Deep listening. La pratica sonora di una compositrice

by Pauline Oliveros, Diana Lola Posani (Translator)

Pauline Oliveros è stata una delle più importanti compositrici contemporanee. Musicista, educatrice e scrittrice, il suo pensiero e le sue pratiche hanno segnato profondamente lo sviluppo della musica elettronica. Il Deep Listening da lei teorizzato è una pratica che unisce il pensiero femminista e queer, un approccio hacker verso qualsiasi strumento capace di emettere suoni e un metodo libertario nel condividerli. Insegnata in tutto il mondo presso un'infinità di istituzioni culturali, si tratta di una pratica in grado di trasformare radicalmente il nostro approccio a tutti i fenomeni acustici, capace di farci immaginare un nuovo significato per gli spazi che abitiamo, e consegnarci un rapporto inedito con la materia vibratile che ci circonda e un nuovo piacere nel riscoprire le più profonde implicazioni dei nostri sensi, ottusi dal frastuono della contemporaneità. Questo breve manuale, ricco di esercizi e domande – piccole sfide alla nostra capacità di prestare un ascolto autentico e profondo – è uno strumento in grado di stimolare la nostra attenzione e curiosità verso il paesaggio acustico in cui siamo immersi. Premessa di Stuart Dempster.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art, Science, Philosophy, Meditation, Spirituality

166 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2005

Reviews

[julieta · Rating 2 out of 5]

La verdad este libro me pareció un timo. Quizás la práctica misma que propone sea algo factible, de hecho me resulta super interesante la idea, eso de escuchar, y partir hacia una meditación desde la escucha. Y hay un par de comentarios sobre el sonido y nuestra manera de escuchar, que rescato. El adentrarte en los sonidos, porque es algo que siempre se nos pierde en el camino.
Pero como libro es un desastre. Realmente pensé que se trataba de una teoría sobre la escucha, y el "deep listening" (que es una marca registrada de la autora! qué viva eh?), pero son ejercicios para hacer en grupo, comentarios de gente que ha estado, mencionan como mil veces la increíble artista que es pauline oliveros, lo importante, etc etc.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some really insightful content about our relationship to sound. The rest of the book, which has long descriptions of meditative practices, is not very informative. The practices aren't significantly different from what you might find in other approaches to meditation, and it's hard to understand how they relate to the author's approach to music.

[Matīss Mintāls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pārāk daudz meditācijas vingrinājumu (vairāk kā puse grāmatas satura, jau tā dēļ vien grāmatai bija jāsaucas savādāk), pārāk maz teorijas par skaņas iedarbību, diezgan virspusēji par dziļās klausīšanās jēgu un izpausmēm.

[Scott Neigh]

An odd little book. My reason for reading it was not terribly well aligned with its own purpose, so my relative indifference to it should not be taken too seriously. The author is an experimental composer, seemingly fairly well known in her particular niche, who has spent a lifetime thinking about listening. I heard about it because another book that I read quoted some of this author's insights, and I decided to read it for myself. Rather less of the book than I had hoped is comprised of said insights, however, and rather more is devoted to outlining the listening-based meditative practice after which the book is named. It seems like it could be a useful practice, if you are in the market for such a thing, but I am not. I think the book would be improved if more space was devoted to explanation, and if the fragments out of which much of the book is built were brought together into a clearer whole. And, while I certainly hope that everyone is able to find paths to wisdom and solace and good living that work for them, I do find the sensibility that might broadly be labelled "New Age" to be a bit hard to take, and there were at least hints of that here in amidst the other spiritual and intellectual and meditative traditions that inform the book. Anyway, even if they did end up being a minority of the book, I still appreciate the author's insights into listening and attention, and there were also a couple of short personal essays by other people towards the end of the book that weren't necessarily relevant to my narrow purpose but were certainly interesting.

[Marijke Maes]

An interesting introduction to DL, but it didn’t feel groundbreaking nor did it particularly touch me or inspire me. Some passages were interesting! But the book as a whole felt incomplete? Or a bit fragmented yet repetitive? But I suppose reading the book by yourself isn’t the same as experiencing the meditations in a group on such a deep level, or doing a DL retreat. Which i would love to do.
Maybe I’m just wearing spiritual blinders. idk. This all confused me.

[Cobertizo · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Acuéstate boca arriba en la tierra o en el suelo con la cabeza orientada al centro del círculo. ¿Podrías imaginar que te olvidas de todo lo que no necesitas? Al sentir la solidez de la tierra en la que yaces, Podrías imaginar el peso de tu cuerpo se altera suavemente en respuesta a la atracción de la gravedad? ¿Podrías imaginar sentir las vibraciones más sutiles de la tierra o el suelo? ¿Podrías imaginar que estás escuchando todo lo que suena como si tu cuerpo fuera la tierra entera? ¿Podrías imaginar que eres cada vez más consciente de la enorme cantidad de sonidos que pueden escucharse en un momento dado? ¿Podrías imaginar que puedes expresas con tu voz cualquier sonido que acuda a ti de modo natural? ¿Podrías imaginar que puedes continuar esta meditación sonora sintiendo, escuchando, respirando y emitiendo sonidos? ¿Podrías imaginar que tú eres sonido?"

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, simple, democratic, gorgeous -- an introduction to what "deep listening" is as well as exercises, this book is inspiring towards any kind of meditation or creativity, especially in groups -- it taught me a lot about how to teach the arts effectively, as well as think about listening in new ways, as well as getting past blockages of how you limit yourself creatively. Pauline forever.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

She is amazing, of course, and her ideas are amazing but what a wierd, disjointed jumble of a collection of writings this is.

[Giuseppe Pisano · Rating 2 out of 5]

please, stop this hippie crap.

[Victoria Florencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep Listening es un libro muy práctico. No tiene una rosa compleja y se nota que está pensado como un libro de divulgación de este método creado por Pauline Oliveros. Tiene una primera parte en donde la autora define sus conceptos básicos: qué es oír, qué es escuchar, la diferencia entre ambos conceptos y qué implica, para ella, la profundidad. También cuenta un poco sobre su propia historia y cómo llegó a sintetizar está forma de atención y meditación que es el Deep Listening, de donde surge el nombre, etc.
Tiene una segunda parte en donde define la planificación concreta de lo que sucede en una sesión de Deep Listening, con una estructura que se asemeja a la de una clase, bien ordenada y consecuente con el objetivo del encuentro, que es ejercitar la percepción auditiva y la atención. Luego, vienen una serie de descripciones de ejercicios, cada uno con su nombre, su objetivo y las pautas que se deben seguir para poder construir la consigna claramente. Por último, la tercera parte son algo así como "cartas" o descripciones de las experiencias en la voz de quienes participaron de los retiros de Deep Listening con Pauline e Iones. Esas. cartas son hermosas, fueron una de mis partes favoritas del libro, aunque, en verdad me gustó mucho y lo tengo todo marcado. Es un texto muy amable, para una lectura rápida, pero vale la pena detenerse en algunos lugares a mi criterio. Si sos tallerista, profe, artista sonoro, música y das clases, este libro es una gran guia para intentar poner en práctica algunas propuestas, o usarlo como base para crear las propias

[Imanol Basurto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me parece que es un manual antes que un texto teórico, pero no por esto tienen menos profundidad las prácticas que reseña. De hecho, abogaría por decir que antes que un manual es una bitácora que busca propiciar el movimiento en el lector y la enaccion de las sesiones de Escucha Profunda. Tal vez esto permita que el lector-actuante experimente en el cuerpo la teoría.
No lo sé, me enredo. Aún así es una delicia leer las indicaciones y dejarse llevar por su temperamento deliberadamente opaco, ambiguo, instigador, provocador y desestabilizador.
La traducción es buena pero hubiera agradecido una edición que explicitara algunas decisiones, pero esto es más ñoñez mía que crítica objetiva.

[jacob-felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just okay. It seems fairly haphazard. Collected materials not really integrated into a whole. I probably need to spend the time doing the practices described in the book to really benefit from it. The book is padded out with a bunch of essays and listserv posts by Pauline's students. Only bits of that stuff are interesting. I'm still seeking a more definitive Oliveros text.

The ebook is terrible, by the way. Scanned in without editing or formatting of any kind. I must assume the print version is superior.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

a concise overview of the theory and practice of deep listening - a meditative practice of listening that has profound effects of music performance and everyday life - by pauline oliveros, american composer and one of the pioneers of electronic music and free improvisation. it's all here in short passages of instruction and includes some examples of how deep listening is integrated into pauline's scores. (some early scores are also included). highly recommended for musicians and music lovers alike.

[Rocco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ricco di spunti ed esercizi interessanti ma scritto (e tradotto) in un modo davvero fastidioso. Estremamente new age, ogni concetto è nascosto sotto strati e strati di “energia”, “universo” e “anima”. Sono in grado di apprezzare e comprendere quando questi temi sono coerenti e necessari, ma in questo libro ho trovato questo modo di parlare delle cose assolutamente gratuito e superficiale. Un peccato! Leggerò comunque il seguente dato che è piccolo e l’ho già comprato, ma non mi sento di consigliarlo.

[LeAnn Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pauline did a great job of explaining deep listening to a lay person but avid appreciator of music. I enjoyed the exercises laid out that supported listening over simply hearing. I wish there would have been more testimonials to draw from. I also would have liked to see examples right after the exercise instead of after pages of listening exercise explanation. Overall I am walking away with a better appreciation for my own soundscape and I look forward to utilizing a deep listening practice.

[Ginger Eager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended by a musician friend after we spent a night setting each other ablaze with ideas in her studio. I am not great at listening as a musician must, but I have practiced listening as a meditator might, dropping the names for the source of the sound and such. This book has some wonderful exercises.

[David]

Pauline you are basically describing zip-zap-zop on a few of these pages.
I think I expected something different. 🤷‍♀️ there were a few interesting pages.
This continues my Italian saga because I first found this book in a bibliotheca in Palermo. It had a cooler cover too. Turns out “Oliveros” was born in Texas and that name is Spanish anyway. Oh well :)

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely. Really more of a workbook to return to again and again.

[Cary Stough]

My favorite kind of book.

[Pame · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be a bit messy and lacking in structure. It is even difficult to follow the exercises and know how to carry them out.

[Shawn Persinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75

I expected more from this book. Either something more profound or at least more variations on the practical.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to buy physical copy

Excellent reference book to have in my bag when capturing field recordings after a bike ride or conducting Deep Listening meditation practices by myself

[sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

really wish i had the time for this shit

[Betül Sancaklı · Rating 4 out of 5]

It didn’t felt like a proper book but rather some collective instructions, notes and ideas. Still cool though.

[Zak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this to be a deep exploration of listening, but it mainly offers meditation exercises that are only loosely connected to music.

[Onsetsu Evan Cordes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep Listening was a great, quick read to get more insight into the process of Pauline Oliveros's work and learn more what DL is all about.

The scores and sketches are great at giving a quick view into the program.

I can tell from reading about the work that a seminar would be a much better introduction to this work. I've spent enough time learning tai chi, chi kung and meditation myself to know that you can't *just* read it from a book. And that seems to be the key to this book-- it's a sketch.

I'm definitely inspired to try some of the techniques out. Especially starting a listening journal and starting to do more field recording.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessibly explanation of Oliveros' Deep Listening techniques and workshops, along with project descriptions and responses from participants. Hope they get a better copy editor for the next edition!