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How to Compose Music

Where do you start? How do you carry on? What do you need to know?

• 29 mins

The Great Highland Bagpipe

Tom Service goes in search of the Great Highland bagpipe.

• 30 mins

Sad songs say so much

In times of trouble, is sad music what we need?

• 29 mins

Why backing vocals matter

Backing singers and opera choruses - so much more than eye candy and human scenery!

• 29 mins

Parapapampam

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. Why is there so much cheesy yuletide music?

• 29 mins

How to love new music

All noise and no good tunes? Tom Service bangs the drum for contemporary classical music.

• 29 mins

Texture

Tom Service considers an often overlooked but vital element of music: its texture.

• 30 mins

Beethoven Unleashed: Getting to grips with Beethoven

He's the most famous composer in western music, but what makes Beethoven Beethoven?

• 30 mins

The music of Kaija Saariaho

Tom Service takes a journey through the music of the Finnish-born, Paris-based composer.

• 29 mins

The String Quartet

Tom Service explores the most celebrated of chamber ensembles, the string quartet.

• 29 mins

More Than the Score

Why are there so many ways to perform the same piece of music? What is interpretation?

• 29 mins

Close Harmony

Tom Service explores the world of close harmony and barbershop singing.

• 29 mins

The Inbetweeners

In between the gaps left by the big names lurks many a forgotten great composer...

• 29 mins

Lisztomania

Tom Service explores the music of Franz Liszt, with help from pianist Mariam Batsashvili.

• 29 mins

English Music

What makes English music sound English?

• 30 mins

Talking in music

Tom Service explores talking in music - from 'sprechgesang' to rap.

• 29 mins

Wagner’s Ring Cycle: The Ultimate Box Set Binge

Tom Service explores classical music’s ultimate binge-listening box set - The Ring.

• 30 mins

The Musical Universe of Maurice Ravel

Tom Service scopes the musical world of one of his favourite composers, Maurice Ravel.

• 29 mins

Music and breathing

How is the rhythm and physicality of our breathing reflected in music?

• 29 mins

Going Slow

Tom Service on what happens when our music goes slow.

• 30 mins

The Goldberg Variations

Tom Service unlocks mysteries of Bach's towering keyboard work The Goldberg Variations.

• 30 mins

Is it canon?

The classical music canon - who decides what's in and what's out? And can it change?

• 29 mins

HIPP to Be Square

Historically Informed Performance Practice, or HIPP: what is it and why?

• 28 mins

Musical Highs

Toms Service explores the way composers engineer musical crescendos and climaxes.

• 29 mins

Is Classical music fashionable?

Is classical music in fashion? Who's listening and what are they actually listening to?

• 29 mins

What makes the organ so mighty?

Tom Service on the majesty of the organ.

• 28 mins

It Takes Two

How did the tango escape its lowly origins to become a world-wide phenomenon?

• 29 mins

Rewilding Sibelius

Tom Service explores the music of Sibelius as a force of nature.

• 29 mins

Tricky timing

Tom Service on the fascination of out-of-the-ordinary rhythms.

• 29 mins

Becoming Beethoven's Fifth

How did Beethoven compose one the most famous works in classical music?

• 29 mins