being” and the ”passing from being” of musical sounds. Ihde comments, not without enthusiasm:
”Through the creation of music humans can manipulate the mysteries of being and becoming,
of actuality and potentiality, and through the vehicle of music they can legislate the schedule
of a phenomenon’s passage from its total being to its absolute annihilation” (p. 223).^8The auditory field
In ”Auditory Imagination”, Ihde presents further perspectives of listening. The directional focus of
consciousness displays a structure of core and fringe, or focus and field. We may focus on one in-
strument in a symphony, in which case it constitutes the core or foreground of the experience, while
the other instruments become fringe or background, or we may expand our focus to the totality of or-
chestral sound. The listener can vary his focus in order to investigate different aspects of the auditory
field, thus performing perceptual variations. However, it takes an effort to expand one’s focus toward
the total field, because the directional focus on the core has a tendency to obscure the awareness of
the field.
The auditory field is different from the visual field. It surrounds the listener, contrary to the visual
field, which remains in front of the spectator. The listener is immersed in the auditory field that dis-
plays no definite boundaries. Sound surrounds the listener, and simultaneously appears to invade
his body and consciousness (2007:205-207).
2.2.2. Don Ihde (1976): Listening and Voice
Ihde’s 1976 book is an elaborate reflection on the phenomenological investigations he performed
for a number of years. He maintains the original text and pagination of the book unaltered in the en-
larged second edition (2007).
Phenomenological variations
According to Ihde, the first aim of phenomenology is to recover and appreciate the fullness and rich-
ness and complexity of sensory experience (pp. 13, 20-21). This is achieved by doing phenomenol-
ogy, that is, conducting phenomenological variations of the experience. The whole book is a guide
to performing phenomenological variations. In this process, intersubjective verification is important.
Ihde emphasizes: “In every case the use of the stylistic “I can ----“ in this book has been checked
against the experience of others” (p. 31)
Global experience
It is an essential prerequisite for Ihde that the unity of the senses is primordial, and experience is
bodily and global. Ihde argues that the isolation of the senses is a belief sedimented in tradition and
reinforced by empirical science. Practicing auditory phenomenology does not isolate the sense of
hearing. It represents a relative focus on a dimension of global experience (p. 43-45, 61). Sound and
music permeate and engage the experiencing body. We hear not only with our ears, the sound also
reverberates in our bones and stomach, and the movements and rhythms of music enliven the body
(p. 81,155-156).
Auditory awareness
Ihde’s listening project encompasses all kinds of sounds in the world. His point of departure is the
8 Ihde’s comment corresponds to a recent statement by a creative Danish musician, the pianist Carsten Dahl:
”When you strike a tone, it is surrounded by something. An initiative. And a silence. By space. What ignites the tone is
important: The silence surrounding the actual action.” (Carsten Dahl interviewed by Peter Nicolai Christensen in the
Danish newspaper Politiken January 15, 2012). Original text: “Når du tager en tone, er den omgivet af noget. Et initiativ.
Og en stilhed. Af space. Det er dét, der er vigtigt. Det, der antænder tonen. Stilheden uden om selve aktionen.”