Seriously...

The Prototype


Listen Later

We assume the instruments we know and love today will be around forever. What if they're not? What new forms and ideas could take their place? Hannah Catherine Jones takes you into the world of the prototype, meeting instrument inventors challenging traditions and shifting boundaries.

Sarah Kenchington is an artist and inventor living on a derelict farm in the Campsies, Scotland. Her curiosity for how instruments would sound if they were freed from humans led to a life-long endeavour. Twenty years later and she's still tinkering with her semi-mechanical orchestra, complete with hurdy-gurdy, 100-year old gramophone and ping pong machine.

Savinder Bual is an artist, animator and now instrument-inventor. She's fascinated with the pineapple - a fruit that symbolises Britain's dark colonial history whilst being a fun, popular motif. By spinning the pineapple head, she realised its leaves could pluck strings and make music. That discovery led to her making a complete orchestra of pineapple instruments.

The Mi.Mu gloves were invented by a team of scientists, technologists and e-textile designers. Using your movements to trigger sounds from a computer, they allow the performers the flexibility to move on stage without being connected to a computer. But if the sound isn't coming from the gloves themselves, does this still make them an instrument?

Hannah enlists the expertise of Adam Harper (musicologist, music critic, former church organ player), important grime figurehead Elijah (who runs the record label Butterz), multi-instrumentalist and producer Swindle, and the luthier Bill Bunce.

Hannah Catherine Jones is an artist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, conductor and founder of the Peckham Chamber Orchestra.

Produced by Eliza Lomas.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Seriously...By BBC Radio 4

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

257 ratings


More shows like Seriously...

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,698 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,064 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,540 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,793 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,879 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,764 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,037 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,101 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Comedy of the Week by BBC Radio 4

Comedy of the Week

483 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,018 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

498 Listeners

Lives Less Ordinary by BBC World Service

Lives Less Ordinary

575 Listeners

Profile by BBC Radio 4

Profile

110 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

49 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

308 Listeners

The Audio Long Read by The Guardian

The Audio Long Read

841 Listeners

All in the Mind by BBC Radio 4

All in the Mind

83 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

52 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,172 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,003 Listeners

Life Changing by BBC Radio 4

Life Changing

115 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

119 Listeners

When It Hits the Fan by BBC Radio 4

When It Hits the Fan

41 Listeners

Young Again by BBC Radio 4

Young Again

48 Listeners