by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
The first of four SheScores concerts of music by underrepresented composers hosted by Local 4 of the Cleveland Federation of Musicians begins at 7 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Read our preview article here. Rehearsal photo by Derek Snyder.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Jarrett Hoffman
American composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros was born on this date in 1932 in Houston. Oliveros is best known for her philosophy of “deep listening” — a term she coined after making a recording in an underground cistern in Port Townsend, WA.
As described by the Deep Listening Institute:
“Deep Listening, as developed by Pauline Oliveros, explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature of listening…It cultivates a heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration, playfulness, and other creative skills vital to personal and community growth.
Oliveros wasn’t alone in that underground cistern. Playing the accordion and her electronic signal processing system known as the Expanded Instrument System, she was joined by Stuart Dempster (trombone, didgeridoo, composer) and the artist Panaiotis (vocals, composer), who together released their album of drone-based improvisations Deep Listening in 1989. They also formed the Deep Listening Band, with David Gamper (keyboards, electronics) replacing Panaiotis in 1990.
You might think you know what to expect from drone sounds recorded in a deeply resonant space, but the result is more otherworldly and powerful than you would imagine. Click here to listen to the full album Deep Listening.
Another famous Oliveros project is Sonic Meditations — as Steve Smith writes in Oliveros’s obituary in The New York Times, “a set of 25 text-based instructions meant to provoke thoughtful, creative responses…[as well as] free music from elite specialists and open it up to everyone, regardless of status experience, or ability.”
Sonic Meditations are intended for groups meeting regularly, but they’re interesting to, well, meditate on alone as well. One of the better-known sets of instructions: “Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.” Give it a try, committing to it, and begin to get a taste of “deep listening.”
