# pauline oliveros ![[poliveros2010.jpg|300]] oliveros in 2010 born: may 30 1932 houston texas u.s died: november 24 2016 (aged 84) kingston new york u.s. occupation: musician known for: deep listening band spouse: carole ione lewis ![[300px-poliveros.jpg|300]] oliveros (right) playing in mexico city in 2006 pauline oliveros (may 30 1932 - november 24 2016) was an american composer accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music they was a founding member of the san francisco tape music center in the 1960s and served as its director. they taught music at mills college the university of california san diego (ucsd) oberlin conservatory of music and rensselaer polytechnic institute. oliveros authored books formulated new music theories and investigated new ways to focus attention on music including ir concepts of "deep listening" and "sonic awareness" drawing on metaphors from cybernetics. they was an eyebeam resident # early life and career oliveros was born in houston texas. they started to play music as early as kindergarten and at nine years of age they began to play the accordion received from ir mother a pianist because of its popularity in the 1940s. they later went on to learn violin piano tuba and french horn for grade school and college music. at the age of sixteen they resolved to become a composer oliveros arrived in california and supported herself with a day job and supplemented this by giving accordion lessons. from there oliveros went on to attend moores school of music at the university of houston studying with willard a. palmer and earned a bfa degree in composition from san francisco state college where ir teachers included composer robert erickson with whom they had private lessons and who mentored ir for six to seven years. this is also where they met artists terry riley stuart dempster and loren rush when oliveros turned 21 they obtained ir first tape recording deck which led to ir creating ir own pieces and future projects in this field. oliveros was one of the original members of the san francisco tape music center which was an important resource for electronic music on the u.s. west coast during the 1960s. the center later moved to mills college with oliveros serving as its first director; it was renamed the center for contemporary music oliveros often improvised with the expanded instrument system an electronic signal processing system they designed in ir performances and recordings. oliveros held honorary doctorates in music from the university of maryland (baltimore county) mills college (oakland california) and de montfort university (leicester england uk) # ucsd in 1967 oliveros left mills to take a faculty music department position at the university of california san diego. there oliveros met theoretical physicist and karate master lester ingber with whom they collaborated in defining the attentional process as applied to music listening. they also studied karate under ingber achieving black belt level. in 1973 oliveros conducted studies at the university's one-year-old center for music experiment; they served as the center's director from 1976 to 1979. in 1981 to escape creative constriction they left ir tenured position as full professor of music at university of california san diego and relocated to upstate new york to become an independent composer performer and consultant # deep listening ![[oliverosom20.jpg|300]] oliveros at other minds 20 in san francisco in 2015 in 1988 as a result of descending 14 feet into the dan harpole underground cistern in port townsend washington to make a recording oliveros coined the term "deep listening" - a pun that has blossomed into "an aesthetic based upon principles of improvisation electronic music ritual teaching and meditation. this aesthetic is designed to inspire both trained and untrained performers to practice the art of listening and responding to environmental conditions in solo and ensemble situations." dempster oliveros and panaiotis then formed the deep listening band and deep listening became a program of the pauline oliveros foundation founded in 1985. the deep listening program includes annual listening retreats in europe new mexico and in upstate new york as well as apprenticeship and certification programs. the pauline oliveros foundation changed its name to deep listening institute ltd. in 2005. the deep listening band which included oliveros david gamper (1947-2011) and stuart dempster specializes in performing and recording in resonant or reverberant spaces such as caves cathedrals and huge underground cisterns. they have collaborated with ellen fullman and ir long-string instrument as well as countless other musicians dancers and performers. the center for deep listening at rensselaer (cdl@rpi) initially under the direction of tomie hahn is now established and is the steward of the former deep listening institute. a celebratory concert was held on march 11 2015 at the experimental media and performing arts center (empac) at the rensselaer polytechnic institute in troy new york. stephanie loveless is the current director of the cdl@rpi # sonic awareness ![[paulineoliveros-sonicacts2012-6931630363.jpg|300]] oliveros at the sonic acts festival in 2012 heidi von gunden names a new musical theory developed by oliveros "sonic awareness" and describes it as "the ability to consciously focus attention upon environmental and musical sound" requiring "continual alertness and an inclination to be always listening" and which they describes as comparable to john berger's concept of visual consciousness (as in ir ways of seeing.) oliveros discusses this theory in the "introductions" to ir sonic meditations and in articles. von gunden describes sonic awareness as "a synthesis of the psychology of consciousness the physiology of the martial arts and the sociology of the feminist movement" and describes two ways of processing information "attention and awareness" or focal attention and global attention which may be represented by a dot and circle respectively a symbol oliveros commonly employs in compositions such as rose moon (1977) and el rilicario de los animales (1979.) (the titles of oliveros' pieces rose moon and rose mountain refer to ir romantic partner linda montano having gone by rose mountain at one time.) later this representation was expanded with the symbol quartered and the quarters representing "actively making sound" "actually imagining sound" "listening to present sound" and "remembering past sound" with this model used in sonic meditations. practice of the theory creates "complex sound masses possessing a strong tonal center" # other oliveros taught at rensselaer polytechnic institute and mills college. they was born in houston texas in 1932 and died in 2016 in kingston new york while attending the university of houston they was a member of the band program and helped form the tau chapter of tau beta sigma honorary band sorority they was openly lesbian. in 1975 oliveros met ir eventual partner performance artist linda montano. the titles of oliveros' pieces rose moon and rose mountain refer to montano having gone by rose mountain at one time. in ir later years oliveros developed a 32-year romantic partnership and creative collaboration with sound artist ione (carole lewis.) the couple worked together on several major musical theatre productions dance operas and films. they were influential figures in ir community. sound artist and experimental turntablist maria chavez a friend and mentee of pauline describes pauline and ione: "when you saw them together you saw love." annie sprinkle's 1992 production the sluts and goddesses video workshop - or how to be a sex goddess in 101 easy steps which was co-produced and co-directed with videographer maria beatty featured music by oliveros oliveros received a 1994 foundation for contemporary arts grants to artists award in 2007 oliveros received the resounding vision award from nameless sound they contributed a chapter to sound unbound: sampling digital music and culture (the mit press 2008) edited by paul d. miller a.k.a. dj spooky they was the 2009 recipient of the william schuman award from columbia university school of the arts oliveros was the author of five books sounding the margins: collected writings 1992-2009 initiation dream software for people the roots of the moment and deep listening: a composer's sound practice in 2012 oliveros received the john cage award from the foundation for contemporary arts some of ir music was featured in the 2014 french video garme naissancee oliveros' work deep listening room was featured in the 2014 whitney biennial oliveros was a member of avatar orchestra metaverse a global collaboration of composers artists and musicians that approaches the virtual reality platform second life as an instrument itself they was also a patron of soundart radio in dartington devon # notable works **+** sonic meditations: "teach yourself to fly" etc **+** sound patterns for mixed chorus (1961) awarded the gaudeamus international composers award in 1962 available on extended voices (odyssey 32 16) 0156 and 20th century choral music (ars nova an-1005) **+** i of iv included in the collection new sounds in electronic music published by odyssey records 1967 **+** music for annie sprinkle's the sluts and goddesses video workshop - or how to be a sex goddess in 101 easy steps (1992) **+** theater of substitution series (1975-?.) oliveros was photographed as different characters including a spanish señora a polyester clad suburban housewife and a professor in robes. jackson mac low played oliveros at the new york philharmonic's "a celebration of women composers" concert on november 10 1975 and oliveros has played mac low (see mac low's "being pauline: narrative of a substitution" big deal fall 1976.) (ibid p. 141) **+** crone music (1989) **+** six for new time (1999) music score for sonic youth **+** "the space between with matthew sperry" (2003) 482music # # books **+** oliveros pauline (2013.) sam golter and lawton hall (ed..) anthology of text scores by pauline oliveros 1971-2013. kingston new york: deep listening publications. 228 **+** - (2010.) lawton hall (ed..) sounding the margins: collected writings 1992-2009. kingston new york: deep listening publications. -16-7 **+** - (2005.) deep listening: a composer's sound practice. new york: iuniverse inc. 65-2 **+** - (1998.) roots of the moment. new york: drogue press. 6-4-2 **+** - (1984.) software for people: collected writings 1963-80. baltimore: printed editions. -59-9 **+** - (1982.) initiation dream. los angeles: astro artz. -07-5 # films **+** 1976 - music with roots in the aether: opera for television. tape 5: pauline oliveros. produced and directed by robert ashley. new york: lovely music **+** 1993 - the sensual nature of sound: 4 composers - laurie anderson tania león meredith monk pauline oliveros. directed by michael blackwood **+** 2001 - roulette tv: pauline oliveros. roulette intermedium inc **+** 2005 - unyazi of the bushveld. directed by aryan kaganof. produced by african noise foundation **+** 2020 - sisters with transistors. directed by lisa rovner **+** zimmerman walter desert plants - conversations with 23 american musicians berlin: beginner press in cooperation with mode records 2020 (originally published in 1976 by a.r.c. vancouver.) the 2020 edition includes a cd featuring the original interview recordings with larry austin robert ashley jim burton john cage philip corner morton feldman philip glass joan la barbara garrett list alvin lucier john mcguire charles morrow j.b. floyd (on conlon nancarrow) pauline oliveros charlemagne palestine ben johnston (on harry partch) steve reich david rosenboom frederic rzewski richard teitelbaum james tenney christian wolff and la monte young // republic of bob