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Pauline Oliveros

American Composer, performer and author, born 1932. In the early '60s, Oliveros — with Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender — formed the San Francisco Tape Music Center, and, there, she began her pioneering work with electronics and tape. In performances, Pauline Oliveros uses an accordion which has been re-tuned in two different systems of her just intonation in addition to electronics to alter the sound of the accordion. Throughout the years, she has developed the Extended Instrument System (EIS), a sophisticated setup of digital signal processors designed for use in live performances.

American Composer, performer and author, born 1932. In the early '60s, Oliveros — with Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender — formed the San Francisco Tape Music Center, and, there, she began her pioneering work with electronics and tape. In performances, Pauline Oliveros uses an accordion which has been re-tuned in two different systems of her just intonation in addition to electronics to alter the sound of the accordion. Throughout the years, she has developed the Extended Instrument System (EIS), a sophisticated setup of digital signal processors designed for use in live performances.

Goodbye 20th Century
25th Anniversary Edition. Goodbye 20th Century is a double album of covers of Avant-garde recordings by Sonic Youth and collaborators. SYR4 features works by avant-garde classical composers such as John Cage, Yoko Ono, Steve Reich, and Christian Wolff played by Sonic Youth along with several collaborators from the modern avant-garde music scene, such as Christian Marclay, William Winant, Wharton Tiers, Takehisa Kosugi and others. The album received mixed reviews, but most critics praised the gro…
phase/transitions
Triple Point is an improvising trio whose core instrumentation is soprano saxophone, greis/electronics and V-accordion. The name refers to the point of equilibrium on a phase plot, which acts as metaphor for our improvisational dialogue. Their musical interaction is centered around an interplay between acoustics, physically-modeled acoustics (v-accordion) and electronics. Van Nort captures the sound of the other performers on-the-fly, either transforming these in the moment to create blended tex…
Quartet For The End Of Space
This recording consists of 8 electro-acoustic compositions - 2 pieces by each of the 4 composers. The works span a vast sonic terrain, challenging listener and performer alike through a seamless blend of Deep Listening and Absolute Noise, moving between ever-fluid improvisation and carefully controlled sound manipulation. The quartet convened for two improvisational sessions between February and May of 2010, with López sitting in on a Triple Point (Oliveros/Van Nort/Braasch) recording session an…
Sonic Meditations (Book)
First published in 1971 and long out of print, 'Sonic Meditations' is now reprinted by Pauline Oliveros Publications  & Ministry of Maåt Publications. 25 meditations for musicians of all ages and skill levels, to help them learn how to focus on, listen to, and produce sound naturally. An important work in the development of Oliveros' Deep Listening. A "must" for any music library! "One of the most seminal works in late 20th century avant-garde musical thought, Sonic Meditations not only departs …
The Well And The Gentle
Tip! The Well & The Gentle, two of the major works of Pauline Oliveros, are presented here in a first time reissue on double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes. If Oliveros had followed a more conventional path she may have, all social obstacles aside, been considered among the major composers of her time. However, Oliveros approached composition in a more egalitarian manner. She wrote music for musicians to interact with or, in the composers words, she wished to create "an in…
Nile Night: Remembered Texts from the Deep
Nile Night is a lovely new book of poems that also includes a cd of readings by Ione and music by Pauline Oliveros. 'Nile Night: Remembered Texts from the Deep' will move your mind with sounds, sensations and feelings; arousing your dreams and taking you far into that fabled land of Egypt. How fortunate for me that I shared one of these journeys with Ione and can find my own memories amplified as I dive into the depths of these writings. What an enrichment to have these poetic texts and to keep …
Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
11 CD set adapted from 12 CD edition. All tracks included. This dense 11-disc retrospective of Pauline Oliveros' early and unreleased electronic work includes her very first piece made for tape in 1961. Organized chronologically, this set not only documents Pauline's earliest electronic music but it also functions as an early history of electronic music itself. Follow as she participates in the establishment of the legendary San Francisco Tape Music Center and then moves to University Of Toronto…
Sounding the Margins: Collected Writings 1992-2009
Sounding the Margins: Collected Writings 1992-2009 by composer, performer, humanitarian, and Deep Listening™ founder Pauline Oliveros document her activity over this period and the many recent advances that have taken place in the fields of electronic and telematic musical performance, improvisation, artificial intelligence, and the role of women in contemporary music. Featuring contributions by John Luther Adams, Monique Buzzarté, and Stuart Dempster.
Listening In Dreams: A Compendium of Sound Dreams, Meditations And Rituals for Deep Dreamers
I am waking up, moving through deep layers of sleep-my dream changes-a lively band is playing over in the corner of the room-a small dance floor. I step out from the table and begin to move in time to the music. I'm aware of shadowy figures watching me.Listening in Dreams is a journey into the fascinating world of sound and dreams. Begin an exploration in these pages that you can continue every night during sleep. Learn how to create rituals and play with dreams with your friends and family.  Io…
Initiation Dream
Tip! 1981 original copies of this beautiful artist book - A vivid dream of passage narrated by experimental composer Pauline Oliveros and realized through the exploratory photographs of Becky Cohen.This book carries us deeply and graphically into the world of ritual and meditation that is integral to Oliveros' life and art.
Software For People: Collected Writings 1963-80
Second Edition. Pauline Oliveros's much sought-after 1984 publication Software For People: Collected Writings 1963–80 is back in print. Originally published in 1984, it’s an anthology of essays that covers a broad range of the US composer, philosopher and accordionist’s interests. “I am publishing this collection of twenty-six articles partly to show the growth and change in my attitudes, interests and perceptions over the seventeen year period presented,” explains Oliveros in her introduction. …
Pauline Oliveros: Deep Listening Pieces
Deep Listening Publications, 1990. Second edition. Stapled wrps., 42pp. Illustrated. Fifteen pieces some including audience participation (1971-1990). Through her Deep Listening Pieces and earlier Sonic Meditations (1971), Pauline Oliveros helped introduce the concept of incorporating all environmental sounds into musical performance.  This requires focused concentration, skilled musicianship. and strong improvisational skills, which are the hallmarks of Oliveros' form.
Nessuno
“In 2011 Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, John Tilbury and Wadada Leo Smith opened the AngelicA Festival with 3 days of concerts… they performed solos and duets (Pauline and Roscoe; John and Wadada), and finally, for the first time ever, these 4 distinct musical voices performed together, as a quartet…Over time AngelicA (which is 26 years old) has always tried to bring together different worlds, even ones that were very far apart from each other (although distance is nothing but an illusion if…
Njinga: The Queen King – The Return of a Warrior
Written and Directed by IONE Original music and Sound by Pauline Oliveros Traditional Congolese Music by Titos Sompa Set and Costume Design by Valerie Maynard, Dance and Movement by Carol Chappell, Nego Gato, Biza Sompa and Titos Sompa, Traditional Brazilian Music and Dance by Nego Gato. Njinga the Queen King is a collaborative effort between writer/director Ione and composer Pauline Oliveros, which they refer to as “a play with music and pageantry.” It is based on historica…
Cicada Dream
2013 marked the arrival of millions of periodical cicadas to the new york metropolitan area. these musical insects appear only once every seventeen years. on the occasion of this auspicious event, david rothenberg performed a series of concerts together with composer and deep listener pauline oliveros, overtone singer timothy hill, and live singing insects brought in from the trees. the ensemble of digital accordion, clarinets with electronically enhanced nature sounds, and harmonic singing is c…
& The University Of Michigan Digital Music Ensemble
Pauline Oliveros & the University of Michigan Digital Music Ensemble, directed by Stephen Rush. This DVD, recorded live at University of Michigan, features three of composer and performer Pauline Oliveros' compositions: Sound Piece; Sound Fishes; and Heart of Tones." Audio in 5.1 surround sound; bonus features: audio commentary on Sound Piece by Stephen Rush, Chris Peck and Jon Moniaci; "Spectragram Visualization" version of Heart of Tones; program and posters; scores and bios.
Music in the Air
1st duo release, unedited live recordings from Pauline Oliveros on accordion, conch, percussion and Expanded Instrument System & Chris Brown on piano and live computer signal processing. "Long time friends and colleagues, this is the first ever duo release by Pauline Oliveros and Chris Brown. Music in the Air features Brown on piano and live computer signal processing and Oliveros on accordion, conch, percussion and Expanded Instrument System. The three pieces on the CD were recorded live in the…
Io and her and the trouble with him
Written and directed by Ione. Music and sound design by Pauline Oliveros. A collaborative venture among artists of all types, this 'dance-opera' is a multimedia panorama of experimental theatre and technical virtuosity that includes aerial ballet, masks, video projection, a sinister thousand-eyed monster, and a highly imaginative electronic soundscape. The one-act story, set in primeval time, retells the myth of Io from a matriarchal perspective. Io, Argivian priestess, is transformed by a terri…
Accordion Koto
Listening to this recording session I am lifted to a world both evanescent and yet somehow connected to a distinct culture of music making in the 21st century (Miya Masaoka) 'Though an unlikely combination - accordion and koto - it is not so much about the instruments as about the energies of the music that comes from the intensity of listening - listening as close to now as possible. We know that our consciousness is delayed by a fraction of a second that the brain interprets as now - however t…
Lion's Eye / Lion's Tale
An astonishing album, Lion's Eye for Gamelan was commissioned in 1985 by Barbara Benary for Gamelan Son of Lion. Lion's Eye for Synthesizer was commissioned concurrently by Neil Rolnick for iEAR Presents at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Both versions were performed in 1985. The intention to combine both pieces in order to expand the tempo range of the Gamelan was first realized in May of 1989 in performances by the Berkeley Gamelan in Oakland and San Francisco, California under the direction…
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