Deep Listening with Pauline Oliveros

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers the work of Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016), in particular her philosophy and practice of ‘Deep Listening’. Oliveros’ life and work provide radical inspiration for those engaged in the field of music therapy, and anyone concerned with sound’s deep capacity to connect us to the present moment, each other, and the world. This chapter is based around our own responses to a selection of questions posed by Oliveros in her Listening Questions. Through writing, we attend to our own listening memories, habits, and disciplining; reflect on the socially power inflected nature of listening; and share our transformations and ethics in the sound-worlds of academia, musical culture, and everyday life. Drawing on our experiences as musicians, pedagogues, researchers, and activists, we propose a form of ‘queer listening’ nurtured through the ‘queer ear’, an artful disruption of the traditional hierarchies and power relations which continue to define western practices of listening. This queer ear invites us to attend to our broader collectives through the labour of radical care, and proposes an anti-oppressive philosophy and practice in different spheres of music making, research and education, thus providing fertile ground from which queer and trans music therapy can grow.