Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces

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, inclu...

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 Pa...

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 pla...

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 themselve...

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 fea...

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...

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...

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.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces Hosted on Acast....

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-...

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 rec...

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 w...

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 Sa...

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 synd...

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),...

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...

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 roc...

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 sho...