American experimental composer Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) declared her intention to become a composer at age 16. Early inspiration came from the science fiction radio plays of her youth and her experimentation with her main instrument, the accordion (she also played, violin, piano, French horn, and tuba). She made her way to San Francisco in her early 20s, where she became an important part of the electronic music scene. She was a founding member and the first director of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, which was eventually absorbed by Mills College, where she was also on the faculty. She later taught at the University of California at San Diego before moving to upstate New York in 1981 to pursue composition full time. The focus of her later career was on Deep Listening, the practice of listening intently not just to music, but to environmental sounds. This practice originated with recordings of San Francisco street sounds she made in the 1950s, in which she found new, unnoticed sounds in subsequent listens. She consistently worked to elevate the status and works of women throughout her life, including with a New York Times article in 1970 questioning the absence of women composers in the classical canon. She continued to compose and lecture on Deep Listening until the very end of her life. Her legacy remains at the Center for Deep Listening at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For more on Oliveros and her legacy, see the Pauline Oliveros Trust, Wikipedia, Britannica, NPR, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the New York Times, and The Guardian.

Oliveros’s Sonic Meditations are not specifically works for wind band, although many of them can be adapted for any type of ensemble or performer. She first published them in 1971. There is no written music involved. The set consists of 25 brief text instructions, each of which describes a performing or listening activity. She describes their purpose in the first Introduction from her score:

Sonic Meditations are intended for group work over a long period of time with regular meetings. No special skills are necessary. Any persons who are willing to commit themselves can participate. The ♀ Ensemble to whom these meditations are dedicated has found that non-verbal meetings intensify the results of these meditations and help provide an atmosphere which is conducive to such activity. With continuous work some of the following becomes possible with Sonic Meditations: Heightened states of awareness or expanded consciousness, changes in physiology and psychology from known and unknown tensions to relaxations which gradually become permanent. These changes may represent a tuning of mind and body. The group may develop positive energy which can influence others who are less experienced. Members of the Group may achieve greater awareness and sensitivity to each other. Music is a welcome by-product of this activity.

That last sentence is especially important in understanding the intent of the Sonic Meditations. Their instructions vary tremendously. Number V famously asks “Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.” Others are more detailed, and many have music as an essential component, but the idea of meditation forms the core of each one. Here are a few performance samples:

I. Teach Yourself to Fly

XIV: Tumbling Song

XVI: Tuning Meditation

See the full score here, and be sure to read Oliveros’s own thoughts on it here. Read more about Sonic Meditations at The Hum, The Rubin Museum, the Vinyl Factory, Hyperallergic, and the New Yorker.

Finally, as a director of wind bands, here are the meditations that I think can work in an instrumental ensemble situation:

I – Teach Yourself to Fly

III – Pacific Tell/Telepathic

VIII – Environmental Dialogue

X – Sing the same tone

XIII – Energy Changes

XIV – Tumbling

XVI – Tuning

XVII – Ear Ly

XXI – What constitutes your musical universe?

XXIV – External source of constant sound