On Saturday evening Pauline Oliveros was presented with the William Schuman Award at a concert of her works at Columbia University's Miller Theater. This award honors the lifetime achievement and lasting significance of a contemporary American composer. I was one of many artists gathered together for a most remarkable evening of compositions spanning 50 years of Pauline's creative work.
A friend of mine who attended the concert - a musician of the very highest calibre - emailed me afterwards that "Last night, I realized the extent to which she made a direct impact on so many people, from musicians to non-musicians, and what an amazing human being she must be." Pauline recently asked if I would contribute a Midword to her forthcoming book Sounding the Margins: Collected Writings 1992-2009. I'd like to offer that Midword here, too, as a written tribute along side of my aural contributions to the other night.
Have you ever stopped, mid-word, and then continued on? Have you ever listened, in seemingly slowed-down time, as each syllable of your voice crumbles into sound, a division continuing without end? Have you ever found yourself on stage performing and then - suddenly – listened as something totally unexpected sounded forth from your body? Have you ever listened - really listened - and then, mid-word, or mid-phrase, or mid-life, changed directions?
Pauline Oliveros has a knack of being a catalyst to those surrounding her, for changes of every sort; musical and personal, outward and visible, inner and transformational. One of the most revolutionary aspects of her professional life has been to reject the conventional hierarchical role of a composer. Rather than asking performers to set aside their creativity in service to hers, she invites them to develop their own musical potential. Rather than asking audiences to be recipients of the creative efforts of others, she invites them to participate in the process. In Pauline’s music there is an elision between the traditionally authoritarian role of the composer and the resulting subservient roles of the performer and audience. She offers instead a continuum where performers also compose, audiences also perform, and most importantly of all, everyone listens. The energy created by this type of intentional listening is palpable, and it is in this listening that the transformational power of Pauline’s compositions becomes most evident.
In “Sounding the Margins”, Pauline Oliveros brings to the foreground the importance of developing the creative potential of all individuals, including those which have been unfortunately – and sometimes deliberately – marginalized. By consciously moving away from structures of power where the composer’s creativity is the sole one in evidence, Pauline is able to realize her musical vision while at the same explicitly encouraging and supporting the development of creative potential in others. As a world-renowned performing composer, she continually provides opportunities for lesser-known artists to join her onstage.
Unparalleled as a collaborative artist, her generosity of spirit defines her teaching as it does her music and her life. In the most literal sense, what I offer as a Midword will be centrally placed within this volume. However, what I have received from Pauline - what she has offered me, and the world, though her compositions, performances, teaching, and listening - has been centrally placed in my life.
It is fitting that Pauline herself have last words of this Midword, words that from my own experience I know can change a thought, a musical phrase, and a life: “Deep Listening is listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing.”
