Sonic Meditations

by Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) Pauline Oliveros' life as a composer, performer and humanitarian was about opening her own and others' sensibilities to the universe and facets of sounds. Her career spanned fifty years of boundary dissolving music making. In the '50s she was part of a circle of iconoclastic composers, artists, poets gathered together in San Francisco. In the 1960's she influenced American music profoundly through her inclusive work with improvisation, meditation, electronic music, myth and ritual. The recipient of four Honorary Doctorates, and, among her many recent awards, the William Schuman Award for Lifetime Achievement, Columbia University, New York, NY; The Giga-Hertz-Award for Lifetime Achievement in Electronic Music from ZKM, Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany; and The John Cage award from from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts. Oliveros was Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, and Darius Milhaud Artist-in-Residence at Mills College. She founded 'Deep Listening(R), ' which came from her childhood fascination with sounds and from her works in concert music with composition, improvisation and electro-acoustics. She described Deep Listening as a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, of one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds. 'Deep Listening is my life practice, ' Oliveros explained, simply. Oliveros founded Deep Listening Institute, formerly Pauline Oliveros Foundation, now the Center For Deep Listening at Rensselaer, NY. Her creative work is currently disseminated through Pauline Oliveros Publications and the Ministry of Maåt, Inc(PoPandMoM Productions)

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

8 pages, looseleaf

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

I 1st heard the music of Oliveros on record w/ her "Phase I of IV" - a piece that's in some ways quite simple & wch almost immediately struck me as 'healing music'. I was fortunate enuf to hear her give a presentation in Baltimore that reinforced that "healing" impression. & I was lucky enuf to pick up these scores somewhere along the way. Composed from March to November of 1971, the 1st of 2 introductions to them claims: "With continuous work some of the following becomes possible with Sonic Meditations: Heightened states of awareness or expanded cansciousness, changes in physiology and psychology from known and unknown tensions to relaxations which gradually become permanent."

Oddly, perhaps, knowing Oliveros' work somewhat, I don't find the above pretentious or New-Agey. I take it seriously. Consider this 1st piece:

"-I-

Teach Yourself to Fly

Any number of persons sit in a circle facing the center. Illuminate the space with dim blue light. Begin by simply observing your own breathing. Always be an observer. Gradually allow your breathing to become audible. Then gradually introduce your voice. Allow your vocal chords to vibrate in any mode that occurs naturally. Allow the intensity to increase very slowly. Continue as long as possible naturally, and until all others are quiet, always observing your own breath cycle.

Variation: Translate voice to an instrument.


-II-

Search for a natural or artifical canyon, forest or deserted municipal quad. Perform Teach Yourself to Fly in this space."

The piece is designed to be performable by any skill level. The result cd include a feeling of increased power & ability thru solidarity w/ the other performers. This cd, indeed, be interpreted as a feeling of levitation or flying.

[M]

I’d have to do them before I can think of a proper review