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Writer's pictureTrig50ish

Day Sixty Nine - ancient music

Updated: Mar 18

There's usually about an hour or two between the moment Iulia conks out on the couch and the time when I'm ready for bed. I'm a bit like my father - he used to perch side on the couch pointing towards the TV and then doze off just in the middle of the important or funny bit of a show.


For me, that dead entertainment space between Iu's unconsciousness and then mine - well that's potential eating time.


Happily for me there is this wonderful free-to-air channel called BBC 4 which around about this time of night broadcasts utterly unwatchable programmes that send you to sleep. The most recent being the one about obsessively interested academics trying to figure out what ancient music sounded like.


And because no one knows, it's a bit of a pointless show. What they ultimately come up with is either a total guess playing an instrument that sounds like you're blowing through the tubes in a goat's bladder, or is a more educated stab based on some medieval monk's attempt to align ancient Greek musical notation with modern methods. This latter sound is like the most boring bit of recitative in the world's slowest, most tuneless opera.


All the ancient scenes depicting musicians suggest everyone is having a whale of a time - but not if they were playing that dross. Taylor Swift it ain't.


It is however very easy to fall asleep to. And stop eating.

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Guest
Mar 06
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Is that eating AFTER DINNER?

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Trig50ish
Trig50ish
Mar 06
Replying to

When dinner is soup, there’s always an after dinner.

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