Influential experimental composer and multi-instrumentalist Pauline Oliveros has died. A founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, she taught music at several institutions and served as Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
Oliveros spoke with WAMC’s Joe Donahue in May of this year about the importance of “perceiving vibrations” as a part of listening.
“Even though the newborn has trillions of neurons, by the time they’re eighteen months old they’ve lost quite a bit, because they’re focusing on exclusive sounds of speech. So that sort of takes you away from the sensation of sound,” said Oliveros.
She died November 24th at age 84.