“Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.” This is a Sonic Meditation, one of the sound-and-movement exercises developed by pioneering electronic-music composer Pauline Oliveros in the 1970s as part of a group of techniques meant to expand consciousness.
One of those techniques is Deep Listening, a practice Oliveros developed for musicians, composers, or any “ear-minded people.” Listening is different from hearing, and Deep Listening trains the listener to actively engage with sound. It’s a dynamic form of meditation, rather than passive, and one that combats the harm caused by the firehose of information blasting all of us all of the time.
This 90- to 120-minute program, led by local composer Keith Lay (who studied with Oliveros herself), will encompass some kinetic movement as well as listening and “sounding,” a sonic breath exercise.
10 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 18, Timucua Arts Foundation, 2000 S. Summerlin Ave., timucua.com, pay what you can.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2022.
