Selection of Listening Scores

Stjin Dickel

 

The listening stretch

Listen high, 

listen low 

 

listen far, 

listen close

 

Listen small,

listen big

 

Listen in front 

and behind

 

Listen actively, 

listen passively 

 

Listen associatively,

listen unraveling

 

Listen now, 

listen later

 

Listen here 

and there

 

Listen as yourself

and as someone else

 

And / or get distracted 

and just resonate…

 

Carry a sound part 1

 

Choose a place with a special atmosphere.

A place with a meaningful quality.

 

Make a recording of that place.

Choose a certain duration.

Put the recording on repeat and play it back via a bluetooth speaker.

 

Listen to the place within the place…

Try different spots in the room to listen.

Try different spots in the room to put the speaker.

Take your time and keep on listening. Omni-directional.

 

Hide the speaker in a backpack and carry the sound with you.

Listen to how the sound changes other places.

Listen to how other places change the sound.

Listen to how the sound interacts with silence, with the wind, with a car passing by.

 

While carrying the sound,

Listen to how the sound modulates. How it reflects in different acoustics.

Listen to how your body (partially) absorbs the sound. Listen to how it feels.

 

Take the sound with you to the pub, to the mall, to a friends’ garden.

Eat, sleep and shower with the sound.

Listen to how it becomes familiar.

Listen to how it alienates others.

 

Stop the recording.

Go back to the original place.

And listen to how your listening has changed.

 

Carry a sound part 2

Do the same exercise as ‘Carry a sound part 1’, but without electronic devices.
Your embodied memory becomes the carrying device…

 

Ode to sound

 

they tremble and shiver

twinkle and rumble

thunder, wander, murmur

 

sounds are born

and they die

 

they jump and fall

or whirl around 

 

sometimes they are rushed

sometimes sluggish

sometimes they’re greedy

and hungry

 

they whine

squabble or screech for help

they wink

or comfort and embrace

 

sometimes they spy on me

and announce a menace

or notify me of a potential storm

 

they play, flirt and mate

to fresh vibrations

to lascivious reflections

 

I breathe them in

and allow myself to be freely surprised

by the sonorous stage

 

I breathe them out

and allow these fellow travelers

to plug into my quiet skin