Playlist

Preface

"There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. However, nothing dispirits, and nothing seems worth while disputing. He bolts down all events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible and invisible, never mind how knobby; as an ostrich of potent digestion gobbles down bullets and gun flints. And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker. That odd sort of wayward mood I am speaking of, comes over a man only in some time of extreme tribulation; it comes in the very midst of his earnestness, so that what just before might have seemed to him a thing most momentous, now seems but a part of the general joke."

Herman Melville, from "Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale."

Texts

Recorded

February 8, 2025

JB KE SJ DS (side 1) - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Sarah Johnson, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, June 1, 1983]

a proposal of a subject for discussion
take time
to fully formulate response
lightly brush across its possible body
to understand its shape
before we look at it
centimeter by centimeter
groove by groove
scar by scar 

the too obvious pretense
of clever minimalism
easy pentanoodlings
an attractive nuisance 

I can listen to this
through my memory
of how it feels
for me
to be playing piano
in sessions such as this
how
that particular concentration
of attention
feels 

but
not
from any post-consciousnesses
of any
of my companions'
except
by hearing
what they do
move the furniture around
float zennily about
reflexively pulling
vast spans of time in its wake 

eerie harmony chamber

relapse
into music box
music takes over

February 9, 2025

Three Chinese Love Songs - Bright Sheng - Lisa Saffer, Paul Neubauer, Bright Sheng

architectural in the small
of established points
in pitchspace 

such figures as are used
pose
at angles among them

Banned Rehearsal 338 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [August 20, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 338 930820

his head came off
a lass 

toddler wants
brook
no nuance 

I'm a doggy
I crunch the bone
I want to go for a walk 

I own an internal combustion engine

it burns gas

I put gas in it

so that

it can burn it

it goes in it

to burn

I own

an internal combustion engine

it's mine

I own it

I put gas in it

and buy tabs

for its carrying case 

millions of people

around the world

own internal combustion engines

that burn gas in them 

I am not alone

in my ownership

of an internal combustion engine 

internal combustion engines

make lots of noise

when they are going fast

it is difficult

in the United States

to find a place

where you can be

in which

you cannot hear

the sound

of an internal combustion engine

burning gas 

internal combustion engines

are often found

whipping down the highways

and byways

of these United States

where they can be heard

by all of us 

internal combustion engines

also smell

they exude a stench

ubiquitous 

I own

an internal combustion engine

I own one

it makes a big noise

and it stinks

it is mine

I am its registered owner

I buy its tabs

and put gas in it

I move it around

from place to place

making its noise

and stink 

I do not know the facts and figures

but

I imagine

there are nearly as many internal combustion engines

in the United States

as people

in the United States 

an internal combustion engine

for each one of us 

we move them around

from place to place

we hardly go anywhere

without our internal combustion engine 

internal combustion engines

cost a lot of money

and there are millions of them

rocketing down the highways and byways 

there are whole societies

communities of people

who have spent

their entire lives

making

internal combustion engines

designing

internal combustion engines 

internal combustion engines

we think

were designed

and invented

to replace the horse

and the ox

as engines

to replace

us

as engines

horses

stank

but

they didn't make much noise

in comparison

to the noise

made

by internal combustion engines 

internal combustion engine 

wooden snake

and fossil clams

an apt metaphor

for a society

in the clutches

of the internal combustion engine 

our economy

depends

upon the internal combustion engine 

we all ping

{journal entry of September 17, 1998:

the ownership of internal combustion engines}

February 10, 2025

Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]

rope twisting
textile object

Work/Architecture/Unity/And/The (take 2) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Productions April 29, 2003]

what continuity is required
among events
for us to identify
a musically coherent episode?
is adjacency sufficient?
or
do we distinguish musical utterance
from the sounds of things happening in general
based on
an apprehension
of an utterer? 

continuity
of temporal spacing texture
is heavy-handed 

a troublesome score 

thought disparities
between 

the modes of thought
of the piano
vis à vis the percussion

Intermezzo in midi 4 - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]

pointedly repeated pitch bunches
we'll take our time to hear these fully

Love Blackmail - Your Mother Should Know [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, March 21, 2013]

back when I was playing
at recording them
in multiple takes

A Good Impresario - Wally Shoup, Bill Horist, Dennis Rea, Greg Campbell [from Wally Shoup 2X4tet]

a monster emerges in mid outrage

Sinfonia 1 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [March 29, 2023]

recklessly spewing figurations right and left

February 11, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: Anima mia, perdona: No. 2, Che se tu se ’l cor mio - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rossana Bertini, Claudio Cavina, Giuseppe Maletto, Marcello Vargetto, Cristina Miatello

music shaped like reading a beautifully printed poem

Herr, auf dich traue ich, SWV 377 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

music shaped like meditating upon a sacred text

In dulci Jubilo, BuxWV 197 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

vernacularly popular texts
became associated with particular melodies
which took on
the odor of the sacred
by association

Premier Ordre (sol), Les Silvains, Rondeau - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

well ordered living
each course
follows upon its fellows

Du Wahrer Gott Und Davids Sohn, BWV 23 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Pieter-Jan Belder

this music is a humble frame of mind
a right and humble spirit
its supporting social structures
and architectures

Keyboard Sonata in B Major, Kk. 261 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

delighted in new duds
can't get enough of the mirror 

let's try an action pose
or three
to impress the damosels

Sonata in A Major, K. 331 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout

a cooking lesson
variations upon a dish
and seasonings proper to them 

una corda

on this fortepiano

changes the reverberance of the architecture of its space

its chamber

is expanded

to allow for a distance

from the music 

after the extensive set of variations
that are the first movement
the ensuing two movements
form themselves
into further variations
that have left home

Quartet in D Major, Wq. 94 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Nicholas McGegan, Catherine Mackinstosh, Anthony Pleeth, Christopher Hogwood

one is never entirely certain |
of where one sits
in relation to this music 

this music bewilders us
we
are disregarded 

better things to do
than explain its actions

String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 71 #1 - Franz Joseph Haydn - London Haydn Quartet

this music clarifies
where we stand
with it 

it instructs 

the full stop cadence
is under-rated 

but then
were there any articulatory shenanigans
that Haydn didn't use? 

voices passing through each other
tenderly and lovingly 

the old fellow is wheeled out
to impart gray wisdom 

that's right
that's where we were
before the tale took us elsewhere

Die Stadt, D. 957 #11  - Franz Schubert - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

fully forboded
fearful bodings 

music gets personal

6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op. 10: No. 4 in C Minor, Maestoso - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

ruminations dark and dire
the pulse wanders
into Schumann's metrical figurations
and is caught
fatally 

heroic efforts not to modulate
or did we?

Prelude in E minor, Op. 24 #4 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

this music is alone with us

Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 22 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

a fleeting glimpse of loveliness

Preludes Book 2 #5 "Bruyeres" - Claud Debussy - Walter Gieseking

a pleasant napping spot

Crê a Espera - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcelo Bratke

representing a refined version
of national identity

Lonely Melody - Paul Whiteman [from That Devilin' Tune]

sounds expensive
and well attired 

celesta? or vibraphone?

Yellow Fire - Reuben Reeves [from That Devilin' Tune]

hands and feet in fluid animation
Olive Oyl's shoes and Popeye's pipe

Back In Your Own Backyard (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

being a social animal
family and tribe
are not discardable

Study No. 11 (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

growling away in his office

Sonatas and Interludes, Sonata II - John Cage - Boris Berman

placing doohickeys
in a device's works

Who Knows - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

high energy sparking punches

What Am I Living For? - Chuck Willis [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

unmistakable togetherness of a band
all playing together
a different flavor of togetherness
than dubbed in later

Little Latin Lupe Lu - The Righteous Brothers [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

music to be seen with

Tell Me The Truth - Billy Stewart [from The Best of Billy Stewart]

sings in drumbreak bursts

I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the word rain
leans
against the percussion line
unstably

like the window
you got nothin' to say

I Don't Want You - Ramones [from Road to Ruin]

music from the gritty urban streets

February 12, 2025

Mouret-Randeau - The Canadian Brass [from High, Bright, Light and Clear]

hit them over the head with a tune they know
that is associated
for no particular reason
with the notion of masterpiece

Sonata in 2 Movements - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, March 17, 2011]

five
is a means
for breaking
foursquare habits
while
still relying
on those habits
for its impact 

high-contrast dynamics
push a listener back into their seat 

on the defensive

All About Soul - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]

generic piano pounding song
over-produced at the service of a message
anthemized diction
pound pound pound

Stuart Dempster Retirement Jam (Beginning) - University of Washington Contemporary Group Improvisation Ensemble Alumni [recorded at The University of Washington, June 19, 1998]

revisiting the scene at Meany
in an upstairs rehearsal space

Back Up - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]

bus travel
stop to stop
rondo 

city
through the viewing window

Gradus 135 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 10, 2008]

uninhabited space
infrequent travelers
meet no one
not trackless
endless

The Dirty Angels - The Blue Ribbon Boys

desperate pretense
avant garde:
and the fashion of the cutting whim

Banned Rehearsal 953 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt [February 26, 2018]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 953 180225-26

all the bells aboardship
rattling in the Bering Sea swells 

a shivery feel around the edges 

crabboat cold 

the sound of the space one is in
swallows
the sound of the space
we are in 

after a while
the peril can seem almost friendly 

the wind is endless
it rattles
over chimney
and clangs
in the iron pans
moans
across the wide North

as a boat
we are all one
together 

cozy in the galley

it will end
when we get there
no sooner 

we shiver ritualistically
with tambourines and bells
capture the ice
in aesthetic bands 

Northwest Passage
*denied*

Violent Soundscapes - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls: Lost Landscapes]

menace
we can hear them
scraping shovels

Finnegans Wake Chapter 2 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at Gallery 1412, November 19, 2016]

a loud crash reverberates
to clear the stage
Neal
in the rear garden
of hog house
our sailor king
words that spin about themselves
in speech
heave we aside
the fallacy
an imposing everybody
the summit of its climax
conspicuously emergent
we can't do without them
mirthday suit
purest of fabrications
the long awaited
Messiah of Roaratorios
all sections
and cross sections
the whole populace
passes by
the tonsure question
the ballad
is on the mantelpiece
and must be sung
his majesty
the flute
companions
of the chalice
Messrs. Billing and Coo

February 13, 2025

Jubilee - Bix Biedeerbecke, Frankie Trombauer [from That Devilin' Tune]

the art of orchestration
with the instrunents available

Mollie Married a Travelin' Man - J. H. Howell [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

mule wagon tempo

There Is Another Mule in Your Stall - Nellie Latcher [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

and . . . 

you've been replaced

Lonesome Old Jail - D. H. Hurt [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

text proceeds
on two presentational levels
sung and muttered

There Is Someone in This World for Me - Little Willie John [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

slow shuffle dance

Days of Wine and Roses - Art Farmer Quartet [from Interaction]

guitar gradually reenters
touching on the sly

To Kingdom Come - The Band [from Music From Big Pink]

not just for dancing anymore
sanctification has been unremoved

Group Variations II for computer - Benjamin Boretz [realized at Princeton University Computer Center]

populations of figurations
self-generate through time 

when I was at the UW

I started listening through the music library's indexed tracks

of electronic music

(a fairly small collection at the time)

this came up early on

and seemed

to my ears

to be doing things

like music does

but

in a way

I had never before

heard music do 

flocks of birds
passing through the yard
juncos
bush tits
chickadees
sparrows
robins
crows
the occasional flicker
or finch
or wren
the neighborhood gull
and our resident hummingbird 

at night
the prowlers
coyote
possum
raccoon

These Are The Days When Birds Come Back - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee, Morey Ritt

I'm loving the delicacy of the keyboard writing (and playing!) 

it takes its text seriously

JB KE DS 830524 - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, May 24, 1983]

what is it
exactly
that we make of each other
when we really care to find out? 

what is it
completely? 

let's take a walk
down to the river
we'll watch the water go by 

why must musical conversation
be livelier
than it needs to be? 

who
are we trying to entertain?
connect with? 

language and music
each say precise things
but they are different kinds of things
they say 

sonically amplified
hand talk 

do deceptive cadences
truly deceive
(an oxymoron?)
or do they surprise?
delight?
why not call them
delightful cadences?  

the way this finds tonalities to be in 

it is a strange thought
that my fellows
in this activity
were not
absolutely privileged
with
being able to tune in
to my
every thought
yet
they were not
any more
than I was so
to them 

the conscious format
of a thought
may not be
the whole
nor even the principals
of the thought 

nearly inaudible whistling
as we play awfully pretty chords 

that music box
now fall'n asunder 
back in its heyday
pre-banned 

Jill says
down way down
so down we go 

alarmed
we shout
collapse in a heap 

out

Raw - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]

from a subgenre
the content of which's lyrics
are brags
toward its fellows 

a trash talk contest

Banned Rehearsal 339 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [August 27, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 339 930827

back to family life in progress
the tuning peg
says a
as in as
or
e as in peg
bay-éd 

a warm day
names and nouns
fun words
to say into an amplifier 

in the dawn of consciousness
when words were new 

elephant wants the elephant guiro 

wheels on the bus
make the trees fall
make the trees happy 

language learning
within a ritual noise making session 

ice cream truck
combines two toddler favorites
ice cream and trucks 

a plastic
stick

the bass drum
is nearly filled up with old socks

{journal entry of September 18, 1998:

that's the two nig pag}

In Session at The Tintinabulary

February 9, 2025

Mear - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 84 Mear 250209 [250209]

February 10, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 1119 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1119 250210

Postscripts

Drops

My 16 Sinfonias were composed, in part, in order to discover ways in which they might sing themselves differently on different keyboard instruments. I offer them here as performed on piano. The recordings were made at my home in 2023 and 2024.

recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream

Playlist

Preface

"The freedom of choice for the users of web map applications, devices, and tracking tools, is only a cosmetic polish of an ingrained system of technological surveillance, to the profit and with the connivance of a prevailing consumerism; a system of exploitation which feeds on the passivity of consumers, and the commoditization of everyday life. Maps that are themselves, in this regard, a system of consumerism, behind a mask of convenience and functional productivity. The supervision, control, and discipline of the body in space is a necessity for such a system to be effective, and photographic cartography is part of the actual modus operandi of social control and surveillance."

Sascia Pelligrini,  from "At The Margins" Open Space Magazine Fall | Winter 2024

Texts

Recorded

February 1, 2025

The Bible's Right - Sister O. M. Terrell [from Goodbye, Babylon]

jangly blues guitar
prefigures prepared piano

I've Got You Under My Skin - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]

slapstick spoof

Octet - Salvatore Martirano - Ronald Dewar, Thomas Howell, Howard Smith, Arthur Maddox, Dorothy Martirano, Lee Duckles,  Thomas Fredrickson, Rick Kvistad, Salvatore Martirano

cautious progress
stalking
bunched felinely

move quick when back is turned
freeze solid when faced 

forcing a path
roots in rocky dirt

A Dream (Wm. Blake) - Allen Ginbsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]

vowels that are high in the middle of the mouth
drop along the diphthong path

American Tune - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]

a little too timely alas
Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea

Music for Lovers - Nina Simone [from Baltimore]

stage lighting changes grandly
vocal spotlight heroic

JB KE DS 830517 - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, May 17, 1983]

not one of my better moments
I try to play piano pop-pianistically
can't pull it off
because I can't believe in it 

there is a lot of wobble in the sound 

my companions did their best
to help me along
I can't escape the chunk chunk chunk chunk right hand figure
nor the tempo
nevertheless
this was possibly the most extensive single attempt
I ever made
at finding a pianistic voice
in that lingo
a failure
but failures are instructive  

home base clutched
I become a piano player
I imitate a piano player
playing piano
rather than
just play the piano straight 

insecurity
won't let me just shut up and listen 

:compositional hangup:
one must proceed logically
without skipping steps 

halfway in I calm down
and it gets pretty nice
pianissimo magic for a few minutes

February 2, 2025

Touch Me I'm Sick - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]

going for the bad boy prize

Banned Rehearsal 337 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [August 13, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 337 930813

during our decade with small children
Banned Rehearsal became a regularly scheduled episode
of noise making
intermingled with family life in progress
adult play 

broad stroke strumming

{journal entry of September 15, 1998:

in fits and starts}

February 3, 2025

Alligator Alley - Tingstad & Rubel [from American Acoustic]

an expert illustration
of a demotic music
traditional features
each indexed
(see key on wall below)

Work / Architecture / Unity / And / The - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Productions, April 19, 2003]

the idea I had
was
of coming upon rocky crags
in a thick fog
using silence
as a fog
but not silence
so much
as a time of uncertainty
an articulation
that binds objects
in its amber
each clearly visible
always
but
only one at a time 

some projects are undertaken
to find something out
rather than to accomplish a task 

how are parts distinguished?

Raisa - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]

sounds like the vibe
of a social dive
dim lights
complex air
sinuous motions

Assembly Rechoired 55 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy [April 15, 2013]

light percussion
and somewhat cheesy midi synth
light percussion
to specifically include string instruments
quite a lovely session all through
drums and bells

The Grey Funnel Line - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]

setting to verse and song
accomplishes a mythological transformation
person becomes literature

Banned Telepath 99 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [March 27, 2023]

rattle or bang
to wake the muse
the jangles of a tambourine
tour a narrow pitch ambitus
some sounds
are trajectories through pitchspace
we determine
that
any moment
can establish an harmony

it is no neighbor note
unless it returns 

pitch is full with potential function
pitchspace
as experienced
is not a two-dimensional geometry
there are paths
to new understandings
of pitchspace
but you have to want to go there
click three times
there's no place like music 

one:
the alternate ungendered pronoun
one
did it
emphasis matters
one did it
it did one 

they share an extension 

one did them
they did one

one did them oneself
they did one themself 

one
is the possibility
of a subject
of reference 

they
is a certainty
of one 

one
is a pointerless pronoun
it was
what one did 

one can be plural 

every
and any 

one
and someone

February 4, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: No. 1, Anima mia, perdona - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rossana Bertini, Claudio Cavina, Giuseppe Maletto, Marcello Vargetto, Cristina Miatello

the consonant/dissonant distinction
is a mere mechanical tactic
toward the establishment of scale degree functionality

Sammlet zuvor des Unkraut, SWV 376 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

choral announcement
mic check

Fuga in G Major, BuxWV 175 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

in clearly articulated sections
each with its fugal exposition

Premier Ordre (sol) Menuet, Double du Menuet precedent - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

same story
told in different voices

Christen, Atzen Diesen Tag (appendix), BWV 63 - Johann Sebastian Bach -The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, Ton Koopman

soprano bass duet
voices speak to each other
and out to us
we are included in their ear-space

Keyboard Sonata in G Major, Kk. 260 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

figures commit to their bit
knows more corners than you 

modulations struggle
in a headwind
shoulders hunched
face down

Symphony in G Major, K425a/AA53/444 "Michael Haydn" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood

no slouch of an 18th Century Symphony
whoever wrote it
I could believe that Mozart didn't though
it lacks his usual dramatic flash and glitter
a fine music for a formal dance
great bassoon concerto in the second movement
the dance's politesse
is wearing elegant but weighty fabrics

Quartet in A minor, Wq. 93 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Nicholas McGegan, Catherine Mackinstosh, Anthony Pleeth, Christopher Hogwood

clever orchestration
seems to add instruments
as needed
out of parts
of the ones
at ones disposal 

register color variability
employed maximally

Symphony in E-flat Major, Hob. I:99 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Ádám Fischer

on the far side of the first repeat
a new prospect discovered 

all confessions
are most proper
and modest
as befits
a maiden
soon to be sacrificed
to the propagation
of the race
holy blessings descend upon them
fear and trembling
a pep talk from big sis 

big day
all the house astir
all will be splendid

Der Fischermädchen, D. 957 #10 - Franz Schubert - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

some of that palaver
for what can be got out of them

Etudes de concert d'après les Caprices de Paganini pour le pianoforte, Op. 10: IV. Etude in C Minor, maestoso - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage

the piano is a large room
full of high and mighty decisions
crazy action in the back passageways 

the young clerk
is in luv
despairing luv  

the storm in his heart
battles
with the storm
of high and mighty decisions
in large rooms 

homeward he rushes
heart ablaze

Prelude in G Major, Op. 28 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

arachnid magic

Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 (#3) - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

opens in manly posture
on the good side
light just so
impelled by passion
held back with resolve
and fear
the song
of the dramatic pose
afloat
on the measureless aether 

manly posture
to conquer all

Preludes Book 2: #10, Canope - Claude Debussy - Paul Jacobs

playful gossamer fronds

Cubanos - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcelo Bratke

the song that trips the tongue along

San Tub Jub - Washboard Band [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

found object social music
its minimal and homely means
are part of its essential theater

Go 'Long Mule - Louisiana Lou [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

comic song
you can change a fool
but a doggone mule
is a mule until he dies 

throw any old verse in there
just so it's clever

On The Sentimental Side (take 2) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

she doesn't put the song across
she enters into the song
and sits down
to us
within it

Four Transcriptions from Emerson (1938): No. 3 (end) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

a disjointed collection
of attic inventory

Sonatas and Interludes: First Interlude - John Cage - Adam Tendler

bloop bloop machinery
as in The Man in the White Suit
a continuity of bloops

Satin Doll - Duke Ellington [from Ken Burns Jazz]

classy in all things

Two Movements for String Quartet - Benjamin Boretz - Composers Quartet

1
pulling apart from inside 

2
awkward occupation

February 5, 2025

Heat Wave - Martha and The Vendellas [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

among other things
the metronomic drum enforced beat
is an enabler of industrial production

Black Velvet Band - The Irish Rovers [a Rescued Record]

beware the sirens
of Van Diemen's Land

All The Way Down - Etta James [from Etta James]

arranged from discrete parts
in a secure facility

The Promised Land - Bruce Springsteen [from Darkness On The Edge Of Town]

frustrations
and a series of instrumental solos
engineered
to make each soloist
sound just alike

I Love A Man In Uniform - Gang of Four [collected from Nancy's Mix]

more frustrations
self reported
or revealed

Sonata in 2 Movements - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, March 17, 1995]

orchestrated for solo piano
an outward facing presentation
of self examination
and elaboration 

tonalities of figures
passing between them 

dramatizing
the movements of tonalities

Improvisation 1 - Elizabeth Panzer [from Talking Harp]

resolving
to a music
of distinct figure paths
guided
by an accompanying figure
mellow vibes
mellows itself into slumber

Banned Rehearsal 498 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 13, 1998]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 498 980613

we aren't certain
we know
who all
might be present 

hear what the room hears
piano monster
commanding presence
an assumed charisma
a cloak
of charisma 

report back
on what you heard
the room hear 

yoiks!
I just quoted my Sonata in 2 Movements there
how oddly out of time 

collaboration
turns expression aside 

the room shaking purr
of the elephant guiro 

a room of possibility 

obo roi
in a fine appearance 

we have a feederback OM
and a bladder quacker

pretending to be playing the piano
there I go
quoting myself again
tsk tsk 

that sounds like the big red bag of fun's contents
or
perhaps
the can depository 

the composing ear
is insatiable 

agendas can drift independently
and still occupy the same room 

does this sound like the sort of music
that could be produced from a notation? 

no
not notation 

notions
from notions
oceans of notions 

time is tolled
at the tone 

scratch the radio waves
strum the zither 

activate the feederback

{journal entry of May 14, 2006:

an accumulating opening
of entrances and activities
flute and radio/noise
engaging in conversation
and drum and piano 

a careful concertante 

derailed from ongoing
every few minutes 

a surprise declaration
from a different music/piano concerto 

nearly tangled skeins
of twists of sound 

piano plays music
in an environment
of differentially shifting alliances 

even the relatively familiar figurations
in this lovely chamber
exhibit new wonders
newly fresh
as though reborn

adding up
to something
is not the goal 

moving along
like something
might be self correcting
like something
might be foraging 

trying out
working a material
allowing for resistance
enjoying the particulars 

drifting
floating
encountering}

The Forecast - Betty LaVette [from A Woman Like Me]

a sick feeling
in the pit
going in 

let us now wallow in it
blues ecstatic

Banned Rehearsal 734 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 3, 2008]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 734 080303

life with noisemakers
stethoscope up
to the Mighty Uncle Wurlitzer
on its later legs I'm afraid 

something mechanical
had failed
in its rumbliness
bad case of tick ticks 

we sputter into our beards 

what I hear
as a singular experience
is not
the whole of experience
which
includes
as first person pronouns
I
we
one
you
and
they 

at least 

Aaronsbundler stops by
for the low down
on what's up 

drum roll please
xylophone brings up a new point
so pay mind

Underneath - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]

avante jazzpop?
meta?
shaped like a pop song
but with an unlike attitude
more esoterical??

Banned Telepath 60 St. Paul Island - Aaron Keyt [February 25, 2018]

outside
a constant wind
inside
we shiver and rattle quietly 

we are a drumhead
in the Bering Sea

Calm Down - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]

contrasting states
of being doing

February 6, 2025

Benvenuto Cellini, Appendix - Hector Berlioz - Orchestre National de France, Chorus of Radio France, John Nelson, Gregory Kunde, Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato, Laurent Naouri, Jean-François Lapointe, Renaud Delaigue, Eric Salha, Marc Mauillon, Roman Nédélec, Éric Huchet

the parts
that wouldn't go back in the box

bereft of their dramatic function

some fancy coloratura in that one
a tenor pours out their heart in this one

Down Home Rag - James Reese Europe [from That Devilin' Tune]

same track
that was called Down Home Blues in Really The Blues?
same accelerated frame-rate feel
same minstrel show hollers

Finnegans Wake, Chapter 2 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, December 12, 2015]

as we wait for Neal to enter
a branch outside my window
a half block away
is dangling
loose
from its tree
swinging
gently
mesmeral
branch squiggles
in an accidental
but determinate relation
to my observance of them 

Neal
has doffed hat
and donned vestment
begins to recite 

jingling his forgotten word keys
running strong since creation

the rhythms of reading
and its pauses
between paragraphs 

hoc hoc hoc
as to such
as was soon unstated 

consumed their soul of the corn 

words < phrases
< sentences
< paragraphs
< stations of reading
< chapters
< book(s) 

the saying
attributive 

sibilance becomes a rattle
in the echo land 

sniffed the corpse
with a quick ear
for spittoons 

a near stout figure
a good night's rave and rumble 

single minded
super crowd
and oh! Atkinson! 0

a deuce of Dianas 

{after pizza and salad
on headphones
punctuated by
the J&I Roomcast
concerning
game lore
aesthetical and technical} 

what is it we do
when we translate Joyce
into our own lingo? 

the Loudfellow boys
and our maypole once more
versified and earsified and eirsified 

warts by 

music cue
immaculate contraceptives
and religious reform 

the two goats 

Paradise
when the Space Needle
had a double 

his rent in his rears

a'plause
chatter

Molly Man - Moses Mason [from Really The Blues]

preludial invocation
call to the muse 

can one hear an experience
from the outside
from
an other's perspective 

muse possession
from outside possession

I've Got the Big River Blues - Delmore Brothers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

the blues are
among other things
always a duet
even when
a duet of duets 

interdivisibility
of the nonprimes

Katie Dear - The Blue Sky Boys [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

a proposal of marriage
delivered by simultaneous suitors 

a song
from a former time
sung in a former time

The Man I Love - Coleman Hawkins [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

a portrait pianistically penned
the bass can be heard
breathing quick inhale 

suddenly the sax 

language arises
when we suddenly understand
what we are saying

Wanderers Gemustruhe - Lukas Foss - Cornell Contemporary Singers, Judith Kellock, Lukas Foss

a study in accompanistic sins
duettists at odds

Vacation Waltzes, Op. 41 - Lockrem Johnson - Lockrem Johnson

https://www.lockremjohnsonestate.com/op-30-46/op-41-vacation-waltzes

a study in tempo and meter
the notes
are beside all the points
until they're so not 

these are completely tremendous
as pieces
and performance
bravo!

Just One Of Those Things - Blossom Dearie [from Give Him The Ooh-La-La]

enter
otherwise unclothed
but
by the running bass spotlight
as the band comes in
as her gown is lit 

flash pan

I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying - The Miracles [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

coping mechanism
for the sorrows of living

Don't Take It So Hard - Paul Revere and The Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]

Ken Doll cultural avatar
new outfit
new time
new song 

goes all hippie
right there in the bridge

Tight A$ - John Lennon [from Mind Games]

late in the set
talk dirty slot
let the guitars
have their struts

Till Victory - The Patti Smith Group [from Easter]

the affect change
jarred me back
to Paul Revere's hippie bridge

In Session at The Tintinabulary

February 2, 2025

Woodstock - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 83 Woodstock 250202 [250202]

February 3, 2025

Gradus 308 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

more notes
than sticks to shake 

notes, anyone? 

(a
   ny
        on 

             e) 

|an

y

o

ne| 

\ a

\ n

one

\ y

conundrum

ay none

to the future and beyond

Postscripts

Drops

My 16 Sinfonias were composed, in part, in order to discover ways in which they might sing themselves differently on different keyboard instruments. I offer them here as performed on piano. The recordings were made at my home in 2023 and 2024.

recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream

Playlist

Preface

"Courteous Reader,

Divaricating from the beaten track of all my predecessors in the Celestial Art, whose method it hath ever been to leave the interpretation of their symbolical prefigurements to be explorated and divined by the subtlety of the ingenious reader himself, - by the which they did shroud, in a tenfold tenebrosity of Cimmerian gloom, their no-meaning mysteries, and ambiguous puzzlements; - deviating, I say, from such a course, I do herewith not only present thee, as hath been my custom, with an Hieroglyphic 'adapted to the times,' but lifting the veil of obscurity, wherein it is shrouded from vulgar apprehension, lay patent and exposed the hidden meaning thereof.
It hath in it the three grand postulates or requirements of a veritable Hieroglyphic, videlicet, - It is Astroscopical, Astrological, and Prophetical:-
It is Astroscopical, as it is founded on an observation of the Stars.
It is Astrological, as it is indicative of planetary potency and lunar influence; and
It is Prophetical, inasmuch as it not only presenteth the present, but futurizeth the future."

from The Comic Almanack an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843

Texts

Recorded

January 25, 2025

Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key - Billy Bragg & Wilco [from Mermaid Avenue]

a game of E rhymes
and rhyming chords

Gradus 41 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 28, 2003]

in written language
there is a species of agreement
as to
what signs
signify
which species of agreement
doesn't exist
as to
what signs signify
in music 

is the notion
that music
communicates something
beneath
or above
or around the side
of conscious signification
a Romantic fantasy? 

that
it seems
to do so
for us
we witness to 

at first
Gradus was purely A-tonal

January 26, 2025

Symphony 1, 3rd Movement - Chuck Graef

what counts as worthy
in commercial music? 

:mood: 

its job
in the commercial world
(movies, games)
is to provide a mood-color 

music
which fails
at being commercial
in that sense
often does so
by allowing the logic
of the musical material
to override
the prevailing mood
rather than
having that mood
override
any internally generated musical flow 

which
can be frustrating
for a listener
whose ear
seeks out
what the music is doing
rather than
its flavor profile 

any detail
that might pull a viewer
out
of the immersion
of movie viewing
or game playing
is systematically eschewed

Gradus 223 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 8, 2013]

errant pitches
grind the guardrails 

A Blue Bird!

January 27, 2025

Light Body - Hanna Benn [from Divide]

a thick paste
bright inclusions

Sinfonia 6 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [March 26, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · Sinfonia 6 230326

note-string lengths
note-string count
a study example

Madrigals, Book IV: Volgea l'anima mia - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

setting a poem to a music
makes the time of the poem
concrete
palpable 

a different kind of objectification
than ink and paper

Geistliche Chor-Music, SWV 369-397: No. 7, Viel werden kommen, SWV 375 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana, Matteo Messori

instructs us
in the import
of the pericope

Puer Natus in Bethlehem, BuxWV 217 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

a gloss
upon the lesson
like a halo

Deuxieme Ordre (re) - Rigaudon - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

figuration contour
interacts
with metrical scansion

"Komm, Du Süße Todesstunde" BWV 161 - Johann Sebastian Bach - The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ton Koopman

gently throbbing pulse

congregational response
offering testimony 

the gospel
is a community endeavor 

all music
leads back
to the hymnbook

Sonata in G Major, Kk. 259 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

a landscape spread before us
a feast of dainties

Sinfonia in D Major, Op. 18 #6 - Johann Christian Bach - Failoni Orchestra, Hanspeter Gmür

bright and vigorous
calm and considered
industrious and efficient
jovial and hearty 

our household
in its many moods
a mummery

January 28, 2025

Rondo in A minor, Wq. 56/5 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi

figurations
within immediate groups
and among adjoining groups
within the voice-leading 

master of the long pause

Sonata in F Major, K. 332 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout

vehement fist pound accents
melodic treatment
in order to render
the dramatic poetry
of the time
as something
someone
might say 

pulses in disguises

String Quartet in F minor, Op. 55 #2 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Tatrai Quartet

time passing
is a room
to be in
is a matter
to consider
from many angles
is a game of cards
and conversation

Ihr Bild, D. 957 #9 - Franz Schubert - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

an era of lyric poetry
in ascendance 

time passing
doesn't

6 Etudes de concert d'apres des caprices de Paganini, Op. 10: No. 3 in G minor - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

prestidigitation spectacular

Mazurka in G-sharp minor, Op. 33 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

from inside and outside at once
a remembrance

Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 22 #1 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

the hollow space at its core
where the key might have been

January 29, 2025

Preludes Book 2, "Homage a S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C." - Claude Debussy - Paul Jacobs

firm
placid
stern
innocent

Iris - Lionel Belasco's Orchestra [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

a lively dance
in a moderate three

Epônina - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcel Bratke

small venue music
allows lighter fare
redolence of the street
and spa
if
well dressed
and well mannered

Old Time Baptism Part 2 - R. M. Massey [from Really The Blues]

singing hymns in church
is not a performance
but a corporate abasement
a release into the word

In a Mist - Red Norvo [from That Devilin' Tune]

jazz
as an historic mode of music doing
has always
it seems
included
a significant instrumental tradition 

not as tied to song
as rock and roll 

this
for instance
is a sophisticated marimba piece
with light accompaniment 

baritone sax and guitar?

Mitchell Blues - Wade Mainer [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

single microphone
proximity engineering
the band
learns
to do
the mic dance 

shave and a haircut
kiss-off

Four Transcriptions from Emerson  (1938): No. 3 (beg.) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

sounds in a heap on the floor
broomed to a corner

Wanderer's Swing - Rip Ramsey and His Texas Wanderers [from That Devilin' Tune]

country hip
bunch of guys

As The Life of a Flower - Chuck Wagon Gang [from Goodbye, Babylon]

camp meeting song
popular hymnody
social song

Western Movies - The Olympics [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

pop culture self reference
across media
a hermetic seal

Louie Louie - Paul Revere and The Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]

an excuse
for a fancy guitar solo
the band keeps their cool throughout

Love Child - The Supremes [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

meaningfulness requirement
quota 

must have our preachin'

Speech Songs - Charles Dodge

playing with a new toy 

pitch analysis
would be not worth the time
as
it could illuminate nothing
particularly interesting 

it is play
for amusement

Stranded in a Limousine - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]

street events

Walking Song - Los Lobos [from ...And a Time to Dance]

coming home
to the medicine
blues
trouble's all I have

the band
however
is having a blast

Sonata in 2 Movements - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [February 18, 1988]

the processes of time
and multiple dubbings
have done interesting things
to the sound of that piano
(a Yamaha)
{NB:
the recording linked above
is more recent
and on a different piano}

I recorded this
immediately upon its completion 

composing a piece
and learning to play it
were results
of the same process 

the question
was always
whither now? 

it was supposed to be a Scherzo
but it went funny peculiar 

the quick cut to the second movement
is perfect 

music requires belief 

the seeds of things
can be hidden
in the remains of things 

how very like Lockrem Johnson's F minor Prelude
this passage is! 

still love it

Chanson d'amour - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]

popular music
has some strange fetishes

Banned Rehearsal 497 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 6, 1998]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 497 980606

entering warily
taking samples
at all points 

radio frequencies
are made audible
then
set in a corner
to simmer 

even when cases are being opened
we never exit
the session's ear 

a sharp squeal
from a feedback
oops 

this
is not a chamber symphony
this
is a soundportrait
in sounds
like music has 

squeeze box reeds
change the subject 

tiny playback
in the wee can 

white noise
scrubbit clean 

the sound
collapsed into laughter
collects itself 

relaxed attention
engaged
but easy going 

harvest!
hash!

Gate Closing at Sand Point - Christopher DeLaurenti

security apparatus display

Gradus 134 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 25, 2008]

notes
in their relationships
situated
at a certain point 

the question
of going on
becomes an issue

January 30, 2025

Forked - Sage [from Forked]

song
as poster
for band
whose songs
are posters
for bands 

demos
for bookers
of dive bars
so dive bars
can sell
more beer

Hail - Keith Eisenbrey [February 25, 2018]

Keith Eisenbrey · Hail 180225

plunking the furnace chimney
no beer was sold

1996 - Pete Comley [from Paintronics, Volume 6]

signals excite vibrations
in a medium
by mechanical means 

the mechanical means
being earthy
do not
perfectly
excite
the signals' potential
for precision 

- hallelujah!

Benvenuto Cellini, Act II, Tableau 4 - Hector Berlioz - Orchestre National de France, Chorus of Radio France, John Nelson, Gregory Kunde, Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato, Laurent Naouri, Jean-François Lapointe, Renaud Delaigue, Eric Salha, Marc Mauillon, Roman Nédélec, Éric Huchet

this music
does not move
with the inexorable logic
of a Beethoven symphony
it moves
as a series
of nuances
upon a dramatic face
per the practice
of the time
a sequence
of set-pieces 

the sheer quantity of orchestrational ideas
is astounding throughout

Down Home Blues - James Reese Europe [from Really The Blues]

peep show film strip

Ole Miss - Original New Orleans Jazz Band [from That Devilin' Tune]

caricature engravings

Finnegans Wake, Chapter 2 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at Gallery 1412, October 21, 2017]

long ago
at 1412
a door opened
and shut
and a recitation
began 

now
theories from older sources 

a book
is described
and
that description
is polluted
by the book
being described 

a novel
that concerns itself
with a novel
that concerns
itself 

a fearless forehead
holy bones of Saint Hubert
uncontrollable nighttalkers
here comes everybody 

problem passion play
a royal divorce
ladies circle
cloaks may be left
standing room only
emergent Welsh fusiliers
clean minded giant
that homogeneous man
a ripe occasion
to provoke it

water break 

his first assumption
of his birthday suit
he met
a cad
with a pipe
the reductions
known as the sayings
saluting corpses
as a matter of course
his trusty snorer forgotten
words
the deep sleep
sea gossip
from all sources 

(a breather)
(a drinker)  

absent
from his usual
wild and wooly haunts
the defense orates 

a few more
just to celebrate yesterday 

and the rhyme's world
was
by a reason
the richer 

under the shadow
of the monument
of
the should have been legislated 

may his hairs
be rubbed in dirt 

his Percival namesake 

it's ballad time! 

audite audite
music cue
sh
sh
sh
sh
sh
sh
sh

Don't Speak To Me - Lottie Kimbrough [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

sisterly advice
avoid the dice rollers
and the liquor still 

and
response?

I Don't Intend to Die in Egyptland - Joshua White [from Goodbye, Babylon]

mix and match mythology

Memphis Blues - The Nite Owls [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

an amplified world
has aris' 

advertising itself

That's All I Ask Of You (alternate take) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

selling the idea
of technical progress
(the newest recording tech)

Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonata I - John Cage - Boris Berman

fact:
this is wonderful keyboard music
even without the prep 

distinct activity figures

In Session at The Tintinabulary

January 26, 2025

Geneva - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 82 Geneva 250126 [250126]

Zoo - Keith Eisenbrey

a few seconds of Kea squawk and conversation

January 27, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 1118 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1118 250127

Postscripts

Drops

My 16 Sinfonias were composed, in part, in order to discover ways in which they might sing themselves differently on different keyboard instruments. I offer them here as performed on piano. The recordings were made at my home in 2023 and 2024.

recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream