Listening. So simple, right? For many of us it’s something that we do routinely, but listening, as with most things, comes in various forms. Quantum listening or “listening to listening” is one such form and it's one that some folks will spend their entire lives attempting to grasp.
“I’m still learning,” music historian and curator Josh Kun informs us when asked how to quantum listen. “I don't think I'll ever have the right answer to that. I think [one of] the beautiful parts of quantum listening is that it's a process. No matter how young or old we are, we're always still learning how to listen better, how to listen more deeply. This is about music, of course, but it's also about the world we live in — listening to each other. We need it more than ever right now, figuring out ways to listen carefully to things around us and not just hear the headlines, or not just hear the loudest noises. [We need] to listen for the quietest ones, the noises that are hushed, [that] have been silenced. Quantum listening really is connected to meditation practices.”
If this strikes you as something you absolutely must experience for yourself, you’re in luck. On Sunday, Nov. 17 you can experience PST Art: A Day of Quantum Listening with Claire Chase. This event has been designed to “celebrate the legacy of legendary composer, accordionist, and Quantum Listening/Deep Listening theorist Pauline Oliveros at The Ebell of Los Angeles with an extraordinary program curated by musician and 2012 MacArthur Fellow Claire Chase.”
The event is all ages (read: extremely family friendly) and the best part is that it's totally free. The event promises to “blur the lines between listening, learning, and performing, celebrating Oliveros’s groundbreaking sonic investigations into the physical sciences, and the science of hearing and listening. Chase, joined by special guests, will lead the session, offering interactive opportunities for attendees and young people to listen to and perform several of Oliveros’s important works composed for open instrumentation and interpretation. Audience participants will have access to AUMI (Adaptive Use Musical Instruments), enabling anyone of any age or ability to play musical phrases through movement and gestures.”
It exists as part of Kun’s Quantum Vibrations series and exists within the fabric of the region-wide Getty initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide. And when it came time to tailor Chase’s event to Los Angeles, there was only one thing on Kun’s mind, “parking.”
We jest, of course. After the parking quip, Kun eagerly fills us in on exactly what makes this version of the show so inclined to LA: “It was about bringing in the LA music community and LA musicians. We also are collaborating with HOLA (Heart of Los Angeles), so we're going to have about 20 young kids performing — singing in the choir and playing flute. We're going to have the Gay Freedom Band — the long-standing gay and lesbian marching band of Los Angeles — play. So we're trying to make sure that this event honors Pauline, but also really celebrates the creative music communities of LA."
To that end, Kun is offering an alluring sample of Sunday’s festivities via his KCRW Guest DJ set. Ordinarily this is where we’d tell you to keep scrolling for the selects, but trust a music historian to hit us with some seriously deep cuts. Press that player button on this page to hear ‘em along with Kun’s full (and highly enlightening) conversation with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas.