Sonic Meditations Pauline Oliveros Pdf

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PaulineOliveros is an American composer and accordionist who is a central figure in the development of experimental and electronic art music, redefining the boundaries of music making for more than 50 years. She is joined by noted author, director, and dream specialist IONE in the Veterans Room to present a Deep Listening Intensive, exploring the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature of listening through movement and sonic, interactive meditations. Conducted in multiple sessions over two days, the experience reengages the listener with the sounds of daily life, nature, imagination, and dreams, to offer a new sonic reality that shows that there is more to listening than meets the ear.

I started composing sonic meditations at the end of the 1960s, beginning of the 1970s. At the time, I was composing in prose, not music notation, because I wanted anybody who was interested to be able to participate. In fact, we even translated some of these text scores into other languages. Composing sonic meditations took me in a new direction that was very different from what the Western paradigm was at the time.

... is a composer, sound artist, and writer based in Philadelphia. His writing has appeared in Tempo, Music & Literature, and elsewhere. He is Editor-in-chief of the experimental interdisciplinary...More by William Dougherty

The wonderful composer and performer Pauline Oliveros, recently passed away leaving a legacy of music, ideas, and thinking about sound and people. I first came across Pauline Oliveros during my undergraduate work and remember looking at some of her vocal scores in the library stacks, fascinated by her use of the voice as sound.

Listening is probably one of the most important concepts that our students can learn and engage in. When asking our students to listen, whether to music, sound or each other, do we ask them to listen deeply? This is exactly what composer and performer Pauline Oliveros asks of us. Oliveros spent years developing her concept of Deep Listening and even has an organization that teaches people how to practice deep listening. People across the world have performed and listened to her Worldwide Tuning Meditation in an attempt to connect people across the world and with each other. The tuning meditation also exists for orchestras. I have music education students perform and engage with Worldwide Tuning Meditation as one our first forms of engagement in our Art of Teaching Contemporary Musicians at Arizona State University. In addition to being an important and valuable form of musical engagement in and of itself, I think the music and experience serve as wonderful metaphors for what it means to learn and teach music, particularly in hybrid settings.

Sound explorations and sonic meditations are very interesting techniques in helping our students listen in ways in which they might be unfamiliar. As mentioned earlier, at the 2006 International Society for Improvised Music conference Pauline Oliveros led the entire group of attendees in a sonic meditation. I remember feeling amazing afterward and thinking that it would make an excellent transition for students after coming in from the hustle and bustle in the hallway to our music classrooms. Besides encouraging them to listen to each other it might help them gain a sense of their own voice and how it fits within the collective voice of their class.

Think about the important role that Pauline Oliveros has played for music and humanity and consider providing students an opportunity to engage with her music, ideas, and the larger concept of deep listening.

We are guided by her scores which involve making, listening, imagining and thinking about sounds together, in order to gain a greater awareness of each other. Every week a different person leads the exercises and guides the group in different directions. Often exercises require a mixture of introspection and expanded awareness of others; with the emphasis on the shared experience. We have been listening together for around a year now and the process is a practice that constantly informs my other group performance work. The experience shifts from powerful to playful to reflective to energising.

These sessions have felt like a recurrent metronome, a regular and continuous beat I could return to when all my making felt out of kilter. A grounding and sustaining rhythm. The sonic meditations also became an invigorating avenue of creative communication and support, fostering friendships and self-care. There is nothing like the joy of making strange noises with others in the face of a crisis! And with the artistic community of the art department physically dislocated, this virtual togetherness has been invaluable.

This piece is very poignant and full of the depth of longing. I can specifically recall every time I have listened to it, and the physical and mental environment I was in: It holds for me in its long drawn out tones an acknowledgement of everything.

Most of the Pauline Oliveros Papers have been digitized, with the exception of oversize (material with "FB" or "MC" container designations) and some published content. Many folders in the collection, such as writings and correspondence, may be viewed without restriction by clicking directly on the blue title links. Musical works and compositions, and related materials in shared folders with musical works and compositions, may only be viewed by registered users through the Library's Virtual Reading Room service. Please request all musical works directly from the finding aid for access facilitated through the Library's virtual reading room service.

Papers of Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016), American experimental musician, composer and key figure in the development of contemporary electronic music. The collection contains Oliveros' original writings, compositions, correspondence and sketches. Also included are interviews, programs and reviews, teaching materials and writings about and relating to Oliveros' work.

Pauline Oliveros was born in Houston, Texas in 1932. An accomplished accordionist, composer and teacher, she is an instrumental figure in the world of electronic music. Oliveros was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, a resource for electronic music in the 1960s. Later, the Center moved to Mills College and became the Center for Contemporary Music where Oliveros was the Center's first director.

Oliveros' teaching career spans several decades. She left Mills College in 1967 when she accepted a faculty position at the University of California, San Diego. From 1976-1979 Oliveros served as the director of the Center for Music Experiment (CME), later renamed The Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) at UCSD.

In 1981 she moved to upstate New York to work as an independent composer and performer. She then became the Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York and the Darius Milhaud Artist-in-Residence at Mills College.

Oliveros is the founder of The Deep Listening Institute, formerly the Pauline Oliveros Foundation. In 1991 she coined the term "Deep Listening". The Institute explains Deep Listening philosophy , stating that it "distinguishes the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary selective nature of listening. The result of the practice cultivates appreciation of sounds on a heightened level, expanding the potential for connection and interaction with one's environment, technology and performance with others in music and related arts." Out of this philosophy, Oliveros formed the Deep Listening Band with fellow musicians David Gamper and Stuart Dempster.

Oliveros has been a great influence on American electronic and experimental music. In 2009, she won the William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement from Columbia University and in 2010, a retrospective of her work from 1960 to 2010 was performed in honor of the award.

On March 19th, 2012, Oliveros became the recipient of the John Cage Award from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts. Also in 2012, Pauline Oliveros celebrated her 80th birthday with year long celebration performances, Deep Listening activities and residencies.

Some of her notable works include Sonic Meditations, Sound Patterns, and Theater of Substitution series. She has also written several books on music theory and electronic music including Sounds the Margins: Collected Writings 1992-2009, Deep Listening: A Composer's Sound Practice, Roots of the Moment, Software for People: Collected Writings 1963-80. Oliveros died November 24, 2016 in Kingston, New York.

Papers of Pauline Oliveros, composer, accordionist and former music professor at UCSD. Materials include correspondence, works and writings by Pauline Oliveros and others, manuscripts of Oliveros' compositions, subject files, reel-to-reel audio tapes and ephemera. These materials were originally located at UCSD's Music Library.

A) Compositions: Oliveros' catalog of musical compositions from 1951-1980, manuscript scores, drafts, sketches and related programs, correspondence and photographs. Notable works include Sonic Meditations, Sound Patterns, and Theater of Substitution series.

Series 2) WRITINGS: Manuscript drafts, typescripts and some supporting correspondence and notes. Included is material for Oliveros' book, Software for People: Collected Writings 1963-80, published in 1984. Arranged alphabetically.

Series 3) PROJECTS: Various documents on some of the early projects Pauline Oliveros was involved with. Arranged in three subseries: A) San Francisco Tape Music Center at Mills College, B) Meditation Projects, and C) The Woman's Ensemble.

A) San Francisco Tape Music Center: Oliveros was one of the original members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, which was an important resource for electronic music during the 1960s. The Center later moved to Mills College. This subseries includes typescript articles and miscellaneous materials relating to the Center's proposal for an environmental exhibit, Summer Tour 1964 information, concert reviews, publicity information and other documents.

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