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139 = Music Down Where It’s Wetter and Throwing Darts Better

July 20, 2026 · 56 min

Show notes

🎺 What would standard instruments sound like if they were played under water?


🎯 What would be the average score of one randomly thrown dart?


📂 And there’s some Any Other Business.AOB.zip


On THIS episode of A Problem Squared we’re joined by a special guest! The musical (and regularly quite wet) musical maestro Steve Pretty tells us all about playing music underwater - illustrated with some very bubbly examples. You can hear more from Steve on his podcast Origin Of The Pieces: https://www.originofthepieces.com/ and hear more from Steve playing shells here: https://www.shellectronica.com/


This is the episode of Steve Pretty’s Origin of the Pieces with Richard Sabin, whale expert and lead curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum, who shares sonic insights from the deep. https://www.originofthepieces.com/episodes/episode-31-earwax-echoes-and-entropy


To find out more about Aquasonic, the ethereal underwater quintet, head here: https://www.betweenmusic.dk/aquasonic


Here is the full Hermeto Pascoal video in all its glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZbfNtDCHdM


And here’s the video of a hydraulophone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgU0OZkGhGI


World Darts Federation Playing and Tournament Rules for all the specifications used in Matt’s working out: https://dartswdf.com/storage/uploads/fb05b306-c92c-4f08-b512-affb092a1b3d/2018-02-28_WDF_Playing_and_Tournament_Rules_rev20.pdf


The fabulously detailed Data Genetics blog post on where to aim on a dart board to maximise point-scoring - A Geek Plays Darts: http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/january12012/index.html


Here’s more about the (excellent) book that Bec shouted out: Gemma Correll - Anxietyland https://www.gemmacorrell.com/


If you’d like to see Bec’s Work In Progress shows, her upcoming gigs can be found here: https://www.bechillcomedian.com/tour-gigs


Matt has extended his tour - and he’s filming the show in London in October - all the dates, venues and tickets can be found here:

http://standupmaths.com/shows


Join us on Patreon for early releases and our monthly bonus podcast I’m A Wizard!

If you’re already on Patreon and have a creative Wizard offer to give Bec and Matt, please comment on our pinned post!

If you want to (we’re not forcing anyone) please do leave us a review, share the podcast with a friend, or give us a rating! Please do that. It really helps.

Finally, if you want even more from A Problem Squared you can connect with us and other listeners on BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, and on Discord.

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