The Listening Service Podcast
Rethink music with The Listening Service. Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works
Episodes to download
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Olivier Messiaen and the Interstellar Call!
Sun 28 Jul 2019
In a live edition of The Listening Service, Tom responds to Messiaenβs βInterstellar Callβ
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Is complicated music better than simple music?
Sun 7 Jul 2019
Tom Service looks at complexity in music - can we actually hear what's going on?
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Why do babies love music?
Sun 23 Jun 2019
Tom Service asks why we seem to love music from the day we're born - are we born musical?
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Countertenors - classical rock gods!
Sun 9 Jun 2019
A celebration of the male singers who can hit the high notes!
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What's the point of practice?
Sun 26 May 2019
Does practice make perfect? And what is perfect practice? Tom Service finds out.
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Sound of the Underground
Sun 19 May 2019
What does underground sound like? From earth-inspired music to sounds of the earth itself.
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What Is Sound Art? And Why?
Sun 5 May 2019
Tom Service considers the rise of sound art. Is it art music or something else?
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Ranked Amateurs
Sun 28 Apr 2019
Amateur musicians' vital role in music and performance over the last three centuries.
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Why are classical audiences so quiet?
Sun 21 Apr 2019
Tom Service looks at why we are all so tense and silent during classical concerts. Shhhh!
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Anger in Music
Sun 31 Mar 2019
Today at Sage Gateshead Tom finds out how music can induce, express and exorcise anger.
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Bruckner and the Symphonic Boa Constrictors
Sun 24 Mar 2019
Is listening to a Bruckner symphony really like being crushed to death by a giant snake?
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The Key to Keys
Sun 10 Feb 2019
Tom Service asks why western music is in so many different keys and what exactly they are.
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Riffs, loops and ostinati - the art of repeating yourself!
Sun 27 Jan 2019
Tom presses repeat - again and again and again ...
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How to Sing Classical - Vibrato!
Sun 13 Jan 2019
Good vibrations or horrible wobbling? Why do singers use vibrato?
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The Nutcracker - Strange Enchantments
Sun 30 Dec 2018
Think The Nutcracker is a super-saccharine classic for the feelgood season? Think again.
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Concertos: All for one and one for all?
Sun 9 Dec 2018
What is a concerto? Tom Service asks how they work and what it is like to be a soloist.
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Rossini - Master Chef and Maestro
Sun 18 Nov 2018
A celebration of 'Signor Crescendo' Gioachino Rossini, operatic genius and gourmand.
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What counts as 'classical music'?
Sun 11 Nov 2018
What do we actually mean when we talk about 'classical music'? What is or isn't it?
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Extreme Classical!
Sun 28 Oct 2018
What are the most extreme pieces of classical music ever written?
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The Magical Forest
Sun 21 Oct 2018
Enter the magical musical world of the forest. Your guide is Tom Service
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The Cowpat Controversy
Sun 14 Oct 2018
Calling 20th-century English music 'cowpat music' is just plain rude! And it's inaccurate.
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Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate βnoiseβ from βmusicβ, but is it that simple?
