Jarrod Richey's Musical Meanderings on music education, church music, hymnody, and more.
jarrodrichey.substack.com (https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Someone once asked me how you get a person to love Bach when they would rather listen to Taylor Swift. In this episode, I reflect on why that question is framed the wrong way and how C.S. Lewis’s distinction between cutting down jungles and irrigating deserts relates to musical education. The goal is not to take things away. It is to enlarge a person’s capacity to hear. Good music rewards return visits, and the better your ears are trained, the more you notice everywhere else.
The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.
Here’s a link to the original article: https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/publish/post/139706169 (https://jarrodrichey.substack.com/publish/post/139706169)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com (https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
16 Oct 2026
Friday FIVE: October 16 - Imitation as Thankfulness
In 1829, a twenty-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducted Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Berlin and helped awaken a new generation to music that had largely disappeared from public performance. In this episode, I reflect on that remarkable act of musical stewardship, and on the deeper pattern it illustrates. Mendelssohn did for Bach what Bach did for those who came before him: he received an inheritance, studied it, and passed it along. In a time when originality is prized above almost everything else, this episode makes a case for imitation as its own form of thankfulness.
The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com (https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
9 Oct 2026
Friday FIVE: October 9 - In My Life
On what would have been John Lennon’s 86th birthday, I return to “In My Life,” one of his most reflective songs and one of the great tracks from Rubber Soul. In this episode, I consider the restraint of Lennon’s lyric, George Martin’s iconic keyboard interlude, and the way memory, people, and the passing of time shaped some of Lennon’s best writing. I also make a case for listening to Rubber Soul straight through, with Revolver close behind, and briefly touch on “A Day in the Life” and “Watching the Wheels” as other examples of Lennon at his most observant.
The Friday FIVE is a weekly five-minute podcast series from Musically Speaking that features music commentary, examples, and recommendations from Jarrod Richey.
Here’s a link to “In My Life”: https://youtu.be/ngzQTxXEcxQ (https://youtu.be/ngzQTxXEcxQ)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jarrodrichey.substack.com (https://jarrodrichey.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
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