From a Colombian ritual flute heard backstage at Oslo Mela to a children’s TV theme tune played on a London school playground, this episode explores why pentatonic scales turn up everywhere — and why they feel so immediately playable, memorable, and emotionally direct. Along the way, Steve unpacks the thinking behind the theme tune he wrote for My Friend Maisy (also available on NOW), based on the books by Lucy Cousins, and how five carefully chosen notes can shape an entire musical world.
The episode takes a gentle detour into Colombian traditional music with a backstage conversation recorded in 2024 with El León Pardo of Mestizo Collective, exploring the gaita — a ritual wind instrument built around paired male and female voices, deep cultural symbolism, and tightly limited pitch material. That sound becomes a useful reference point for the episode’s main thread: how scales function less like theory and more like palettes of identity.
Back in TV land, Steve breaks down the Maisy theme in detail, showing how pentatonic scales sit at the heart of children’s musical toys, playground instruments, and early musical experiences — and why avoiding semitone clashes makes music feel instantly safe, inclusive, and playable. Using live demonstrations, playground recordings, and some creative repitching in Melodyne, the episode shows how tiny changes to a scale can completely transform a melody’s emotional character.
• A backstage conversation with León Pardo about the Colombian gaita, its ritual use, construction, and sound-world.
• How male and female gaita flutes are paired, and what that reveals about musical identity.
• Why pentatonic scales appear in folk traditions, playground instruments, and children’s musical toys worldwide.
• A breakdown of the theme tune Steve wrote for My Friend Maisy, based on the books by Lucy Cousins.
• Why playground bells and boomwhackers are almost always pentatonic — and why that matters.
• A live experiment repitching the Maisy theme into an Ethiopian-inflected pentatonic.
• Why thinking of scales as identities or colour palettes can make musical listening feel less intimidating.
Also in this episode, Steve reflects on why many people drift away from music when theory becomes detached from sound — and why listening itself is a learnable, creative skill, whether or not you play an instrument.
Plus details of the upcoming Steve Pretty On the Origin of the Pieces live shows at Wilton’s Music Hall on 24th January, including the first ever Origin KIDS matinee at 2pm and the evening show at 7pm. Full details and tickets at originofthepieces.com/live.
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