This article is brought to you as part of the ASCAP Wellness Program.

We perform the act of listening every day, whether it be during daily conversations with friends, family members, and colleagues, or by tuning in to media or listening to music. 

But what does listening actually mean? After all, listening is not binary – either on or off. There are layers. Depths. 

So how deeply are you really listening? And how much are you actually hearing – or, perhaps more important, not hearing? For music creators in particular these are not trivial questions.

The technique known as deep listening can be enormously beneficial to music creators, and not just professionally. Here, with the help of music critic, writer, and curator Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, we’ll unpack everything you need to know to get started with deep listening: what it is, how to practice it, and why it just might be the greatest skill you’ll ever learn.

What is deep listening?

According to da Fonseca-Wollheim, the idea of deep listening was initially explored and developed by ASCAP composer Pauline Oliveros. The concept evolved from Oliveros’ childhood fascination with sounds, and later through her works in concert music with composition, improvisation and electro-acoustics. 

Oliveros defined deep listening as a type of focused listening that appreciates everything that is possible to hear in a given situation, whether that be the sounds of daily life, nature, music, and even our own thoughts.

“Oliveros’ approach distinguishes between vocal listening and global listening,” explains da Fonseca-Wollheim, who is also the founder of Beginner's Ear, a music and arts-focused wellness company named after the Zen concept of Beginner's Mind, which refers to a state of openness to the world. 

“Vocal listening is an extremely narrow concentration on a single sound, whereas global listening allows the broadening of the lens to take in as much as possible,” she says.

To explain this first kind of deep listening – vocal listening – da Fonseca-Wollheim uses the example of tuning into the sound of an airplane flying overhead: “You’re zeroing in when you first hear it, and then staying with that sound all the way until you can't hear it at all.”

The other kind – global listening – is at the opposite of the spectrum. Rather than focusing on one specific sound, you’re taking in all the sounds of your environment. For example, in a room, da Fonseca-Wollheim says, “such sounds might include the rustling of people's clothes, the hum of the air filtration system,” and any other sounds you might detect, no matter how slight.

“These are different techniques you can access, almost like pockets of our awareness, that can become part of listening, and that are so much more than just listening with the ears,” she says. 

 

What are the benefits of deep listening?

There are all kinds of ways that creators can benefit from deep listening. Obviously, in terms of listening to music, doing so with deep listening in mind may help you hear things that were always there but perhaps you never acknowledged. This can help creators sharpen their ability to appreciate or critique the work of others, or even inspire their own work.

Deep listening can also play a role in improving the quality of our relationships, both professional and personal, da Fonseca-Wollheim says. When in a conversation with another person, deep listening can help you get a better understanding of who they are and what is actually important to them, and with some practice can ultimately help you learn how to be a more effective communicator yourself.

It’s a safe generalization to say that we all have a lot on our minds nowadays, and that perhaps our attention can at times be fragmented even while we’re actively taking part in a human interaction. It’s possible that we don’t realize the full extent of just how much we’re missing in those moments, da Fonseca-Wollheim says, and, conversely, how much we stand to gain with the help of deep listening.

“It can be impossible to have a conversation with a friend, for example, if you have a toddler on your knee, pulling at your hem all the time,” she says. Of course, we’re not suggesting you ignore a literal toddler if that’s your situation. But if the “toddler” in the metaphorical sense is an upcoming deadline or unanswered email tugging at your attention, it can certainly wait until your conversation is over.

Not only can deep listening make you a more effective communicator; it can also enable others to communicate more effectively and comfortably with you, says Roger K. Allen, Ph.D., a psychologist and founder of The Human Development Institute. Focusing on listening intently, you can help others feel more comfortable opening up, even if you’re working through conflict, he says. 

 

How to perform deep listening

According to da Fonseca-Wollheim, the first step and most important part of deep listening is entering a state of awareness. In other words, you need to be all in and fully engaged in the present and conscious of what you’re listening to, which means not multitasking while having a conversation or scrolling social media while listening to music, for example. 

“If you set out to be in a state of deeper or better listening, you need to hold that intention and bring that sort of heightened awareness to the present moment, paying attention to tone of voice, body language, and so on,” she says. “And in music, you can really broaden your focal lens to deliberately try and take in as much of the texture as possible.”

The ways that you can apply deep listening to music can vary even within the same composition, da Fonseca-Wollheim says.

“For example, with a lot of pop music, it’s very easy to stick to the lyrics and melody. Of course, there's so much more going on”—an opportunity to use global listening to pull apart the various layers of the composition and appreciate new depth. 

“Meanwhile, there might also be subtle manipulations of our expectations” – calling on the singular focus of vocal listening – ”where perhaps we've gotten used to a pattern and then on the third repetition it is changed in some small way; maybe there’s a note that comes off the beat that was on the beat previously.” 

Ultimately, deep listening is about much more than just listening with our ears. “Deep listening can improve your relationships and understanding of others,” da Fonseca-Wollheim says. “It can deepen and develop your own ideas and perspectives, even making for better decision-making and problem-solving in the long run.”