Sunday 27 May 2018, 4–6pm, OTO Project Space
This workshop is part of Contakt's 'Tribute to Pauline Oliveros'. Tickets for all events can be found here.
The ‘DEEP LISTENING' WORKSHOP (4pm) will be led by Viv Corringham, who has worked with oliveros and is certified to teach ‘deep listening’. This is open to musicians and non-musicians.
Can we listen differently to the sounds that compose our world? In this workshop heighten your awareness of the sonic environment - both external and internal - as well as your sense of experimentation, collaboration and playfulness.
Using Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening practices and Sonic Meditations we will focus on one of her recipe-like instruction “scores,” which we will present as a short structured improvisation at the evening concert.
This workshop is open to all with an interest in listening. No previous experience needed.
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform the structured improvisation from the workshop in the evening concert.
Please note that places are limited to 15 participants and advance booking is essential – no tickets will be available on the door.
Curated by Contakt
Supported by PRS Foundation, Arts Council of England and Ambache Charitable Trust.
PAULINE OLIVEROS (1932 – 2016) was an American composer and accordionist. She was a central figure in the development of experimental and post-war electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Centre in the 1960s, and served as its director. She taught music at Mills College, the University of California San Diego, 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 her concepts of "deep listening" and "sonic awareness”. In 1988, as a result of descending 14 feet into an underground cistern 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.
Viv Corringham is a US-based British vocalist and sound artist, described as “a vital force in improvised music since the late 1970s” (Corey Mwamba, BBC Radio 3). She has worked with many musicians including Pauline Oliveros, Charles Hayward, Mike Cooper, Elliott Sharp, and Maggie Nicols. She has done concerts and sound work in twenty-six countries in venues such as Hong Kong Arts Centre, Fonoteca Nacional de Mexico, Issue Project Room New York, and Institute of Contemporary Art London. “From cool Brion Gysin–esque wordplay to looped and multilayered operatic wails” (The Wire).
