“The ear hears, the brain listens, the body senses vibrations.” Veteran US composer Pauline Oliveros has not only been part of the avant-garde in the classical space for the last six decades, she has arguably been one of its leaders. Throughout, Oliveros has been driven by capturing the sounds of entire spaces, not just of instruments. This was epitomised in the 1989 magnum opus Deep Listening, which was recorded in a vast, underground cistern with 45-second reverberation (watch the start of her TEDx talk to hear what a balloon pop sounded like, and read more about the cistern from our own Joseph). Her mantra is to listen to everything all the time – and to remind yourself when you’re not listening. Musically, this encompasses the sounds of the environment – soundscapes in the definitive sense of the word – as well as those produced by the music performers at an individual level. Four…