Music at the very least should be a restorative, and there are many cultures throughout the world where this component is understood to be synonymous with music making.

There is considerable research demonstrating that humor is healing and otherwise good for health, and the reader can look forward to encountering humor throughout. … Humor needs to be kept in bounds, of course, but so should seriousness.

I was always fascinated with listening to my environment. From early childhood I have been a listener. I grew up in a time when there existed a very rich and dense soundscape3 of insects, birds and animals in Houston Texas in the 1930s. … Now in the 21st Century, that soundscape is considerably thinned out by asphalt, concrete pavements and building developments. Houston still has cicadas in stereophonic corridors as you walk or drive the streets but the frogs have mostly disappeared, leaving their sonic niches unfilled except for the sounds of combustion engines.

Sonic Meditations are based on patterns of attention. In other words these pieces are ways of listening and responding. Sonic Meditations is the basis of Deep Listening.

I noticed that many musicians were not listening to what they were performing! There was good hand-eye coordination in reading music, but listening was not necessarily a part of the performance. The musician was of course hearing but listening all over or attention13 to the space/time continuum (global) was not happening. There was disconnection from the environment that included the audience as the music was played.

I noticed that many musicians were not listening to what they were performing! There was good hand-eye coordination in reading music, but listening was not necessarily a part of the performance. … There was disconnection from the environment that included the audience as the music was played.

I began with myself. I started to sing and play long tones, and to listen and observe how these tones affected me mentally and physically. I noticed that I could change my emotional state by concentrating my attention on a tone. I noticed that I could feel my body responding with relaxation or tension. Prolonged practice brought about a heightened state of awareness that gave me a sense of well-being.

When I arrive on stage, I am listening and expanding to the whole of the space/time continuum of perceptible sound. I have no preconceived ideas. What I perceive as the continuum of sound and energy takes my attention and informs what I play. What I play is recognized consciously by me slightly (milliseconds) after I have played any sound.28 … The music comes through as if I have nothing to do with it but allow it to emerge through my instrument and voice.

When I arrive on stage, I am listening and expanding to the whole of the space/time continuum of perceptible sound. I have no preconceived ideas. What I perceive as the continuum of sound and energy takes my attention and informs what I play. What I play is recognized consciously by me slightly (milliseconds) after I have played any sound. … The music comes through as if I have nothing to do with it but allow it to emerge through my instrument and voice.

Listening is not the same as hearing and hearing is not the same as listening. The ear is constantly gathering and transmitting information—however attention to the auditory cortex can be tuned out. Very little of the information transmitted to the brain by the sense organs is perceived at a conscious level.

Deep coupled with Listening or Deep Listening for me is learning to expand the perception of sounds to include the whole space/time continuum of sound— encountering the vastness and complexities as much as possible. Simultaneously one ought to be able to target a sound or sequence of sounds as a focus within the space/time continuum and to perceive the detail or trajectory of the sound or sequence of sounds. Such focus should always return to, or be within the whole of the space/time continuum (context).

Deep Listening is a form of meditation. Attention is directed to the interplay of sounds and silences or the sound/silence continuum. Sound is not limited to musical or speaking sounds, but is inclusive of all perceptible vibrations (sonic formations). The relationship of all perceptible sounds is important.

Animals are Deep Listeners. When you enter an environment where there are birds, insects or animals, they are listening to you completely. You are received. Your presence may be the difference between life and death for the creatures of the environment. Listening is survival!

Deep Listening practice is process training. … Each exercise is designed to set a listening process in motion. Attention to listening and ways of listening that may be new to the student are seeded and cultivated through repetition, practice and discussion.

Although repetition is emphasized, in practice the same exercise is never the same. Each repetition of an exercise invites the possibility of new understanding and the development of listening as a desirable practice or tool for living, learning and creative work.

A circle formation is preferred as it is an equalizing symbol and may strengthen the understanding that learning comes through shared experiences.

The journal is private and is a record of progress for each individual. Class members are encouraged to write in the journal of listening experiences outside of the class on a daily basis. The journal material is an excellent resource for essays or articles.

The group progresses from sensing heartbeat and studying reaction time, to clapping or walking a group tempo, to learning complex polyrhythmic patterns and composing for the circle.

Dreams are understood as a creative resource. Dreams are shared with a partner, and then highlights of dreaming are shared or performed in the group. Class members are encouraged to listen for sounds in their dreams.

This exercise promotes toning of the kidneys and lungs as well as a kind of massage of the internal organs as the waist turns. The shifting weight of the body also sends a massage to the soles of the feet stimulating the kidney point 42 that is situated between the large toe, ball of the foot and the edge of the foot. This point is called “The Bubbling Brook.”

Keep the palms extended from the Breath Wheel as if you are holding a ball. Sense the energy field between the palms. Possibly you will feel some tingling sensations or magnetic force field. Massage this energy by moving the palms closer or further apart. Then gradually fold the palms over your lower abdomen to store this energy in the dan t’ien.

Doing these exercises before sitting for listening or for studying or working can be helpful. If one is depleted, the exercises will help to restore energy in the body. Otherwise the exercises are very helpful to calm and balance mental activity.

Unfortunately this unconsciousness sometimes leads to shallow breathing especially if the body is relatively inactive. As breath reacts to danger or stress, then breath can claim our awareness.

We can change our breathing by attending to it. With awareness and practice we can breathe more deeply and this calms our mind and emotions.

Breathing deeply helps circulation and oxygenation of the brain. Unrelieved stress produces shallow breathing and oxygen deprivation. In a positive light we need to stress ourselves to overcome inertia and generate power for living. However, we also need to manage stress for our well being when limits are exceeded. Returning attention to breathing at stressful moments can be empowering.

At the sound of a bell or gong listen inclusively for the interplay of sounds in the whole space/time continuum. Include the sounds of your own thoughts. Can you imagine that you are the center of the whole?

With each breath I return to the whole of the space/time continuum.

If a sound takes your attention to a focus, then follow the sound all the way to the end as you return to the whole of the space/time continuum.

However the two forms of attention—focal and global—are directed in Deep Listening practice to sound/silence. An objective is to feel the sharp contrast between the two forms of attention—the clear detail of a sound or sequence of sounds using focal attention and the expansion to multiple sources sounding simultaneously in multi-dimensions with global attention.

The sitting position described for the exercise is common to many meditation practices. However the two forms of attention—focal and global—are directed in Deep Listening practice to sound/silence. An objective is to feel the sharp contrast between the two forms of attention—the clear detail of a sound or sequence of sounds using focal attention and the expansion to multiple sources sounding simultaneously in multi-dimensions with global attention.

It is important to review your listening experience and to compare your prior and after feelings, sensations, intuitions and thoughts and write them in your journal. As experiences accumulate in your journal, patterns of listening may become discernable and progress will become apparent.

Focal attention, like a lens, produces clear detail limited to the object of attention. Global attention is diffuse and continually expanding to take in the whole of the space/time continuum of sound. Sensitivity is to the flow of sounds and details are not necessarily clear.

With each breath I send sound and receive sound.

As we converse with a partner, there is space between us created by the sound of our voices and the proximity of our bodies. The sound of the conversation can radiate out of the intended intimate space and be heard by others not necessarily included in the conversation. … Our global attention is engaging with numerous overlapping dimensions created by sounds. At the same time we may be imagining what to say next. We then feel the dimension of imagination or memory.

Sounds are both temporal and spatial. As we converse with a partner, there is space between us created by the sound of our voices and the proximity of our bodies.

The depth of listening is related to the expansion of consciousness brought about by inclusive listening. Inclusive listening is impartial, open and receiving and employs global attention. Deep Listening has limitless dimensions. … Attention narrows for exclusive listening. Exclusive listening gathers detail and employs focal attention. Focal attention is necessarily limited and specific. The depth of exclusive listening is clarity.

The depth of listening is related to the expansion of consciousness brought about by inclusive listening. Inclusive listening is impartial, open and receiving and employs global attention. Deep Listening has limitless dimensions.

Your journal should be private, like your own room. This journal is a place to write, graph, add collage, or draw whatever you would like to record. There is no need for anyone else to look at your journal unless you decide that you want to share a part of it or all of it. Your journal is your sanctuary for your listening experiences. Through journaling over time, your experiences in relation to one another accumulate meaning.

Each listening meditation has unique dynamics, feelings, sounds and sensations that can be described and tracked in your journal. Sometimes you notice very subtle and quiet differences in sounds you thought were familiar. The slightest difference may lead you to new creative relationships. Such material recorded each time you do the listening meditation will give you a record of your progress in the expansion of your awareness and give you the eventual basis for an essay or article.

One way to treat your experiences is to review them like a journalist. Be descriptive and be aware of feelings aroused by sounds and the relationship of sounds. Remember that linguistic thoughts are sounds if you choose to listen to them that way.

The challenge for this exercise is that no matter how slow you are walking, you can always go much slower. … The purpose of the exercise is to challenge your normal pattern or rhythm of walking so that you can learn to reconnect with very subtle energies in the body as the weight shifts from side to side in an extremely slow walk.

Sensation is the result of experiencing something through the senses. We say that we feel the soft texture of fur, or the warmth of a fire, the depth of the green of spring grass. Sensation is associated with presence and takes place in the present.

Feeling comes about as the result of experience. Feelings develop over time, unlike emotions, which are direct results of actions that take place in the moment such as threats to survival. Feelings are associated with the past.

Four modes of thought are borrowed from a model put forth by C. G. Jung in his book Memories, Dreams and Reflections.

So six beats that move at the same rate can be perceived differently with the addition of accents that cause groups. … The shifting accent pattern is called “hemiola” and is found particularly in African music as well as other musics.

The shifting accent pattern is called “hemiola” and is found particularly in African music as well as other musics.

Typically reaction time for an individual is one-tenth of a second so if there are 20 people in the circle, the time for one cycle should be about 2 seconds. Notice the lapses in attention as the pulse speeds up and slows down. Keep trying to speed up your own reaction time in each cycle of the pulse.

Typically reaction time for an individual is one-tenth of a second so if there are 20 people in the circle, the time for one cycle should be about 2 seconds. Notice the lapses in attention as the pulse speeds up and slows down.

The purpose of the rhythm circle is to learn to listen and improvise with rhythms. Heartbeat rates related to 60 beats per minute (ratio), and fast-as-possible reaction time is studied. Fast reaction time is essential to survival. It is also important for responding to a variety of situations and particularly music, dancing and sports. Fast reaction time can increase your ability to discern and refine rhythms whatever the discipline.

The individual learns how to be a part of a rhythm cycle and to express complex polyrhythms. The goal is to be able to detect the tiniest shift in rate of any handclap or pulse.

The natural and urban environments are full of pulses and patterns. Try to record the most interesting pulses or patterns that you can find in your daily environment. Pulses are repeating sounds. They may be extremely rapid to extremely slow. The pulse may be natural, mechanical or electrical.

Field recording is a great way to become more sensitive to sounds. Headphones tend to focus attention on sounds that ordinarily are not in your awareness. When you listen to the environment that you want to record, listen both with and without headphones until you feel that you are capturing the sounds as realistically as possible.

The compositional elements in A Study in Mixed Environments include mixing disparate spaces together to create a new kind of space and to juxtapose sounds in unusual ways.

In A Study in Pulses there is opportunity to create unusual polyrhythmic textures by combining varieties of pulses and processing them with effects such as filters, reverberation, delays, envelopes and other possibilities.

The notations for Sonic Meditations were presented in written form only after many trials with oral instructions given to many different people. Even though Sonic Meditations are in print, I often vary or revise the wording I use to transmit the instructions in new situations.

Such instructions are intended to set an attention process in motion within a participant and among the group that can deepen gradually with repeated experience. A definitive performance is not expected as each performance can vary considerably even though the integrity of the guidelines will not be disturbed and the piece will be recognizable each time.

The central concern in all my prose or oral instructions is to provide attention strategies for the participants. Attention strategies are nothing more than ways of listening and responding in consideration of oneself, others and the environment.

Each participant chooses a sound to make during the piece. Always use the same sound throughout the piece. Sit in a large circle. … Stand just inside the circle of participants holding a small gong or hand bell. Begin the piece by striking the gong twice and then walking slowly around the circle. The next two times you pass the point from which you started, strike the gong once. When you arrive at the starting point again, strike the gong three times to end the piece. … First cycle—Alone: intend to sound separate from any other sound. Second cycle—Dialog: intend to sound immediately before or after another sound. Third cycle— Together: intend to sound along with another sound, sustaining your sound for a long time.

When this piece was first done at the Deep Listening retreat in Washington (June 1995), the participants were given written parts which specified a sound (for example: deer, sun, sky, and everyone’s favorite fern), how many times to sound during each cycle, and whether to sound alone, in dialog, or together. This is a good way to handle larger numbers of participants. It also increases concentration because you don’t know ahead of time what the intentions of the other participants are as to when to sound or with what intention.

Collective Environmental Composition (1975) … Each participant explores an environment to find a listening place with something interesting to hear and listens for a while. … Each participant invites the other participants to hear their found listening place. There may be one or more places with contrasting sounds. … Each participant finds a way to enhance, nullify or otherwise interact with the sound or sounds that the group goes to hear. … Each participant finds a way to connect all the sounds, either literally, metaphorically or graphically.

Each participant finds a way to enhance, nullify or otherwise interact with the sound or sounds that the group goes to hear.

Each participant finds a way to connect all the sounds, either literally, metaphorically or graphically.

Can you imagine listening to all that is sounding as if your body were the whole earth? There might be the sounds of your own thoughts or of your body, natural sounds of birds or animals, voices, sounds of electrical appliances and machines. Some sounds might be very faint, some very intense, some continuous, and some intermittent. As you are listening globally, can you imagine that you can use any sound that you hear as a cue either to relax your body more deeply or to energize it?

It is an invitation to contemplate the nature of listening over a three-year time span (1999 to 2001): to listen to change—listen in order to change—listen for change.

The purpose of this synergistic project is to promote and encourage listening in as many countries as possible in unusual ways or any ways that are creative. It is an invitation to contemplate the nature of listening over a three-year time span (1999 to 2001): to listen to change—listen in order to change—listen for change.

Ear Piece consists of thirteen questions, which explore the difference between hearing and listening.

Can you hear now and also listen to your memory of an old sound?

Are you listening to sounds now or just hearing them?

Reinforce means to strengthen or to sustain by merging one’s own pitch with the sound source. If the pitch of the sound source is out of vocal or instrumental range, then it is to be reinforced mentally.

The result of this meditation will probably produce a resonance of the environment. Some of the sounds will be too short to reinforce. Some will disappear as soon as the reinforcement begins. It is fine to wait and listen.

When a group is together, each person (after a focus is established, or not) finishes a sentence beginning with “WE COULD…” in as many ways as possible. Time could be limited, or open-ended. The sentences could be recorded or not. The group could vote on subsequent action according to the sentences, or just enjoy imagining what they could be doing.

If you could write any piece of music, what would you write? Assume that no kind of restraint exists, i.e. time, money, existence of resources or technology etc.

Imagine a sound that you want to hear. During a designated time, such as a day or night, take note of when and where you hear the sound.

From the field of sound that you are hearing, select a sound. Focus on it and amplify it with your imagination. Continue to hold and amplify the sound, even if the real sound has stopped. When you are done, scan your body/mind and notate your feelings.

Listen to any sound as if it had never been heard before.

Imagine that your ears have extended range above and below the normal range of 16hz to 20khz. What could you be hearing?

In a group or crowd can you hear with their ears?

As you listen, the particles of sound (phonons) decide to be heard. Listening affects what is sounding. The relationship is symbiotic.

As you listen, the environment is enlivened. This is the listening effect.

Always be moving toward a goal. Always be actually doing something. Never be aimless.

Always speak your native language (determine what that is).

Always observe your state of mind behind what you do or say.

Old sound—A sound that you remember from a long time ago. … New Sound—A sound that you have never made before. … Borrowed sound—A sound that you borrow from someone else. … Blue sound—A sound that is blue for you. … First listen inwardly to find your sound to be expressed vocally. Voice each kind of sound—old, new, borrowed, blue—from one to three times within a time frame of about five minutes. Pace yourself by listening to every one and everything.

Old sound—A sound that you remember from a long time ago. … New Sound—A sound that you have never made before. … Borrowed sound—A sound that you borrow from someone else. … Blue sound—A sound that is blue for you.

When a sight, sound, movement, or place attracts your attention during your daily life, consider that moment an “art experience”. Find a way to record an impression of this momentary “art experience” using any appropriate means or media.

When a sight, sound, movement, or place attracts your attention during your daily life, consider that moment an “art experience”. Find a way to record an impression of this momentary “art experience” using any appropriate means or media. Share these experiences with each other and make them available to others.

Several performers develop ways through subjective and objective testing to express what tone or sound, or combination of tones or sounds as well as a color or colors, masks and costumes is most beneficial for a particular person. Beneficial means that which produces a feeling of well-being in a person. The performers demonstrate an inviting process to the audience. … Individual audience members are invited to participate in a way facilitated by the performers, which results in an orchestration of individual portraits enhanced by sound, special lighting, masks and costumes in a gradually changing tableaux.

A group assembles to scan the soundscape by listening. When someone feels the impulse to know what others are hearing, a signal such as standing up or raising a hand is made. The group members share what they are hearing at that moment.

Listening is the basis of sound fishing. … Pull the sound out of the air like a fisherman catching a fish, sensing its size and energy —when you hear the sound,—play it.

Listening for what has not yet sounded—like a fisherman waiting for a nibble or a bite. … Pull the sound out of the air like a fisherman catching a fish, sensing its size and energy —when you hear the sound,—play it.

The important thing for me is facilitating a community of creative interest. Creativity is inborn—a birthright that is often suppressed by social imperatives. I try in my classes to open the gates so that the creative spirit of the students can flourish.

The important thing for me is facilitating a community of creative interest. Creativity is inborn—a birthright that is often suppressed by social imperatives. I try in my classes to open the gates so that the creative spirit of the students can flourish. I do this through listening and encouraging listening, sharing and discussion. My students listen by doing field recording, then sharing their files to make pieces. The students also keep journals of their listening experiences.

My own beginning work in Deep Listening practices has been primarily inner work, and as such is not something that I chose to open up to the whole list about, even such a nice list as this one! My experience is that DL—for me Is a way of working. When I really listen in this way I hear differently, in the sense that merely being open to listening changes how I perceive sounds, which in turn changes how I listen, and so on in an ever expansive fashion. This is where discernment comes into play.

One of the real revelations of my college years came from watching him, when he probably thought no one saw him, out of the college cafeteria window. He was standing in a courtyard repeatedly clapping his hands, turning a few degrees, turning, listening, and clapping again; when I tried it myself later, I was amazed at how the sound would change with each turn.

A slow walk is a form of meditation. Participants are invited to notice their breathing, to place their feet gently on the ground, to move slowly from foot to foot and to appreciate the “beingness” of things along the path.

I began the exercise concentrating on my motion. It was the first time I had really done so for the sake of just relaxing. By feeling the motion of my feet as they rolled from heel, to blade, to the balls and toes, I was aware for the very first time of the very structure and nature of my feet. How well designed they are for walking, and how functional. It was such a soothing and deep feeling. Then I began to notice the presence of sound, the creaking wood floor beneath my feet, the shuffle of socks against the lacquer, and the swish of jean fabric against itself. The drone of the room echoing its rhythm into the background and the eventual wave of music that came from the stereo. All of these auditory elements combined to play as a sort of soundtrack to the act of walking, which was transformed into an art.

By feeling the motion of my feet as they rolled from heel, to blade, to the balls and toes, I was aware for the very first time of the very structure and nature of my feet. How well designed they are for walking, and how functional. It was such a soothing and deep feeling. Then I began to notice the presence of sound, the creaking wood floor beneath my feet, the shuffle of socks against the lacquer, and the swish of jean fabric against itself.

It helps to develop all aspects of health from spiritual to physical and logic or cognitive. When it is used specifically for people with an aversion to static meditation, it can help assist to break through to new heights of awareness. And it is also beneficial in that it is not setting specific (i.e. you can do it just about anywhere with enough calm and privacy to have a successful session).

The combined sound of the powerful falls pounding the river just feet from me and the gentle lapping of the created waves against the broken stone gave an amazing bipolar sound field. It almost sounded like a combination of coarse sandpaper being piped through a megaphone over the sound of an almost empty plastic soda bottle being shaken quietly in the background.

This sort of listening demands patience, which I feel is necessary to truly coming away from the experience somehow changed.

My own core practice—seed practice—began about 45 years ago, and probably longer than that but the consciousness of it began about 45 years ago of listening—to everything all the time. Reminding myself when I was not listening, and I keep practicing this all the time. And I keep catching myself and bringing myself to consciousness.

Listening is something we develop and cultivate our whole life, and maybe all of our lifetimes. Listening is what creates culture. Listening is very diverse and takes many different forms as cultures take many different forms.

Hearing is something that happens to us because we have ears—it is our primary sense organ. Listening is something we develop and cultivate our whole life, and maybe all of our lifetimes. Listening is what creates culture.

It was surprising to note how the science and technology implemented in our waking hours appear in our dreams and if we train our dream technologies, then our creative play is unlimited.

To listen with awareness is not about entertaining silence, parking the bot, being unproductive. Like other meditation forms—it is work. It informs us.

For the first month of class all you could hear during the meditation was the sound of the lawnmowers and weedwackers. While sitting quietly you could sense the tension these machines brought. As the weeks went by it seems collectively that the group had kind of let the idea of sound nuisance go. Our acceptance for sound as is became obvious in the body language of the group during meditation. Ironically around this time the mowers stopped, and for the first time I realized what an inspiration loud decibels can be if used as tools to enter the moment time and time again.

41Process training emphasizes action rather than goals or product. There is an overview of Deep Listening that can only be understood by experiencing the exercises. Process is initiated by action and is observed by the doer. The result is experience and understanding through experience.