On May 30th 2012, Pauline Olveros will be 80. To mark this occasion Important Records are releasing a massive 12 CD box set entitle Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970; a collection of  mostly unreleased works along with essays by Oliveros, Alex Chechile, Ramon Sender, David Bernstein, and Cory Arcangel.

Oliveros is one of the key figures in experimental electronic music. I first encountered her work through the album she made with Stuart Dempster & Panaiotis in 1989 called Deep Listening.

I wrote a piece about this a few years back and I’m posting this article by way of tribute to her innovative and inspirational work.

DEEP LISTENING IN THE CISTERN CHAPEL

In 1988 a group of three musicians travelled 70 miles northwest of Seattle to a former army base in Fort Worden, Washington. Their  destination was a cavernous underground cylinder built in 1907.

This was originally constructed to hold up to two million gallons of water and to withstand possible military air strikes. The cistern was made of re-enforced concrete and supported by 88 pillars; more per square yard than the average skyscraper. The size , shape and internal web of pillars meant that the cylinder had gave the such extraordinary acoustics that it had earned the nickname :  ‘The Cistern Chapel’.  Musician, Stuart Dempster,  describes it in this way:

“The remarkable thing about the acoustic space is the long reverb, which could  approach 45 seconds, and the lack of slap echoes and distinct early reflections that are often characteristic of large cathedrals; only pure, smooth reverb, the type that can be simulated electronically but is thought to be unrealistic and fantastical”

The recording project within this ‘chapel’ was the brainchild Pauline Oliveros, a classically trained musician who believes that recording is not always best served by the relatively sterile environment of concert halls or recording studios.

Oliveros’  preferred instrument – the accordion – is also unorthodox since it is more commonly associated with traditional folk or ethnic music.

Oliveros is a prime example of an artist who fully embraces the concept of ‘free’ experimental music, what avant-garde composer Edgard Varese called ‘the liberation of sound’ .  She represents  the restless forward momentum that typifies so much of the America’s musical life. The dedication to change as a symbol of progress is something which challenges conventional attitudes and  radicalises ‘traditional’ genres.  It is part of the process whereby existing musical forms are continually reinvented as successive generations seek to define the present in their own terms.

Oliveros’ career, which has spanned more than 50 years, is founded upon the abiding principle that we need to be more conscious of sounds that surround us in our daily lives. As a result, she advocates disciplining our response to sound  and “listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you are listening” (Keynote address – Bridge to Collaboration, 1998) NYC).

This increased receptiveness and sensitivity to sound means that the concept of making music becomes more than just a question of generating a pleasant ambience or a source of light diversion.  In other words, sound should be viewed as something with the potential to touch our psyche and as such, something which  profoundly affects the way we see the world – “creative music”, says Oliveros, “or music that is newly composed or improvised can influence change by challenging habitual thought patterns” (Breaking The Silence – January 1998).

According to Oliveros, the more intently we listen, the more there is to hear.  She coined the term ‘deep listening’ as a way to describe the total immersion in sound she advocated.

‘Deep Listening’  is also the name given to the album of recordings made in the Fort Worden cistern in collaboration with Stuart Dempster and Panaiotos. The recording makes use of improvised voices ,trombone, didgeridoo and accordion together with unconventional ‘instruments’ such as conch shells, metal pipes and even a garden hose!   What you hear is the pure, untreated sound of these acoustic instruments and, most remarkably, the reverb in this space which is so distinctive that it  takes on the character of an extra instrument.

Oliveros’  ideas of sense perception have certain similarities those of English author and critic John Berger.  In Berger’s book ‘Ways of Seeing’, he argues that although every day we are bombarded by a “density of visual images” we cannot make sense of what we see unless we develop skills for looking beyond the image to interpret their social and political implications. Berger wrote that seeing  “establishes our place in the surrounding world“. and as such directly determines our relationship with the world around us. Perception is a conscious mental act and what  Berger argues in regard  to the sense of sight, is mirrored in Oliveros’ writings on listening.  Berger and Oliveros are both insistent that our sense perception needs to be trained so the imaginative mind can be educated to respond to external stimuli.

Pauline Oliveros’ has argued that her methods are particularly useful for other women because they show a way to move beyond passive supporting roles towards a more active role in musical composition and performance.