Listening, Again

This etude extends on what it means to listen – to take the time to try and hear things with more attention, or even with a ‘new’ ear. Musicians are so accustomed to using their ears, that perhaps they sometimes forget to listen to everyday life with new attention. This etude proposes one way for musicians to open themselves up to being reflexive by reconsidering what it is that they may take for granted – to re-attend to what they already know: listening.

• Go to a space, somewhere that you know, but a space without music.
• Try and attend to listening, to try and hear everything.
• Stay for 5 -10 minutes.
• Try and do nothing but listen and record what you hear.
• Use this exercise as a way to attend to listening, in a space, with a new kind of engagement.
• How will you record what you hear? Finding a language to express sound is a difficult thing, but you can try with written language or even with images, sketches, symbols, drawings or graphs. Experiment!

Etude taken from: Eve, I (2020). The Same but Differently. Maastricht: Research Centre for Arts, Autonomy & the Public Sphere.