SharonS, Journal of Sonic Studies

LISTENING TO DEEP LISTENING

Reflection on the 1988 Recording and the Lifework of Pauline Oliveros

This article weaves personal reflections upon the 1988 recording by Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster and Panaiotis, entitled Deep Listening, with a story of Deep Listening®, the lifework of Pauline Oliveros, in which the author refers to highlights in the history of as well as presents some of the foundational aspects of the praxis. Throughout this story of Deep Listening® appears, in the form of audio and film material, the first track of the Deep Listening recording, ‘Lear’; Pauline Oliveros herself, leading a Deep Listening Session Masterclass during the Sonic Acts Festival XIV in Amsterdam in February 2012; and two examples of practitioners of Deep Listening® who present and comment upon their work and approach. The focus of this article seeks to remain close to a ‘doing of’: a bodymind engagement with listening, responding, and creating in a way that reflects the practice of Deep Listening®. A type of receptive listening, an inner opening to and following of the movements of the body-with-sound encounter, is presented here as ‘somatic listening’.