Pauline Oliveros, known as the “sound art pioneer” (Otitigbe, 2016) delves into the topic of deep listening with her TEDx Talk in 2015. During her lecture, she explains that the “Ears do not listen to sounds; the brain does.” (Isaza, 2016). With that being said, I personally agree with Oliveros as I do believe that ears do not always listen when sounds are being heard in the background. Whether we choose to focus on or analyse the noise, is purely dependent on our curiosity. It is easier for us as humans to walk around day-to-day hearing noises coming from everywhere around us. For example, a busy street, shop, garden etc. Oliveros also mentions how deep listening is seen as a ‘lifetime practice’ for some, as it is a skill to build towards depicting topics psychologically. She quoted “We know more about hearing than listening.”(Young, Unknown) which further elaborates my point that hearing is easier than listening.
Accompanying Olivero’s TEDx Talk, our teacher began to carry out ‘listening practices’ to see if we could analyse and categorise different sounds into high, mid-high, mid, mid-low, and low; in terms of critical music listening (active listening) when evaluating the attack, body and decay of an audio. Active listening falls under aural awareness which is the ‘key to sound design’ (Lukka, 2019), as it helps us to break down different noises/objects/instruments we hear when listening to an audio excerpt.
Returning back to the topic of Pauline Oliveros, she had written a book by the name of Sonic Meditations, where she teaches readers about the meditation of deep listening. One of her practices called ‘Teach Yourself to Fly’ (Page 4, Sonic Meditations) is meant to introduce the translation of voice to instrument. I understood this exercise to be a practice where you listen to your own voice instead of hearing, noticing the vibrations of sound waves from your vocal chords rather than the words spoken out of your mouth.
Bibliography
Isaza M Listener, Miguel. “What Sounds Do – Open Call for Papers.” Sonic Field, 30 Jan. 2016, https://sonicfield.org/pauline-oliveros-on-the-difference-between-hearing-and-listening/.
Jessica Otitigbevar, doNotHash: false. “Remembering the Deep Listening Pioneer: Pauline Oliveros.” Remembering the Sounds of the World’s Most Iconic Deep Listening Pioneer: Pauline Oliveros | News & Events, 2016, https://news.rpi.edu/content/2016/11/30/remembering-deep-listener-pioneer-pauline-oliveros.
Lukka, Lauri. “The Art of Active Listening.” Medium, UX Collective, 4 Jan. 2019, https://uxdesign.cc/the-art-of-active-listening-b5df58e53ab1.
Oliveros, Pauline. “Page 4.” Sonic Meditations: March – November 1971, Smith Publ. American Music, Baltimore, MD, Baltimore, 1974, pp. Page 4-Page 4.
Young, Sabrina Peña. “The Difference between Hearing and Listening: Deep Listening with Composer Pauline Oliveros.” Musical U, 13 July 2011, https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-difference-between-hearing-and-listening-deep-listening-with-composer-pauline-oliveros/.