Composing listening: Scores for listening

There are many different score models in use today. Classical notation is just one alternative among many; the block diagrams of electronic circuits used by David Tudor for his live electronics are just one extreme example of unusual musical notation. Verbal scores are widely used today, the vast majority of which are addressed to performers and formulate in words what they have to do for a performance. In my lecture, on the other hand, I will focus on verbal scores that address the audience directly and ask them to listen. The composers presented here - including Peter Ablinger, Alvin Lucier, John Cage, Murray Schafer, Pauline Oliveros and Yoko Ono - make listening the subject of their compositions and thus provoke its reflexive perception. When Peter Ablinger speaks of “hearing listening”, he is also referring to the special features that are associated with this reflexive perception. Unlike seeing, which can be seen, i.e. observed, hearing listening cannot be imagined. However, we are quite familiar with observing our own hearing. Based on verbal scores for listening, various strategies for a compositional approach to listening will be presented.