Music

Making Tracks
3. Metropolis
Paul Morley charts a history of popular music through recording studios.
07 Aug 2012,30 mins
More episodes
The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra
Trevor Cox on the physics behind the way orchestral instruments make their unique sound
06 Dec 2012,30 mins
Mighty Real - McAlmont Sings Sylvester
David McAlmont tells the glittering tale of Sylvester James and his disco hit Mighty Real.
23 Jun 2016,30 mins
Loud Organs His Glory
The story of the great Victorian organ builder 'Father' Henry Willis.
05 Apr 2011,30 mins
Black, White and Beethoven
Joseph Harker asks why Britain's classical music scene remains so resolutely white.
01 Mar 2016,30 mins
A Love Supreme: 50 Years On
Courtney Pine explores John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, fifty years after its release.
10 Feb 2015,30 mins
Local Heroes
My Friend the Chocolate Cake
David Brodie talks about music and the concept of stardom in Australia
01 Nov 1995,14 mins
More episodes
On the Record
The Coming of Classical Music Videos
The development of video recordings of music, a look at what images and artists to show
10 Apr 1991,13 mins
More episodes
The Single Life
What happened to the musicians who poured their hopes and savings into a DIY 7" single?
15 Jan 2015,28 mins
Crossing The Border
Holger Czukay
German musician, Holger Czukay was one of the first people to use sampling in his music
16 Jun 1994,13 mins
More episodes
Give Me Space Below My Feet
Is it possible to take 93-year-old mountaineer Gwen Moffat climbing again?
30 Sep 2017,29 mins
Blue Canvas: The Artist Miles Davis
A musical portrait of how the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis became a painter in later life.
26 May 2016,30 mins
This Are 2-Tone
Phill Jupitus investigates the social importance of 2 Tone music in Britain.
05 Apr 2008,30 mins
Late Nights at the Blue Boar
Pete Paphides visits the M1's improbable 1960s music meeting place - Blue Boar Services.
12 Jul 2011,30 mins
Man, Machine and Music
Sampling
The world of sampling and what is MIDI?
19 Jan 1996,28 mins
More episodes
The Danube Ain't Blue, It's Green
Rainer Hersch champions the most popular waltz Strauss ever wrote.
04 Oct 2016,30 mins
The First Black Music Station in Europe
Reflections on the launch and impact of Europe’s first black music station in 1981.
03 Feb 2023,9 mins
Cover Story
Rufus Wainwright on how he approaches the song A Foggy Day and why he's drawn to it.
04 Aug 2022,28 mins
A' Mire ri Mairead
10/08/2026
Tha Mairead NicIllinnein a' feitheamh ribh le taghadh ciùil traidiseanta Gàidhlig.
10 Aug 2026,117 mins
More episodes
Kraftwerk: We Are the Robots
Marc Riley traces the career of 70s electronic band Kraftwerk.
22 Nov 2007,30 mins
The Funeral Singer
Reverend Kate Bottley investigates the growth of professional funeral singers in Britain.
01 Sep 2017,30 mins
A Little Flat: The Music Our Ears Overlook
Nabihah Iqbal explores the variety of notes and scales used to make music across the globe
30 Aug 2022,28 mins
Travelling the Spaceways: The Cult of Sun Ra
Decades after his death, why does Sun Ra continue to inspire an obsessive following?
19 Jun 2014,30 mins
How to Write a Power Ballad
Can Rev. Richard Coles write a new power ballad to rival Total Eclipse of the Heart?
18 Jul 2017,30 mins
A Career in Music with Harmony Samuels
Musician and producer Harmony Samuels reveals how to have a successful career in music.
25 Aug 2022,28 mins
Songs for Madame Vasnier
Richard Langham Smith on the songs Debussy wrote for his muse Madame Vasnier.
10 Jan 2012,30 mins
The MTV Generation
Sounds like India
Impact of the satellite music channel on Indian music and culture
28 Jul 2006,26 mins
More episodes
Composers' Journeys
Tchaikovsky in Italy
Tchaikovsky travelled to escape his disastrous marriage to his pupil Antonina Miliukova
21 Oct 1994,13 mins
More episodes
Changing My Voice
Christopher Gabbitas explores the effects on singers of changing the pitch of their voice.
03 Jul 2012,30 mins
Coming Soon: Radio 6 Indie Forever
Radio 6 Indie Forever begins TODAY at 10am!
22 Jul 2026,240 mins