist, composer and stalwart of the recent UK jazz revival Rosie Turton is in the studio to give us a binaural tour of the simultaneously most

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3:58

A (Space) Christmas Carol, with Chris Hadfield

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/12/24

In a little Christmas gift to the listeners, Steve offers us a little taste of the forthcoming interview with Commander Chris Hadfield, astronaut, musician and author, but most of all an incredibly generous and wonderful individual.Chris performs a song which he wrote and originally recorded whilst he was commander of the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting earth and looking through his window at the 7.8 billion people living on the beautiful blue sphere below him.Episode 7 will feature an

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58:17

Festive phasing, guitar percussion and Nitin Sawhney

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/12/15

Christmas is coming, so of course we had to have a little look at Christmas music, but not quite in the way you would expect, unless minimalist classical composer Steve Reich is a kind of santa figure for you. Steve performs a festive version of Reich's piece Clapping Music, and is nearly driven completely mad as a result.But then the day is saved by legendary composer and music producer Nitin Sawhney. Steve heads to Nitin's studio to learn about Soleá, the genre he was allocated in episode 5, and

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55:13

Nordic creativity, grand pianos and AI emo

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/11/30

This episode sees Steve recording in not one but TWO idyllic studios in Norway, where he's been working with some incredibly talented young people, helping them to compose and create music to support a forthcoming Hackney Colliery Band tour there. We hear some of the things he's been up to, as well as chatting with some of the musicians in question about creativity, how to overcome blank page syndrome, and the intricacies of a grand piano. Then, back in Blighty, Steve talks to emo pop fan, album

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1:02:44

Harmonic remembrance, blues shouting and deathgrind...

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/11/17

In the most varied episode yet of this podcast helping you to hear and understand music in new ways, musician Steve Pretty uses a moving experience performing at a Remembrance Day service to talk about musical harmonics, before learning about blues shouting, whistle tones and microphones from singer Nicole Cassandra Smit (including a brief appearance by Jamie Cullum and the Hackney Colliery Band), and finishing off with a deep dive into the niche crossover metal genre of deathgrind, and a discussion

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1:01:40

Pubs, flutes, township rhythms and tape delay

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/11/07

Steve Pretty helps you to listen to and understand music in new ways, looking at where music comes from, why it exists, and what it is.This episode, in a bonanza of interviews, Steve speaks to landlords helping to keep the grassroots music scene alive in the UK, invites renowned UK musician and composer Tamar Osborn into his studio to talk about and experience the beauty of flutes, big saxophones and warbly magnetic tape, and then South African trumpet player and educator Claude Deppa valiantly

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51:14

Tiny trumpets, harps, jazz and Robbie Williams

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/10/19

In the second episode of this new podcast helping you to hear music in new ways, Steve talks about the challenges of going on holiday as a musician, introduces his friend, harpist Valeria Clarke who makes some entertaining noises both angelic and demonic, gives a little demonstration of how jazz works and how it’s not as scary as you might think, and plays his new, Robbie Williams-inspired pop rock track for comedian Alexander Bennett.Soundbox Ensemble:

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48:23

Hearing music in new ways

Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces ·

2023/10/05

For the first episode of this brand new podcast, musician Steve Pretty starts to explore the origins of music, stopping off to blow into conch shells, have a binaural audio adventure in his studio (headphones on!), discuss the limitations of music theory and start his mammoth attempt to explore every one of Wikipedia's list of over 1300 music genres, including nearly 60 varieties of metal...A show for anyone who has ever listened to, played, improvised or written music and wanted to know more about

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