In a career, spanning more than 50 years, Pauline Oliveros has kept true to the principle that we need to be continually aware of sounds that surround us in our daily lives. She advocates disciplining our response so that you “listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you are listening”.
Oliveros’ preferred instrument – the accordion – is an unorthodox one since it is more commonly associated with traditional folk or ethnic music. She plays neither.
She is a classically trained musician who believes that recording is not always best served by the relatively sterile environment of concert halls or recording studios. Take for example the album ‘Deep Listening’ recorded in a vast disused cistern (‘the cistern chapel’) at a former army base in Fort Worden, Washington, This record, made in collaboration with Stuart Dempster and Panaiotos, features the pure, untreated acoustic instrumentation combined with the remarkable reverb in the ‘chapel’.
Deep Listening is also the name she gave to her band as well as the institute she founded which “promotes innovation among artists and audiences in creating, performing, recording, and educating
with a global perspective”.
Oliveros’ belief is that sound has the potential to touch our inner selves ,or psyche, even to affect the way we see the world – “creative music”, she says, “or music that is newly composed or improvised can influence change by challenging habitual thought patterns” (Breaking The Silence – January 1998).
She shows that music can, and should, be so much more than simply establishing a pleasant ambience or creating a light diversion.
