 |
| Wonderland Trail, near Paradise River Camp |
"V is V and W is W.
One piece less or one piece more, less makes V and
more makes double V or double v let me see, Very well let me see.
Double
You. Double you is two for you.
Very was V and double you is a double of
you. You and you.
But really not, what what, no really not, it is a
trouble to think double and when double you makes double V and double v makes
double you it is better to be v than u and yet u could be v if it was a
trouble to you.
Now you see why very is very necessary.
So now there
double you which is double v. Like it or not, what."
Gertrude Stein, from To Do A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays
Texts
Reading
I finally finished reading Sascia Pellegrini's "The Amplification of Sense" recently, and am hoping my review appears on the famous on-line retailer's site soon. However, since today just happens to be Sascia's birthday, here it is:
"The Amplification of Sense" by Sascia Pellegrini, is a meticulous record of a thinking artist's attempt to attend to the experience of sensing our environment and activity as human bodies; to the many ways that our modes of sensing flow through each other; and to consider, in the light of philosophies and practices ancient and modern, how that experience maps itself onto our bodies and onto our sense of a shared world.
It follows the course of four multimedia experiments centered on film, dance, literature, and music. Each experiment is designed to focus closely on groupings of sensation by extending the time taken in activities mundane (sipping coffee) and unusual (exploring a room while dressed in a paper suit) while making detailed notes of the physical, emotional, aesthetic, and cognitive responses generated. The multiple jointly pursued angles of inquiry, as they tangle and fold through each other, provide the reader with yet another experience akin to those described. The book becomes, in that sense, another among its own examples. An appendix outlines several experiments to explore on one's own or in groups, as well as a series of intriguing graphic figures.
In addition to those for whom it would hold a scholarly interest, this book would appeal to any reader curious about the ways in which our sensory processes affect our understanding of the world around us. Personally, I appreciated his reluctance to steer the discourse toward easy answers, opening it instead toward further, thornier, questions. Having engaged in brief but powerful creative collaboration with dancers working within the Butō method, I found his sympathetic remarks about that practice and the philosophies behind it to be particularly illuminating.
Recorded
 |
| Paradise River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
5 Movements: November 11, 1983 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 6, 1984]
5 Movements was my Master's Project at The Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. It consists of five scores, each named after the date it was composed. The score for November 11, 1982 arranges groups of stacked pitches, each group with its own bit of staff, which bits of staff are arranged on the page in concentric rings. The pitch groups are derived from a single registrally arranged stack of pitches, each combination of pitches appearing just once among the bits, that is, each notated pitch group is unique. I indulged in clever symmetries, mapping variously related pitch groups to similar positions upon the rings. In performance I allowed myself to explore the page improvisationally. For this recording I filled up a 45' cassette tape side. The damper pedal is held down throughout. There is little in the way of dynamic or touch variation and though the times between soundings of pitch groups are not identical they aren't widely divergent. The keyboard part of Book of Windows was similarly derived from a single registrally ordered pitch stack. In this case, since I knew how the page was organized I could, in improvising, choose the next group to play quite specifically so that lines between them might be traced (as though it were a polyphony).
one does
what one does
for the why
that
one finds
thinking about
what one has done
to be a thing
one is
wanting
we write notes
so we can review them later
as I go along
in this
I started to take more time
between
groups of notes
is it slowing
if
one wasn't moving
in the first place?
I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash [from A Miscellaneous Miscellany]
as dully transferred
between media
this comes across as threat
as much as comfort
 |
| Fox and Weasel, near Sunrise, Mt. Rainier National Park |
if the City Sketches
upon what
does it etch
its
sketch?
were I to say
that this music
hasn't done its math
what
by that
would I mean?
I ought to take more care
in the graphical form
of each of my
letters
is
order chaos to chaos
and
chaos order to order?
or
is
chaos chaos to order
and
order order to chaos?
Forgive Them Father - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]
a sermon upon a pericope
the meaning of the words of a prayer
a
surface of several voices
our Savior pleads our ignorance
not our
worth
Gradus 56 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 24, 2003]
we await Neal's announcement
in which!
each!
annunciated note
has a character
we
would know them anywhere
as assembled
in solemn conclave
History in the Balance!
there is no still point
at the center
stillness
and
centricity
being fantasies
to simplify the math
Gradus sez
hang on
hol' still
think on this
an exploration
inside
the idea
of 5 Movements
the upper partials of a tone
could be considered
to posses
functions
that could allow polyphony
within the realm of partials
but do we?
no
we do not
(I speak for all of my
self)
registral conversation
a politic of notes
it isn't that we personify the music
but that
we personify the
intent behind it
 |
| Sourdough Ridge Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
do I want to be Stephen?
an object of fantasy?
no
does Taylor want me to be Stephen?
the object of her fantasy?
no
she pronounces self
as
sailf
so what is this, Taylor, to us?
I Had a Party at My House - Dead Bars [recorded live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
and Dead Bars is born
fully formed
from the collective brow
of John and CJ
Go Inside - Black Dresses [from Waste Isolation]
stepping up a pitch of affects
(not bad if volume turned down)
actually quite fine
Banned Rehearsal 1083 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 28, 2023]
wide open
as to what sound might be
here
together
and
as to how
they might embrace
particularities emerge
upon closer acquaintance
such a lazy evening sound
with a hint of nervous agitation
something shakes the griddle
(another iddle rhyme!)
is it low energy?
yes!
is it high attention?
yes!
jet belly skritch
washboard soliloquy
strongly characterized
voices
 |
| Paradise River, Mt. Rainer National Park |
Madrigals, Book IX: Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
late into the drinking
as slumber steals upon our memorials
followed by the sad lesson
Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 149 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
the excited crowd bubbles
as pompous processes
the glance of this music
peers into dark corners
the business of this music
is to keep all in order
and cover the
whole syllabus
we move now
to admonishment
Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen, BWV 48 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman
sunk in weary woe
we plead
a musical depiction
of a congregation
seated and singing hymns
together
accomplished
by the clever ruse
of having
a
standing congregation
singing a hymn tune
together
and
now our sermon
and
we sing our hymn
Sonata in C minor, Kk. 302 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
he shows all the cards
and all their tricks
revealing all
or
is the revelation
a misdirection
we step within the workings
 |
| Paradise River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Kinderszene, Op. 15 - Robert Schumann - Éric Le Sage
the voice leading
demands a careful touch
and a flexible pulse
and the ability to think in several geometries
Buch der Lieder I: Am Rhein in schönen Strome, S532/2 - Franz Liszt - Alexandre Dossin
carelessly picturesque
Etude in F-sharp Major, Op. 42 #4 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
melody of flickering patchwork
Skip The Gutter - Louis Armstrong's Hot Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
a vaudeville clown act
you can see the stage set
somewhat the
worse for wear
Of Such Is The Kingdom of God - Peggy Lee [from Sea Shells]
the particularity
of the kinkiness
of this album
continues
to amaze me
I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles [from With The Beatles]
fun with Ringo
In Walked Bud - Thelonious Monk [from Underground]
scat at that Pat!
I've Had Enough - The Who [from Quadrophenia]
every song
has the same tense energy
gets tiresome
desperate
to never relax
fists firmly clenched
teeth duly grinded
Flat Foot Charlie - Ben Entrekin, Uncle John Patterson, James Patterson [from The Art of Field Recording]
searching out songs
in their native environment
among loose bands
of musicians
scattered about
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
the introductory measures
are the stage
search-lit
to
discover
the bejangled star
emerging
the song bits
fade into the blender
we are nowhere
along
this song
we
are only
in
it
December 2, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 152 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [September 8, 1988]
 |
| Paradise River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
we first gather its tools and ingredients
this meal
will begin with plucked strings
and pounded and
strummed
some sounds
are the meal
and some are the tools in use
a large wire whisk
upon the autoharp strings
adds a texture
to those strings' resonance
different
from plectrum or
fingernail or fingerflesh
it was in much better tune back then
I played it just last night
(see below)
and it has another idea
now
about
what those chords sound like
a tuning
aged in neglect
for 40 years
and more
{NB for
all I know it hasn't been tuned since the 60s}
as the meal progresses
new tools
new ingredients
we sing
as we stir
to pass
the time
of stirring
thay ain't no reason whaoiy
ceremony of the cowbells
the piano wraps the room
in its
contextuality
without trying
retangling
the straight line
any instrument does
and trains of thought too
hymn parts
on thumb piano
courses of a meal
invented for the occasion
a guttural groan
deep in the pipes
one of cassette tape's finer moments
I Get Along Without You - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]
all about the fanciness of the arrangement from moment to moment
Catherine - PJ Harvey [from Is This Desire?}
spooky
a haint
speaks
and
it's personal
Where Did You Go - Steve Kennedy [from State's Exhibit]
the bubbles bounce
rubbery
we are traveling
through
bubbledom
they eye us suspiciously
 |
| Sourdough Ridge Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
if you push play
but do not provide power to the amplifier
is the
resulting performance
Cagean silence?
or
is that reserved
for the sounds
around a performance of music
and not
the passive posture
of a technician
testing things
for
desirable results
it seems like silence
though it isn't
though
the signal is
expressed
as the sound
of no sounds now
one might still pick
out the shape
of the space
as no sounds now
inhabit it
sound being made
is music
broad
but not global
sound being made
by whom
by what
by where
by
when
::
celebrity
genre
label
drop-date
::
pretense
presentation
provenance
point of entry
study topics
for the school
of sound being made
a sound can be made
without intention
(see thunderclaps)
((but
to organize it
begs the question
organized how?
and to what end?))
different questions
but of the same subject
whom:us
where:here
when:now
what:this
why:for us
the language of thinking in sound
Hopeful Debonair - Canals of Venice [recorded live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
struggling some
to find the right orchestra
they had a musical
made with songs
and needed the players
to make it
happen
some nice ideas for sounds
but not there yet
Banned Rehearsal 965 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 27, 2018]
a great raspberry is razzed
all our reeds are freed
we welcome the traffic
into our music
to sit a spell
we pick up alien speech
with our antennas
broadcasting synthesized reeds
there is a lot of unexplained sound on
this
traffic sure
but whence the rushing water?
we make rude noises
at the airplanes
as they fly over
Blind Bird Under a Full Moon - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Many Voices In Our Heads]
lovely in its struggles
Symphonic Raps - Carroll Dickerson [from That Devilin' Tune]
recorded sound
and moving pictures
arose out of the same
generation
they were imbued
with the same spirit
and love of
contraptions
Soul Brothers - Ray Charles and Milt Jackson [from Soul Brothers - Soul Meeting]
riding along
without cares
in any worlds
Minutes to Go - The Brothers Four [from The Brothers Four Cross Country Concert]
execution imminent
and the crowd cheers lustily
Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]
it certainly is a big sound on the guitar
the rest of the crew is there
to keep up
Meat City - John Lennon [from Mind Games]
strongest song on the album
even with the all-too-clever
engineer-inserted breaks
The Lord Is Risen - Deacon Tommy Tookes and congregation [from The Art of Field Recording]
who follow the Deacon
like a flock
heterophonic exaltation
 |
| Wonderland Trail |
5 Movements: November 11, 1983 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded April 20, 2010]
revisiting the score some decades later
entering at a different point
and weaving a different path
to fill in the same enclosure
same river
stepped into again
the notion
that a sound
might contain within it
a set of
pitches
and that
we group them
as such
is
remarkable
do we write music
in order to revisit it
or
is that a side
benefit?
a sound invented
in order
to fold it back
into the sounds we
hear
and will hear
at later times
La Cumparsita - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
light fare
pleasant and vacuous
music to wander around a park to
with straw hats and sharply creased white pants
Kai Sudermen - Sweden [from The World Sings Goodnight]
all these countries' songs
are in the same echo room
Ingrid Bergman - Billy Bragg & Wilco [from Mermaid Avenue]
a job offer
Banned Rehearsal 661 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 1, 2003]
a water beast moves into view
we inspect each other steadily
some
play ensues
then some topics requiring care
what next thing
deepens most
the tender moment?
playing long games
is
not discouraged
some weird mojo in those sounds
just as it ends
Spinnin (Interlude)/Rollercoaster - Janet Jackson [from Discipline]
the industry values the musician
who can most easily contort themself
into the sellable posture
this music is shaped like money
Dirty Boys - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
filmed in gaslit streets
moderned up version of London Boys
Older - Arbor Towers [from Old]
hunting the dive bar gig
Slade - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 3, 2023]
tightly twisted
Bucktown Stomp - Johnny Dodds [from That Devilin' Tune]
one of the aspects of literature valued by Virginia Woolf
was the
potency
with which it brought people to life
as this does
Plain Gold Ring - Nina Simone [frm Little Girl Blue]
this track is better than you think
 |
| Mt. Rainier, from Sourdough Ridge Trail |
possession of woman
baked into language
Long Black Veil - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
tales from life laid low as a tuba tone
Loves Me Like A Rock - Paul Simon [from There Goes Rhymin' Simon]
gospel testimony
This is Pop? - XTC [from fossilfuel]
music as inexpensive fashion statement
a few bucks for a song
and
you're in the in crowd
Catracies - Carl Hoyt [from Bard Sampler 82-83]
there was
strangely enough
a music scene at Bard
that seemed
to me
only loosely connected to the music department
but what did
I know of academic cultures
in small liberal arts colleges
on the
far coast
I went to a state school
this side of the Mississippi
Banned Rehearsal 153 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [September 15, 1988]
when we had our sessions
in the same room as the clavichord
which
demonstrates
what a small sound it has
in comparison to the other
noisemaking utensils
such as guitar or autoharp or dulcimer
strummed chords
at a lively mixer
what of its world is preserved here?
looking back
I can see that we were relearning
what Banned
Rehearsal might be
as we aged into the whole catastrophe
we tool about
on rural roads
winds way way down
 |
| Wonderland Trail |
When I'm Old - The Fastbacks [from Zucker]
half a phone conversation
late into the wee smalls
Hello I'm Cupid - Jonathan Richman [from I'm So Confused]
as strange as it is
to hear the music
that is ostensibly
my generation's music
it is perhaps stranger
to listen
to the next ensuing generation's
ostensible music
Patiently Waiting (feat. Eminem) - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or Die Tryin']
life
as an action movie elevator pitch
meaner than thou
Zither Film 30 - Keith Eisenbrey [November 29, 2013]
flashes of sound
shutter speed
all exposures
jumbled onto
the floor
Golden Homes - Learning Team [from Aporia Coda]
a suburban voice
University Bridge - Keith Eisenbrey [August 31, 2018]
tires on the grated bridge deck
while walking home from work one summer
evening
Experimental Radio Part 2 Prerecorded Sounds Only - Pete Comley [from Experimental Radio]
radio
an electro-magnetic form
mimicking an air pressure form
an image of dream logic
in the nature
of the postulated source
objects
times
and locations
we imagine
must have
created these sounds
they incongrue
we're leaving Jupiter now
we can separate the various dreams
that make up this night
as I move around in the house
the sounds in this
re-sort
themselves
architecturally explorative
That's My Weakness Now - Cliff Edwards [from That Devilin' Tune]
lovestruck clown
ukulele clarinet and cricket
some horns and
possibly a bass
and a Chevrolet
that's my weakness now
Talkin' 'Bout You - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles at Newport]
pitched language
this track is fun
but designed carefully
so
that
only the lead vocal is remarkable
showcase arrangement
Home Motel - Willie Nelson [from Here's Willie Nelson]
takes a slow stanza
to pull the narrative trigger
does not
overstay
a careful sentence construction
to not give away
any point
before its time
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]
entry of the long weirdness phase of Pink Floyd
the crudeness of engineers' imagination
the sound
with headphones
one can hear
what the engineers are doing
without the warmth
provided
by a playback room resonance
their faults
are
easily spottable
improvising at the mixing board
impersonal
there is
sometimes
in our ears
a resistance
to
hearing something
as what it seems to be
now
if
we
have a prior acquaintance
we want music
to not strike us differently
but it always
will
the beatifical hymn is a bit much guys
Sweet Painted Lady - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
the ostensible itself
so risque at the time
to me
Idumea - Richard and Elula Moss [from The Art of Field Recording]
speaking the names of notes
as words
that rhyme
in that
sense
with the words
that follow
in their like place
5 Movements: November 17, 1983 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded April 21, 2010]
this score is shaped
if I recall correctly
{NB I didn't}
like an eye
{NB
actually
more like a single cycle of a
sin-wave}
and
is an array
of three pulsed figures
of
combinations
of one
or two
of three notes
a narrow
rung
tightly constrained
(can't recall if also all three ever
{NB nope})
could be a cipher
the middle of the three pitches
being always present
stands
for nullity
this music
does not depict
it doesn't even depict
not-depicting
music without expression
or is it?
 |
| Wonderland Trail |
Sanctus - Cambridge Singers [from Brother Sun Sister Moon]
are these lush folds of sound
what we mean
by holiness?
An Abstract by Chang Dai-Chien - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]
if this piece
is about a painting
which painting
is an
abstract
that is
abstract
as a term in the fine arts
then
this would be
depictic music
depicting
a
non-depiction
Nothing Really Matters - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
a devotional (romantic subset)
Hidden Damage - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]
I had started to accumulate software
with which to play with songs
and sounds
mixers and midi apps
I had recorded some songs
back in Banned Rehearsal's Sudden Song Phase
(ca 1985)
and experimented
with dressing them up
to practice
working with the said software
Drives Me Crazy - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
another devotional (romantic friction subset)
Second Son - Mikey & Matty [from Harbor Island]
a tale in measured lines
family matters
Easy-Time Blues - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/50s Music]
arts and crafty
In Session at The Tintinabulary
November 30, 2025
Jerusalem (Double) - Keith Eisenbrey
December 1, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 1139 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer
in which
the autoharp
has still not been tuned
December 4, 2025
A Jolly Jig for Mister Mark - Keith Eisenbrey
I made some changes in an attempt to make it more guitary
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 29:
Figure Studies 2015-2018
Autoheterophony
2016
In this volume is collected the latest in a series of solo piano improvisations made between 2015 and 2018, as well as a 2016 hymnody project in which I engaged with four hymns that have been familiar to my ear before I knew what music was. The process was fairly simple: I recorded myself singing each hymn, improvising freely upon the tune, then repeated the process seven more times while listening to the developing mix, resulting in a choral heterophony made up of a choir of eight of me. Karen quipped that it sounded like "a choir of angles".
Tracks:
Figure Study 150125
Figure Study 170102
Figure Study 180820
Figure
Study 181015
Autoheterophony:
Jesus Loves Me
This Little Light of Mine
Kum Ba Yah
We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
