The origin and evolution of music: Steve Pretty plays the conch

音乐的起源与演变:史蒂夫·普雷蒂演奏海螺

New Scientist Podcasts

2025-11-21

30 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Episode 333 It’s not often you get to see or hear someone playing music on a conch shell. So prepare yourself for a musical treat with musician and podcaster Steve Pretty, who brings into the studio a trumpet and a collection of his favourite conches, rigged up to some modern electronics. Steve is best known as the bandleader of the Hackney Colliery Band, and also hosts the Steve Pretty On the Origin of the Pieces podcast. Performing live on the show and recreating the acoustics of prehistoric cave gatherings (a rave in a cave!) Steve explains the science behind how conches and brass instruments can achieve so many different notes by manipulating air pressure and flow. He explores the evolution and origin of music - which may have evolved before language. And he explains the evocative nature of music, the different functions that it has in society and how it allows us to tap into different emotional states.  Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn about Steve’s conch playing here: https://www.shellectronica.com/  And find his podcast here: https://www.stevepretty.com/originofthepieces  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • When did people first start using musical instruments and start singing?

  • Very, very interested in where music comes from and why music even exists in the first place.

  • And so then if you kind of distill that down and break that down right back to our early evolution,

  • that's where you get instruments like the conch.

  • And I'm kind of just fascinated by that instinct that we had to pick up these instruments and use them as tools of creative expression.

  • That's what we're getting into today on this special episode of The World,

  • The Universe and Us, all about the origin of music and the evolution of creativity.

  • Can't help smiling at that.

  • No, how could we not?

  • I'm Dr.

  • Rowan Hooper.

  • And I'm Dr.

  • Penny Sarge.