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| Bickleton, WA |
"It must be borne in mind that all this time we have a Sperm Whale's prodigious head hanging to the Pequod's side. But we must let it continue hanging there a while till we can get a chance to attend to it. For the present other matters press, and the best we can do now for the head, is to pray heaven the tackles may hold."
Herman Melville - from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale.
Texts
Recorded
June 21, 2025
Madrigals, Book VIII: Vago augelletto, che cantando vai - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
the first three groups are easily grasped as similar
then a sequence of
disparate groups
then what seems very like the first three groups
then another sequence of disparate groups
tempo
weight
relations among their parts
if there are similarities
among the disparate group sequences?
possible
but not confirmed
cap it off
with the music
like
unto
the opening
rounded off
in a slower time
to end
Auf dem Gebirge, SWV 396 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
horns signify mountains
expansive prospects
firmly founded
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| Bickleton, WA |
the subject figure
has an announcing note
and a fiddly bit
Deuxieme Ordre (fin) : La Florentine. D'une legerete tendre - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
households among royalties
hired musicians
for their own amusement
and
to display their wealth and power (prestige)
Christus, der ist mein Leben, BWV 95 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
activated syncopation
persists to the edge of the darkness
varied modes of relations among the parts
Sonata in A Major, Kk. 280 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the matter
consists
of multiply voiced sets
of figure
sequences
Adagio in B minor, K. 540 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mitsuko Uchida
the expanse
of an expressive utterance
commensurate
to its
internal potential
for clarifying ramifications
how many angles
to view from
that provide increased insight
Die Schöpfung, Der Fünfte Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, Gundula Janowitzs, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Werner Krenn, Walter Berry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wiener Singverein
picture book
page turns
take in
each scene
then
turn the page
the homogeneity of Haydn's tonal practice
serves a well ordered cosmos
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| Bickleton, WA |
Prelude in B-flat minor, Op. 28 #16 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
terror riding
with reckless swallows
Album für die Jugend, Armes Waisenkind, Op. 68 #6 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
what is it about Schumann's repetitions
that twists
the notion
of repetition
out of countenance
Prelude in F-sharp Major, Op. 33 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
his figures
twirl their skirts
London Café Blues - King Oliver [from Really The Blues]
leers with a strut
In The Mornin' - Johnson, Nelson, Porkchop [from Really The Blues]
testimony of a life as lived hard
Hawaiian War Chant - Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra [from On The Sunny Side Of The Street]
big band display
to cheer the troops overseas
Night and Day - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
a melodicist
melodist?
melodyist?
Sonatas and Interludes, Sonata IV - John Cage - Boris Berman
a conversation
between tone puppets
He Needs Me - Nina Simone [from Little Boy Blue]
dynamite single chord
long held
introduction
hangs time
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| Bickleton, WA |
smooth ensemble
an afternoon
spent
relaxing
in a song
Disguises - The Who [from Magic Bus]
strange percussion
box of bolts?
noise psychedelia
See Emily Play - David Bowie [from Pin Ups]
the tribute-imitation of Syd
is uncanny
Babelogue - The Patti Smith Group [from Easter]
slam sacrifice
No Art In The West - The PKs [from Live in the Living Room]
my favorite PKs number
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| Bickleton, WA |
Eye No - Prince [from LoveSexy]
a song object
included within
an artificial song object
world
a dance object
within
an artificial dance object world
to make a body move
independently of melodic forces
Gone To The Moon - Fastbacks [from Zucker]
tightly cycled change durations
catchy in a wormy way
Nineteen in Naples - Jonathan Richman [from I'm So Confused]
delineating ones past self
for entertainment
("...what I could hear, trying to crawl out from between the lines of your last ferocious Sonata...") - Benjamin Boretz - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, June 21, 2003]
tempo spilling forward
or
held in check
potential energy
increase
and valved release
Sonarchy December 8, 2008 (A) - Pete Comley
sawtooth vowels
voices
through various settings of signal loss
a veritable cornucopia
of signal loss settings
Beaver Trilogy
his challenge in the crisp fall air
converse associations
among sets
equivalent
but not equal
different
but of the same value
feel that intensity
let the scent go inside of you
the assessment of musics
as signals
rather than utterances
or
prior (?)
to their utterancehood
the parts
of one signal
do not operate
with any clear intent
upon the parts of other signals
as parts
only
as
signal
with signal (waveform) logic
logics of signal objects
some signal objects are verbal communications
some are other modes
beeps
roars
crackles
tones
musics
positive direction
of your subconscious mind
vitally alive
prevent frowning
now
open your eyes
and turn the
record over
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| Bickleton, WA |
Gradus 233 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 9, 2013]
we compare each pitch that comes along
to
our memory
of
those
that came along
before
we determine
that
they all match each other
as to pitch
they do not match
however
as to weight/dynamic
and
though we could
compare the weights
as they come along
I
for one
would
not be confident
in my matching
though more so
as to
relative value
across shortish time adjacency spans
greater than
or less than
or similar
consequently
I am not convinced
that structures
that rely
on such matching
of weight/dynamic values
across large spans
are discernable
by me
without assistance
or clear
articulation
by means of
some other aspect
such as pitch
or rhythmic/metrical patterning
|-|
no pause
new rung
two pitches now
can the weight of pitch A
be compared to the weight of pitch B?
yes
of course
but the more dissimilar
the pitches themselves
the trickier
it would be
to match weights between them (?)
so
is it useful to me
to match and compare weights
organizing them into sets
as we do pitch?
rungs of weights?
why would we think so?
Shit Luck - Choke The Pope [from Who Cares]
lame loser chic
Banned Rehearsal 1076 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [May 22, 2023]
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| Bickleton, WA |
airplanes roar the sky drum
we tickle their bellies
with quiet sounds
flute
free reed
thumpdrum
rattles
they never know
sociable
without verbal language
talk
is silent
inaudible
to any tongue
a jet scrapes by
Lots O' Mama - Midway Dance Orchestra [from That Devilin' Tune]
lively spirits
keepin' 'em so
Away Down in the Alley Blues - Lonnie Johnson [from Really The Blues]
clearly a blues conversation
among singer and guitar
for solo
guitar
stunning playing
Bellini-esque
Pussy Pussy Pussy - Light Crust Dough Boys [from That Devilin' Tune]
off-color novelty song
Four Transcriptions from Emerson (1943): No. 1 (abandoned) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
quite pretty for a while
but keeps losing focus
Lady Bird - Todd Dameron [from Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
soundtrack for the party scene
that spawned the boomers
{journal entry of March 7, 2006:
incipient cool
sneaking in
underneath the hot}
In A Little Spanish Town - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles at Newport (Live)]
a bit icky
in an exoticismoid way
but stupendously exact
at
each moment
The Last Letter - Willie Nelson [from Here's Willie Nelson]
performative sentimentalist
a clown type
Heigh-Ho - Louis Armstrong [from Disney Songs The Satchmo Way]
each heigh-ho
is a specific statement
there are no duplicates
among them
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| Bickleton, WA |
line lengths are only
ever
abstractly equivalent
the stanzas
are spacious enough
to spread out in
Twin Stars of Thence - Sun Ra [from Languidity]
a dance floor
that dances back
foot music
articulate
feet
tap back
I Don't Wanna Face It - John Lennon [from Milk and Honey]
a complaint
and a call
in conflict
Banned Telepath 18 Bickleton - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [April 3, 1988]
a gloriously maltuned spinet
and an electric organ
converse
like honest folks
me on the organ
and Karen on the spinet
I imagine
then a
guitar
settling into just being in the room together
Pianosphere - S. Eric Scribner [from Pianosphere]
pianosphere nothing
bravo piano
harp
roar
undersea
what floated
has descended
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| Bickleton, WA |
Glory To God (050510A) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle, May 10, 2005]
first session
first take
nice lilt
not sure why I felt we
needed another
The Only Thing Missin' - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]
blues and gospel share answer-back conversation among the parts
Gradus 140 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 2, 2008]
if silence is the point
why mar it with notes at all?
but
the muse
bids us
not
hold our tongues
little kissy on the buzzy strings
the urge
to create content
the presumption
to reform
creation
to make
a home environment
within the large
subculture nation
creating emptiness
as ones home environment
within
is
a meta content
a cutting through
to
clear the air
Gordian Knot
be naught!
life in the delta
between content and emptiness
adrift
by
the wind and flow
{journal entry of June 2, 2008:
methodical rote learning
may not be a good way
to learn a
versatile skill set
but
it may be an excellent way
to learn
something else
simply because it allows
ample time
to
ponder}
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
motet for pianoforte
lovely
Corollaries (Down's Up) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 24, 2018]
climbing route
stretch by stretch
Scatter - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]
lickety split
Any Woman's Blues - Bessie Smith [from Really The Blues]
anyone's moan
allowance
to voice troubles
Nobody Loves Me - Herschel Brown & His Washboard Band [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
washboard
hip hop
scratch
single mic recording
of a
pre-amplification ensemble
must
give a skewed idea
of the
balance
the group had
live
more mics
doesn't solve the
problem
Everybody's Tryin' To Be My Baby - Roy Newman [from That Devilin' Tune]
a strut dance
clown type
Half Nelson - Miles Davis [from That Devilin' Tune]
what happens
can be followed
at several removes
with ease
the ones that require effort
are his problem
not mine
delight
in moment
momentum
movement
I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
there's a come-on for you
(as a torch song)
I'd like to see you
lookin' swell
baby
sentimentalizing the tawdry
the American way
Smile - Stevie Wonder [from With a Song In My Heart]
is this actually good advice?
give up
and take it
with a
goofy grin?
Voices of Old People - Simon & Garfunkel [from Bookends]
whispers of the ancestors
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
obsessed
with the fantasy
of stardom
and striving
and
debasement
Changes - Carole King [from Welcome Home]
childlikeness
melodic note-iness
The Kids Are Alright - The PKs [from Live In The Living Room]
the toms
make the compressor
hide the rest of the band
sax
too
when its turn comes
Countdown to Armageddon - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]
posturing heroic
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
music
upon which
to inscribe
their articulation
of the
poem
its paper
pen
and ink
and hand
Swim - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
and the world swims with you
sin
and the world sins with you
5 Duets - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, June 21, 2003]
regular music
in a slant syntax
rhetorically regular
goes like music goes
in strict
polyphony
Abyss music
hardened to a glow
Blistered - Vince Mira [from The Cash Cabin Sessions]
celebrating the male gaze
Banned Rehearsal 844 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 16, 2013]
anniversary tattoos
sounds crop up
like weeds in Spring
a
man sang
as he passed me
somebody pushed the prank queen
button
words
that can't but be overheard
a tale
told among sounds
and effects
preoccupied
plucked tones
single moments of interaction
left
to
bloom
and fade
scrape
or a blow
or a bow
or a
shake
extended moments of interaction
a list of words
and objects
and syllables
Tristan is old
counting up to the end
free space for causeless bliss
I Smoke Air - Amy Denio [from Lost in Space, Live at The Players Lounge]
firm support and tight
a secure grip
relaxes
as we become
more comfortable in this company
ride the flow
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| Bickleton, WA |
Gradus 382 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 29, 2023]
as I am listening to this now
between 8 and 9
the evening
of
June 26
cloud-filtered sunlight
reaches my face
from the
windows
in front
and to the forward left
of
my seated
bod
in addition
a shaded lamp light
reaches my face
from the forward left
my face's color
is reflecting
what it sees
we perceive
the light
reflected by an
object
as
the color
of that object
but
all the
other colors
were absorbed by
(became a part of)
the object
so
when we speak
of the color
of an object
we
speak
of the color
it is not
or
at least
isn't
now
anymore
great sounds on the lower strings
within any rung
are the possible rungs
among its constituent
combinations
the path
through the past
is improvisatory
||
a city's waterfront skyline
is a group portrait
of that city's
money
In Session at The Tintinabulary
June 22, 2025
Rindge - Keith Eisenbrey
June 23, 2025
Gradus 416 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
when is a note a syllable
(ding ding, silly bell)
it is not unlawful
to be in mind of number
when engaged
musically
the factions
within this rung
keep a lengthy duration
between them
faction free zone
frolic
faction free
factions
among a
crowd of one
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 25: Figure Studies 2009-2010
These begin a series of solo piano improvisations I indulged in for several years. The first was made on December 7, 2009, and the second on January 11, 2010.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
