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Musical Instruments

Why is there a hierarchy of musical instruments? Some naturally attract respect while others are the butt of jokes. Matt Allwright investigates this terrible injustice.

Why do some instruments get all the tunes and the respect, while others are left at the bottom of the heap? The leader of the orchestra is always a violinist, and the guitarist usually gets to leap around at the front of the band. Meanwhile other instruments, like the drums, don’t get a lot of attention - except when it comes to being the butt of jokes.

Matt Allwright is on a mission to uncover the source of this terrible injustice, and find out whether his own beloved β€œlow status” instrument – the pedal steel guitar – can ever find the spotlight.

Guests include:

β€’ Stewart Copeland – The Police (drums)
β€’ Dr Daria Kwiatkowska – composer, University of Birmingham (piano)
β€’ Margaret Birley – Keeper of Musical Instruments, Horniman Museum
β€’ Superorganism (assorted)
β€’ Richard Farnes – conductor
β€’ Stephen Bryant – leader, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra (violin)
β€’ Tony Bedewi – ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra (timpani)
β€’ Tomoka Mukai – ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra (flute)
β€’ Steve Magee – ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra (contrabassoon)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Mar 2020 05:32GMT
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  • Mon 9 Mar 2020 09:06GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
  • Mon 9 Mar 2020 13:32GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet
  • Mon 9 Mar 2020 18:06GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
  • Mon 9 Mar 2020 21:06GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Mon 9 Mar 2020 23:06GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Tue 10 Mar 2020 02:32GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except West and Central Africa
  • Tue 10 Mar 2020 03:32GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service West and Central Africa
  • Sun 15 Mar 2020 05:32GMT
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Europe and the Middle East

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