My friend Justin Lepard stops by this week to discuss a brief history of music! Music has been a part of human history since prehistoric times, playing a role in social and religious rituals. The earliest evidence of musical instruments dates back to around 40,000 years ago, with examples such as percussion instruments made from rock and flutes made from bone. Hunter-gatherer societies, such as Native American, African Pygmy, Australian Aborigine, and North American Arctic groups, primarily used vocal music and body percussion, with instruments made from organic materials. These early musical activities and instruments can be thought of as part of a suite of communicative media, with more complex instruments appearing in the archaeological record around the time of more complex ornaments, cave art, figurines, and grave goods. It is likely that music had a much older prehistory, but it is lost to the record. This is an excellent conversation with a brilliant human being!
I am an eclectic cellist who specializes in improvisation and music production.
Hailing from Nebraska, I’ve been messing around with music since I was in middle school. Varied interests led me to classic rock and writing songs to getting very serious about classical study when I was 16, to getting deep into contemporary classical and jazz in college, to the last 5 or so years of also producing music.
Along the way I’ve gotten some cool opportunities, like working with some of the best conductors in the world like Simon Rattle, Keith Lockhart, Matthias Pintscher, and Julian Lage. I’ve also performed jazz alongside greats such as Rufus Reid and Eric Alexander. In 2014 I attended the prestigious Lucerne Festival Academy, which subsequently led to touring Europe for a project with the MIT Media Lab. As a recording soloist I’ve been featured in films such as Togo (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), and Where’s Rose? (2021). I’ve made teaching videos that have also garnered almost a million views, and are among the first hits for how to play cello on Youtube.
Nowadays I’m deepening the pursuit of cello in modern music through my youtube channel Justin Lepard Psychedelic Cello, where I make beautiful covers and original music in what is hopefully a very restorative way; through performances with my wife as a duo; and by collaborating via remote recording with many wonderful artists. Below are some more examples to listen to, and feel free to reach out here.
https://www.youtube.com/@UCeywhjUk8LZrsBXHb3or20A
John Waters | Legendary Filmmaker | #35 Homeless Romantic Podcast
https://youtu.be/XttAjMmiPzE
Dr. Gerald Horne | Professor of History | #64 Homeless Romantic Podcast
https://youtu.be/VIgOjdKHiKs
Vijay Prashad | Author & Historian | US Imperialism | #66 Homeless Romantic Podcast
https://youtu.be/wI3jYF7oLBo
Guy McPherson Ph.D. | The End Of The World | Evolutionary Biologist | #81 HR
https://youtu.be/nlmoU7Las6E
Josh Robert Thompson | The Voice Of Geoff Peterson | Comedian | #90 HR
https://youtu.be/e-a3Ks-WYx0
https://linktr.ee/ChrisJeffries
The Homeless Romantic Podcast
https://chris-jeffries.com/