Music is Music

Jun 26 2017 23 ep. 19 mins 540

Music is Music Podcast artwork

Join Music is Music host Ria Misra for revealing conversations with unexpected musicians. Featuring new compositions, surprising collaborations -- and a refreshing take on the sounds around us.

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Season 2, Ep. 6: Who is Emily Howell?

Jun 26 2017 9 mins

You can find Emily Howell's music all over the internet, but a search for the person comes up empty. She plays no concerts, attends no events, has no email address, and not a single photo comes up under a google search. Join Music is Music host Ria Misra as she talks with composer David Cope about who Emily Howell is--and what Emily Howell means for the future of music.

Season 2, Ep. 5: Listening to Everything

Jun 19 2017 10 mins

Ben Lukas Boysen and Sebastian Plano--the composers who wrote the music for the videogame, Everything--join host Ria Misra for a conversation about games, music, and how to build a musical world for a videogame where you can, literally, play the universe.

Season 2, Ep. 4: The Hang Drum

Jun 12 2017 11 mins

At times, listening to Manu Delago play music, you might think you hear him play a steel drum, a harp, or a tabla--and yet all of those sounds are actually coming from one instrument: the hang drum. Delago brings his hang into our New York studio for a chat with host, Ria Misra.

Season 2, Ep. 3: Vijay Iyer

Jun 05 2017 22 mins

Music is Music host Ria Misra visits composer and pianist Vijay Iyer at his home in Harlem to talk about the secret lives of instruments, the everyday art of improvisation, and also just to hear some really beautiful music.

Season 2, Ep. 2: Music in Space, Pt II

May 29 2017 14 mins

International Space Orchestra founder Nelly Ben Hayoun and NASA Ames Flight Director (and saxophonist) Rusty Hunt are here for part 2 of our music in space series. Join us as we meet a band where you can find astronauts, NASA flight directors, and all kinds of space scientists all clustered around the same piece of music.

Season 2, Ep. 1: Music in Space, Pt. I

May 22 2017 13 mins

Composer Arthur Jeffes joins us to tell us about working with space scientists to transform black holes and exoplanets into music.

Music is Music: Christopher Tignor

Jan 05 2017 14 mins

Christopher Tignor is a composer, violinist, and software engineer. His emotionally charged scores and unique focus on live, performance-based electro-acoustic practice has won acclaim within both the classical and experimental communities.

Music is Music: Floating Points

Oct 27 2016 14 mins

From a young age, Sam Shepherd has rejected the idea of neat, tidy musical categories. He studied classical piano growing up, but felt confined by what he calls the "dots on a page." It wasn't until he heard a performer really making a classical piece his own, breaking out of strictly classical feel, that he was hooked. Now, Shepherd writes music under the alias "Floating Points."

Music is Music: Melody Parker

Sep 29 2016 15 mins

Melody Parker loves to dance. When she wrote the music for her album "Archipelago," she didn't start with a catchy tune, or harmonies, or rhythm. She started with movement. On this episode of Music is Music, Melody Parker tells us all about her love of dance and movement. And we'll hear about the acoustic worlds she creates, both in her music and elsewhere. Have a listen, and hear

Music is Music: The Greatest Hoax

Sep 08 2016 11 mins

The path to becoming a Washington D.C. advisor on climate science and global warming is easy. First study piano and double bass. Then, get a degree in composition. Next thing you know, you're a climate scientist. At least, this is how it happened for Taylor Jordan. Jordan records under the name The Greatest Hoax, a name he borrowed from Senator James Inhofe's (R-OK) 2012 book. The