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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
"And all the time numberless fowls were diving, and ducking, and screaming, and yelling, and fighting around them. Stubb was beginning to look disappointed, especially as the horrible nosegay increased, when suddenly from out the very heart of this plague, there stole a faint stream of perfume, which flowed through the tide of bad smells without being absorbed by it, as one river will flow into and then along with another, without at all blending with it for a time."
Herman Melville, from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.
Texts
Recorded
October 12, 2025
Banned Telepath 20 Yellowstone - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 20, 1988]
on the boardwalk about Old Faithful
in the stiff breeze
above the
permeate earth
something huge and hot lurks below the boards
vast
and empty above
how long has it been
since we've heard the sound
of a motorized
film winder?
to be combined later
into a Banned Rehearsal
in which
Aaron
will be heard
asking
if anyone
would like Sherry?
mmm what a nice smell
just throw your hot dogs in there
mapping the subsurface temperature gradient
of the geyser basin
in
terms of its hydrological piping
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
the recorded sound of Old Faithful
during its bit
is joined
at this listening moment
by the sound of the first downpour of
October
on the roof
English must be Hungarian
don't like the ocean
because it won't stop waving
Papa, Can You Hear Me? - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
locutions from locations
preserved in a singing voice
I could imagine
that Nina's voice
might be described
as
gender non-normative
womanlike
rather than ladylike
rather
than girly
Here We Go Again - Aretha Franklin [from A Rose Is Still A Rose]
to dance to a voice
is to dance with the projection of a body
back up singers once again top notch
Walk Shock - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]
repetition
to tease out subtleties of inflection
rhetoric of taking a solo
the players differentiate themselves
into functions
solo taker
and solo givers
or
passing solo-ness around
like a hot potato
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
Zither Film 21 - Keith Eisenbrey [October 26, 2008]
recap:
I started with the sounds of me
strumming three zithers
an autoharp
a German concert zither
and an old homemade
zither
I wanted a wide range of pitch
so I made files of those sounds
sped up and slowed down
then
I chopped them up into
fragments of sound bursts
layered them atop each other
per a
scheme
that I have long since forgotten
resulting
in a bunch
of files
of various lengths
from a few seconds
to 30 minutes
or so
which
I would eventually mix together
into one wild
zithery jumble of sounds
one designed-in feature
insured
that
the openings of each
file
would be more densely populated
with bursts
than their
endings
and that
the final result
would also exhibit
that thinning out
as it progressed
then
I reversed
that file
and mixed
that
with
the unreversed file
so that
it would start dense
thin out
then get dense
again
to the end
I may also have played with some reverb setting
for one version
and that's what the Zither Film project is
Wade - Jesse Canterbury, Greg Sinibaldi [from Ascendent]
floating by the winds
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
repeating makes a new object outside ongoing time
repeating groups
but
its groups are not exclusive
repeating of different
aspects
groups differently
an interlocked object
outside of
ongoing time
repetitions of several aspects
in phase with each
other
as though locked into a beat
environmental sounds
coexisting with music sounds
the nature of their effects upon each other
their potentials for mutual
inter-transformation
are limited
by the presumed non-intention
(inattention)
of the one set
by the other
and
the
presumed hyperintention (attention)
of the other
by the one
the music part
may be listening
to the environmental part
but presumably
not the other way around
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
Pray at the Gate - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]
song:
a means for poetry
to specify its delivery
or
poetry is only accidentally similar
to sung words
the words
are not the same words
if not sung
Madrigals, Book VIII: Chi vol aver felice e lieto il core - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
the fashion for intricate song forms
tracks the fashion
for
intricate poetic forms
or does it?
Herr Jesus Christ, ich weiss gar wohl, BuxWV 193 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
this music is for filling ceremonial time with
to impress with solemn
importance
it need only continue to be going on impressing
it passes the time
with ornate stonework
Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
this music
is for filling ceremonial space with content
it parades
in splendor
(hardly Christlike, if you ask me)
unashamedly
theatrical
fugue
is a method
of driving home your point
a formalized repetition scheme
a dour chorale
for such festive fare
Sonata in D minor, Kk. 295 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
comic pounding fist tantrum
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
balanced
because that's how we felt about country life
among the
happy bumpkins
mud men
hard not to whistle
such a pleasant
scene
modulation by cuckoo cuckoo
forthright heroic moralisms
will vanquish suppressed vassals
the spacious vistas don't hurt none neither
the harmony of the fields and meadows
all is
as it ought to be
enlightened paradise
a most pleasant idyll
sudden spasms of effulgent sincerity
return of the cuckoo
in full regalia
now here's a picture of a country dance
a regular bumpkin bopperama
you'd think it were a Renfair
now even the music lovers
can pretend to be milkmaids
for
amusement
stein slamming merriment
did anybody check the weather report?
orchestration can't be reduced
to a list of instruments in play
whose might be whose part
in such a noise as that
the glorious sun will shine once more
triumphaliantly blossoming
into a field of F Major bliss
howsoever humble it be
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
reckless hemiola stomping
Consolations: Quasi Adagio, S171 #4 - Franz Liszt - Beatrice Berrut
let it all out now dear
you'll feel better
Prelude in A-flat Major, Op. 39 #4 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
this A-flat Major
is old and battle-scarred
John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man - The Carter Family [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
followed John Hardy to his hangin' ground
meet you in the sweet by and
by
Tiger Rag - Art Tatum [from Piano Starts Here]
Études d'exécution improbable
Christmas Dragnet (Yulenet), Parts 1 and 2 - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
the Chief is Captain Kellogg
the guy don't believe in scallions
what's dancing in their heads Grudge?
P.S. I Love You - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]
back up singing on the accents only
"treasure"
"words"
"'gether"
Long Hot Summer Night - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]
story telling blues
Haywood - Carole King [from Fantasy]
grooving with funk
to give big sister advice
Light Years - Sun Ra, Walt Dickerson [from Visions]
(a unit of measurement for unimaginable distances)
trading solos while on route
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
Improvisation 4 - Keith Eisenbrey, Anne McLellan [October 2, 1983]
another go
at the same quick Kafka
as number 3 was
Alphabet St. - Prince [from LoveSexy]
a dance music
in the business of making dancers feel sexy
amplified ear whispers
amplifidences
Vested Rituals - Helena Alexander [from The City Sketches]
impressions of an imagined somber majesty
all the features of grave
seriousness
even the wandering
of a distractible mind
in its
face
Track 3 - Students of Joan Shoepflin [recorded live June 9, 1998]
a range of colorful doodads
Gradus 52 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 29, 2003]
a slowly considered game
of careful pine cones
the goal of which
can only be discovered
by playing
a model
is independent from its extensions
the lay of that model's land
might be discovered
by draping it
over
carefully considered possibilities
and comparing
transformations
Halo - Beyoncé [from I Am ... Sasha Fierce]
hyperbolic devotion
sanctifying spotlights
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
the exact impatience
of a desperate persistence over time
an axial
graph
music moves
as do the motions within it
incursions from future rungs
ornamental teasers
of coming
attractions
action sound to the fore!
wild transgressions
these high repeated notes
are falling apart
into their originating objects
to look beyond immediacy
blurs insight
this music thrives best
when its attention
is focused
upon
its immediate surroundings
The Grey Funnel Line - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
cowboy songs
sailor songs
farm-chore songs
worker songs
Banned Rehearsal 1082 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 14, 2023]
we'll splash in the brush
brish brash
the spring metal whanger
banger
found a way
to swallow its sound
back into itself
its resonance
re-raveling
as though birds twittered
and voices came from the street
the tubing squeak
or who knows what?
viola mayhaps?
a quiet heart beat
participates responsively
I'm Looking for Someone to Love - Buddy Holly and the Crickets [from The 'Chirping' Crickets]
tinder profile pitch
Coventry Carol [from The Life Treasury of Christmas Music]
antiphonal lullaby
We Can Talk - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
duet across the band
Dusty and Lefty
Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder [from Innervisions]
riding a groove rhythm
of the meter
spread across the groove
articulating
its cyclic divisions
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
self parody
with loud guitars
a quick set of attacca numbers
nonstop head bobbing
October 16, 2025
Cat People - David Bowie [from Let's Dance]
forever linking Bowie
to Malcolm McDowell
enough repetitions at the end
to get through the contractually necessary
credit scroll
Banned Rehearsal 144 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 21, 1988]
preparing some sort of meal
or clearing up in the aftermeal
at
Flag Ranch
all the chat and noise
the strange thing about recorded
sound
is how detailed a picture it provides
and yet
how much
is inaudible
we can witness the past
but we can't act upon
it
a-visual
an-audible
what is un-seeable
what is un-hearable
latinate
germanic
Latin
is the container
Germanisch
is the first person national
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
we are there
or
there it is
as it was recorded
(no
more)
we must have packed some noisies
we turn the page
and attend anew
my message
to the empty page below:
best of luck!
we have made our own little mechanical music making
what has gone and
got itself sentient
and clownish
(hick talk clown)
we hoot a lot
hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot
we hoot in the hot hoot hut
toot in the tot toot tut
this tape
(and it was a tape)
is a hoot and a half
hymns of many accidental stripes
as may occur
according to whim
hymns of whim
as it were
Amazing Grace
in another amazingly gracious appearance among us
the stripes get stranger
as we move on
rather farty here
community of independent hymnodies on parade!
unambiguous and indescribable
no two ways about it
but what is
it?
the silliness of parenthood couples life
where we found all those noisemakers
I am at a loss to recall
yet
there they all are
Chitarra d'amor - King's Singers [from Chansons d'amour]
a stage act
that occasionally stoops to pretension
Bed By The Window - James King [from Bed By The Window]
sentimental Becket
competitive sincerity
in all simplicity
passed and gone
Romance and Germanic
a syncretion
of
expressive potential
Honey Sugar Sweetheart Man - Karin Blaine [from Dirty Money]
in some cultures
the premium is on self disclosure
or
a
theater of apparent self-disclosures
Banned Rehearsal 746 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 27, 2008]
we tune in to the outside world
baseball in random highlights
of
the radio broadcast
cooperatively obscured
apparently inscrutable sports talk
never ends
not ever
reports
by reporters
of reporters
reporting
sports
reports
the public voice of baseball
is overwhelmingly male
never
deviating
from the notion
that
how they say
is
how it is
and
that's a fact
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
keep them in their little boom boxes
points were scored
there was corporate excitement
no change in the
patient's condition
they'll pull out of it
in a few innings
it will all be over
how do we do that?
a curtain is drawn
a calming tone is taken up
ascending
choosing each step
and pause
and breath
and pose
inventing an immediate ritual
into the full stasis of sleep
the outside world is loud and incessant
we comment from the inside world
In Session at The Tintinabulary
October 12, 2025
Refuge - Keith Eisenbrey
October 13, 2025
Gradus 422 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
...
and then
...
we will move from organized list
to
organized list
some notes would appreciate
some little re-acquaintance
observe the sphere
spinning slowly before us
then
a new
expanse
icy and brittle
even invented thresholds
articulate our mental streaming
new rung
new thinking
new ear
October 15, 2025
Detritus 7 - Keith Eisenbrey
Postscripts
Drops
Music of J. K. Randall
I had the great good fortune, along with some of my friends from Bard, to spend some time with the late Professor Randall in 1983. Since then his music and writings have occupied a significant position in the virtual symposium of my senior colleagues. Greek Nickel #2 and "...such words as it were vain to close..." were recorded at my home in 2014 and 2016, respectively; the troubadour songs and Greek Nickel #1 at recitals in 2009 and 2012.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
