Orientalism and the Music of Elsewhere

Tom Service unpicks western music's debt to the exotic, from Mozart to Ligeti and beyond.

• 28 mins

Drums

Tom Service considers drums - ancient instruments, yet capable of great sophistication.

• 28 mins

Is Music a Universal Language?

Tom Service asks whether music really is a universal language.

• 28 mins

How does video game music work?

Tom Service looks to discover the secrets behind our favourite video game music.

• 28 mins

The Sea

Tom Service explores why and how the sea captures the imaginations of so many musicians.

• 28 mins

What does ancient history really sound like?

What did the music of Paleolithic caves or Roman arenas actually sound like?

• 28 mins

Syncopation Syncopation Syncopation

What is syncopation? An off-beat edition of The Listening Service. With Tom Service.

• 28 mins

The Listening Service recorded live at Hay Festival

The Listening Service recorded live at this year's Hay Festival.

• 28 mins

Igor Stravinsky: Understood Best by Children and Animals

Tom Service seeks the essence of Igor Stravinsky's seemingly ever-changing musical style.

• 29 mins

Truck Driver Modulation

Tom Service on the art of the sudden key change - and our love-hate relationship with it.

• 29 mins

The Fifth

Tom Service savours the sound of the fifth - an interval with many meanings.

• 29 mins

Beginnings - Proms 2018 Special

Music – where do we start?

• 29 mins

Orchestral Manoeuvres

Tom Service considers composers' and audiences' never-ending commitment to orchestras.

• 28 mins

Pioneers of Sound - Proms 2018 Special

Why synths are so cool

• 29 mins

Devilish Musical Pacts

Tom Service signs his soul to the devil to explore the Faust story in music.

• 27 mins

Mahler's 8th Symphony - 2018 Proms Special

Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight

• 28 mins

Folk Music - 2018 Proms Special

Tom delves in to folk music’s mysterious history ahead of Prom 27

• 29 mins

Britten's Sea Interludes - 2018 Proms Special

The sea in all its musical majesty

• 29 mins

Colour and Music - 2018 Proms Special

Ahead of Prom 45, Tom investigates the link between music and colour

• 29 mins

Endings - 2018 Proms Special

Time for the big finish. But what do endings in music mean? Should it all just fade away?

• 29 mins

Virtuosity - 2018 Proms Special

What does it mean to be a good - a really good - musician?

• 29 mins

Searching for Paradise - 2018 Proms Special

Exploring sacred music and how it transports us to the divine.

• 29 mins

Maxing out on Minimalism

Minimalism in music - is less really more?

• 30 mins

Technical Mastery

Music and technology - what do you do when anything is possible?

• 29 mins

Speed

A rollercoaster of a show as Tom experiences how music gets our hearts racing.

• 29 mins

The Cowpat Controversy

Calling 20th-century English music 'cowpat music' is just plain rude! And it's inaccurate.

• 30 mins

The Magical Forest

Enter the magical musical world of the forest. Your guide is Tom Service

• 30 mins

Extreme Classical!

What are the most extreme pieces of classical music ever written?

• 29 mins

What counts as 'classical music'?

What do we actually mean when we talk about 'classical music'? What is or isn't it?

• 28 mins

Rossini - Master Chef and Maestro

A celebration of 'Signor Crescendo' Gioachino Rossini, operatic genius and gourmand.

• 29 mins