---
title: "1 Below the surface Quotes By Pauline Oliveros"
description: "1 Below the surface quotes by Pauline Oliveros. Plus more from Pauline Oliveros and more Below the surface sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a9/pauline-oliveros-8481_active_deep-listening-is-listening-to-everythin_2296491.jpg"
---

> [Deep Listening is listening to everything all the time, and reminding yourself when you're not. But going below the surface too, it's an active process. It's not passive. I mean hearing is passive in that soundwaves hinge upon the eardrum.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/deep-listening-is-listening-to-everything-all-the-time-and-reminding/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a9/pauline-oliveros-8481_active_deep-listening-is-listening-to-everythin_2296491.jpg)

## More by Pauline Oliveros

> [One day I decided I would like to put a record into my system. So I picked up a record that was lying on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/one-day-i-decided-i-would-like-to-put-a-record-into-my-system-so-i/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I can't really deal with buttons. And that's what I keep saying, "Okay, I can't push buttons, because that means I have to take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-can-t-really-deal-with-buttons-and-that-s-what-i-keep-saying-okay-i/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [Everybody improvises their way through every day. And so I do that with music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/everybody-improvises-their-way-through-every-day-and-so-i-do-that/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [In the '60s my friends were interested and we were hearing electronic music coming in on community radio from Europe, so that's where it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/in-the-60s-my-friends-were-interested-and-we-were-hearing-electronic/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [ \[Students\] they did the sonic meditations, I would observe them in their ensembles, and the ensembles improved incredibly. So I knew I had something… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/students-they-did-the-sonic-meditations-i-would-observe-them-in-their/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [It was around the end of the '60s, when I began to compose sonic meditations. Before that I was doing a lot of reflecting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/it-was-around-the-end-of-the-60s-when-i-began-to-compose-sonic/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I got very interested in attention and awareness and how to achieve certain states through understanding this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-got-very-interested-in-attention-and-awareness-and-how-to-achieve/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I try to influence this improvisation in two ways. One is by centering on reflections, in both senses of the word: acoustic reflections as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-try-to-influence-this-improvisation-in-two-ways-one-is-by-centering/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [People's experiences are all different, and you don't know what the person experienced. They know, but you don't, so I think it's important to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/people-s-experiences-are-all-different-and-you-don-t-know-what-the/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I noticed you could monitor the recording that you're making, but you could also monitor the playback head. There's a little distance between them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-noticed-you-could-monitor-the-recording-that-you-re-making-but-you/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [First of all I had to teach myself how to use the studio because there wasn't any classes in electronic music. So I'd stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/first-of-all-i-had-to-teach-myself-how-to-use-the-studio-because/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I had invented my own system, my own way of making electronic music at the San Francisco Tape Music Centre, and I was using…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-had-invented-my-own-system-my-own-way-of-making-electronic-music-at/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [I heard a lot of different kinds of music. I heard country music, I heard jazz, I heard symphonic music, opera, everything you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/i-heard-a-lot-of-different-kinds-of-music-i-heard-country-music-i/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

> [The base skill is listening: how I'm listening to the material, how I'm listening to the space. With electronic sound, it's a similar situation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/the-base-skill-is-listening-how-i-m-listening-to-the-material-how-i-m/)

[Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/)

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