"'Twas not so hard a task. I thought to find one stubborn, at the least; but my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they revolve. Or, if you will, like so many ant-hills of powder, they all stand before me; and I their match. Oh, hard! that to fire others, the match itself must needs be wasting! What I've dared, I've willed; and what I've willed, I'll do! They think me mad - Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and - Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, then, be the prophet and fulfiller one. That's more than ye, ye great gods, ever were. I laugh and hoot at ye, ye cricket-players, ye pugilists, ye deaf Burkes and Blinded Bendigoes! I will not say as schoolboys do to bullies, - Take some one of your own size; don't pommel me! No, ye've knocked me down, and I am up again; but ye have run and hidden. Come forth from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye. Come, Ahab's compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!"
Herman Melville - from Moby Dick; or, the Whale.
Texts
Streaming
December 4, 2024
Music by Ben Boretz & Frank Brickle at Greenwich House Music School
City of Orgies (2016) - Frank Brickle - Bowers Fader Duo
Piazza piece (2016) - Frank Brickle - Bowers Fader Duo
A Question, a Rose (2018) - Ben Boretz - Pauline Kim Harris
Genius Loci (2008) - Frank Brickle - William Anderson
Denk Es O Seele (2006) - Frank Brickle - Jessica Bowers, William Anderson, Oren Fader
Catullus 101 (to Milton Babbitt) - Frank Brickle - Jessica Bowers, William Anderson, - Oren Fader
Danci - Milton Babbitt - Daniel Conant
O (2000) - Ben Boretz; Arr. Mary Roberts, 2003 - Kyle Miller
Partita for Piano (1955) - Ben Boretz - Steven Beck
Pages From a Plague Diary - Frank Brickle - Beth Levin
for Ben (2015) - Frank Brickle - Beth Levin
...the sun poured molten glass on the fields... (2014) - Ben Boretz - Andrew Zhou
Tri-harmonic - Pascual Araujo - Pascual Araujo
in media res (2009) - Frank Brickle - Joan Forsyth, Steven Beck
Invention (1985) - Benjamin Boretz - Joan Forsyth, Steven Beck
2 Musics for Lukas Foss (1958) - Benjamin Boretz - Joan Forsyth, Steven Beck
Midnight Round (2010) - Frank Brickle - John Chang, Pascual Araujo, Aiden Lyons, William Anders
This was a wonderful concert, streamed from New York. I look forward to listening to it more carefully later, as I was somewhat distracted at the time by dinner preparations.
Recorded
Drift Away - Dobie Gray [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
give me the beat
so I can drift away
no prescription necessary
The Family - Nina Simone [from Baltimore]
carefully constructed strophes
around the word 'took'
Earth Song - Future Forefathers [from Bard Sampler 82 & 83]
jam in quiet jars
under the house
progless prog vibe
Assembly Rechoired 41 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Bill Meyer, Wally Shoup [January 29, 1988]
Wally was over for a session
when Karen's dad came by to visit
the
room becomes flooded with consciousness
from below
meniscus on the
surface tension of collective consciousness
whatever other qualities
this music has
the engagement of its sessioners is total
are
chords comfortable to sit upon?
exploiting the weak points of metaphor
to open the mind
just past the limits of metaphorical relevance
is a slippery realm
maybe that is what I meant to say
and
not just a game with words
what a privilege it was
to have Wally
among us for so many years
December 1, 2024
Hope Chest - Rustbucket [a Rescued Record]
studies how to sing with a constant sneer
(kin to Lawrence Welk's
required* grin)
*for all employees
Banned Rehearsal 490 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 11, 1998]
a session is not begun
rather
it enters through us
sometimes
it honks its clown car horn
the collective sensibility
is
not as binding
now and then
a bare patch
or an articulation
in the time flow
a sessions' collective sensibility
has terrain
sitting on the snare drum
watching soaring birds in the evening
sky
these tones
face the corners
low tones
having a
low howl
reading can be had in the reading room
we get quite
enthusiastic about something
the guitar eats noisily
bell rings
the time
Deconstructing Steve - Tom Baker [from Sounding The Curve]
pitch sets
in layered figures
articulated into groups of such
how like guitar figures
are these figures
(layered, of pitch
sets)
made with guitar figures
Gradus 132 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 21, 2008]
shall we play A?
with pauses?
we call these sounds As
but
are they?
careful on the ladder
the rungs pause
a study in
perspective
{journal entry of January 21, 2008:
we gently:
sustained
- and then
tiny <boop boop>
Long Stillness
double attack:
the boop boop
transformed by pedal
I think he started with A 4 6 7
by
mistake
bigness on A
time to switch
Long Stillness
to
A 4 A 5 A 7
(heading back down the hill)
invert:
from
playing the octave
A 6 A 7 and A 4
as separate
to playing
the octave A 4 A 5 and A7
as separate
tea goes
like climbing stairs
yes
but a staircase
in which
each
successive step
consists
of a duplicate
of all the steps
you have already taken
from the beginning}
Lookin' For A Kick - The Blue Ribbon Boys
head banging time
hey hey hey
more than enough times over
2 Poems - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, February 24, 2018]
I worry that poem
it's more like regular music
than you realize
two long platforms over shallow water - Leanna Keith [from 3 Vignettes]
we breathe with the image
Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 (1648), Volume 2: XXV. Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
does the quality of ones thinking
depend
on the quality of its
rhetoric?
hemiolic dance
Canzonetta in C Major, BuxWV 167 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
perhaps in well-recorded organ music
I don't mind the headphone
experience
because organ sound
is never from a particular location
in space
but from space at large
Triosieme Ordre (ut): Menuet - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
no attempt is made outside its bounds
its place is a known place
it knows it
Invention in G major, BWV 781 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld
harpsichord is really such a crass instrument for this piece
Sonata in E-flat Major, Kk. 252 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
led firmly astray
in explainable steps
an algorithm to absurdity
a delightful music
made from the bars of a cage
one is left
quite dizzy
Symphony in G Major, Wq. 182/1 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - English Consort, Trevor Pinnock
a tellingly understated touch
misdirection upon misdirection
Carl
cracked the code
Sonata in C Major, K. 330 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Peter Katin
trill and finish
as two separate ornaments
a light touch on both the keys and the rubato
does music rely on the social value attached to it
from any source
to be music?
String Quartet in A Major, Op. 55 #1 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Tatrai Quartet
this music invites us inside of it
to listen
from the players'
ears
we are four at once
music
as an activity
in which
to engage
rather than
a means of expression
Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier" - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim
if notes are tools of expression
they must
perforce
imbue
that expression
with their own qualities
notes
enforce their
own contingencies
into the musical expression
becoming part of it
we recognize
parts of melodies
we have never encountered
a reminiscence
of a tune
from later
perhaps
Kriegers Anhung - Franz Schubert - Dieterich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore
these chords are personal
to portray an expression
is to expose it
not a word must leave this room
Nocturne in F-sharp Major, Op. 15 #2 - Frédéric Chopin - Claudio Arrau
deep inside this cheap salon frippery
an original ear-thinker
hints
at their handiwork
in broad daylight
Novelleten: #1 in F Major, Op. 21 #1 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
come on lad
be a hero
sign right here
where it says
hero
fond thoughts of home
but off to be a hero
here I go
but this countryside
like home appears
off to war
back to the daily grind
cognitive dissonance
as a music
all allowable moves
are always allowable
forbearance is rewarded
trickery not discouraged
fugue subject
has two
figurationally differentiated parts
some leaps and some stepwork
the leaps work the steps
the steps the leaps
(it's all very
Bachic)
Der Tambour - Hugo Wolf - Dieterich Fischer-Dieskau, Daniel Barenboim
shakes it right in your face
the voice of experience
Mazurka in F-sharp Major, Op. 40 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
under some circumstances
cheap salon frippery
is as good a place
to hide experimentation
as anywhere else
the finish seems abrupt
Preludes Book 2: #4 Les Fees Sont D'Exquises Danseuses - Claude Debussy - Paul Jacobs
this music
is for the pianist
(not me)
(alas)
Turkey in the Straw - Percy Grainger - Percy Grainger [from Percy Grainger plays Percy Grainger]
music imitated
by a contraption
with 88 keys
Cancao do poeta do seculo XVIII - Heitor Villa-Lobos - Teresa Berganzo, Juan Antonio Alvarez Parejo
for singing in an elegant gown
Prelude #1 - Ruth Crawford Seeger - Jenny Lin
the moment we begin to question tonality
is when we write preludes
Quatre Romances Sans Paroles, Op. 129: Romance IV - Darius Milhaud - François Choveaux
music for private pianist
and their amusement
Polyphonica for Small Orchestra - Henry Cowell - Continuum, Joel Sachs
of discrete parts
strictly comparable
in a neat hand
the
clunkiness
is kind of charming
Study No. 11 (abandoned) (mid 1930's) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives plays Charles Ives]
idea scrap
Out of the Blue - Hadda Brooks [from That Devilin' Tune]
advice for the love lorn
with some sweet guitar plucking
Crying In The Chapel - Orioles [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
a song has become a record
a singing
as a duplicable
commodity
nice singin' gents
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's SADA: Dancing Through The Decades]
blame the hormones
the song never strays from its original wrapper
Pairs - Christian Wolf - Seattle Percussion Collective
music from inside music's works
splurty little poems
Ol' Helen - Red Steagall [a Rescued Record]
escaping home life
then escaping escape
Teenage Lobotomy - Ramones [from It's Alive]
sophomoric charisma
My Kar Kat - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
re-entry from the glow
Chain That Door - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
face into the loudspeaker
for maximal benefits
December 4, 2024
Banned Rehearsal 332 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [June 18, 1993]
my being here
is amplified
and repeated
we shake foil
and rub it
till it rattles
and rings
and scrapes
whatever is done
is done in dialog
some places are scribbled out
no confidence
just as well
scribbling is its own music
twinkle twinkle little star
how I wonder what you are
a great deal of moving-around sounds
now the drum tattoos
gavel to
order
any set of recorded traces
is a journal
if and only if
order
matters
we tune ourselves to each other
a work in progress
playing with cheap pitch bend propogation
making proper funmaker fun
giving it a real work out
{journal entry of March 8, 1998:
the amp arrives}
Shenandoah - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
street market pop:
pretty instruments playing in tune
with no
swing
renfair ready
background for your wedding pictures
Sounds of the Brush Improvisation #5 - Gust Burns, Adam Diller, Keith Eisenbrey, Mike Marlin, DL Scott, Adam Weiss
a loose confederation of ecstatic sectarians
egg each other on
(mostly harmless)
3 Translation of the Works of Maurizio Mochetti: No. 2, Counting People - Alvin Lucier - Alter Ego
dutiful reformations
absent commentary
whatever pitch it is
we care
that it is the pitch it is
Attitude - Doug Palmer - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 26, 2013]
I play this rather well I think
that's a lot of music in less than four
minutes
Bofur ni tsukamatte - Yuji Takahashi [from Open Space 43]
voice and serpent
regard us aesthetically
we are the third
Banned Telepath 98 Hoonah Morning - Jennifer Chung, Aaron Keyt [March 12, 2023]
rhythm of wind buffeting
a hand pipe greets us
some sort of low
pipe
is blown
hoot pipes in the Hoonah dawn
Benvenuto Cellini: Act I, Scene I - 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
a world of wonders opens to us
action and pageantry
suddenly the
stage is all aflutter with doings
Pampamapa - Carlos Guastavino - Teresa Berganza, Juan Antonio Alvarez Parejo
if art-song is a mode of reciting poetry
does the use of national-pride
seriousness
preclude the irony that might otherwise come to the surface?
The Jazz Band Ball - Original Dixieland Jazz Band [from That Devilin' Tune]
youthful energy on the loose
Apanhe-te Cavaquinho - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcelo Bratke
sticks close to home
finds its figuration
does not let go
Petits Cours de morale - Arthur Honneger - Frederica von Stade, Martin Katz
of course
French just oozes with irony
especially when sincerity
is on the line
Firebird - Spike Hughes [from That Devilin' Tune]
to be danced to
every figure
is a bodily movement
the
motions
evoke
a bodily form
that dances
Mathis Der Maler (Opera): "Alte Märchen Woben Uns Fromme Bilder" - "Es Sungen Drei Engel Ein Süßen Gesang" - Paul Hindemith -Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Leopold Ludwig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Pilar Lorengar
statements slide off the stack
propped up
by busy stage hand elves
score cards in constant change
Let's Dream In The Moonlight - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
instrumental variations precede the vocal
provide a context
within
a social scene
Fifth Sonata - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded October 24, 2024]
I'm quite pleased with this performance
every tempo and weight is
considered and projected
nailed it
Death In The Morning - Rev. Anderson Johnson [from Goodbye Babylon]
fear is a path to ecstatic testimony
I Wonder Why - Dion and the Belmonts [colected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
as is lust
the ecstatic
is a fluid state
colored by
but not consisting of
the psychic content
of its entry path
Detroit City - Bobby Bane [colected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
cotton fields are the opposite of Detroit City
the glamor has faded from
urban living
Daddy Rollin' In Your Arms - Dion
lines aimed to the end point
Ylem (Erste London vers.) - Karlheinz Stockhausen - London Sinfonietta
splat and disperse
big bang theory
(top down)
of musical
communication
we are a happening here
but engineered like German Automobiles
(over-complicated, require frequent service)
the flash of genius
the obeisance of the minions
(what would hap
should the minions organize?)
((black cat:
Warble-y))
we'll lock them each in their own custom carapace
happenings by happenstance
to have a happening
one must happen
upon it
by happenstance
what style of stance
is happenstance?
has wisdom been distributed?
are we fed?
or are we dissipated?
(like fog)
I couldabeena miasma!
ecstatic reabsorption into the weary gonads of Coyote
b'bye!
happening now elsewhere
by elsewhere's happenstance
literary criticism in song
(an analysis)
Let's Say Goodnight - Los Lobos [from And A Time To Dance]
so
still at the dance
and still dancing
but planning the
getaway
in the dance
as the dance
Playalong 4 "by candlelight" - Aaron Keyt [February 1, 1988]
a mouth sized cavern wind
inflated by means of a simulated nearness to
the ear:
compromised
ersatzified
abstracted
distanced
alienated
unwelcomed
imprisoned
put off
why the wind blows
none ever know
it is wind
because it blows
it blows
because it is wind
blowing
is what wind is
wind
is what blowing is
unvoiced
just the shapes wherein voice could be
Karen and I did
play along with these four playalongs that Aaron had made
they could
as a banned project
be considered
as a variant
of the
telepath concept
except that
there would be added the idea
that one of the telepaths not only precede the other
but
that a playback of the first
during the second (telepath)
would be part of that second
but
without the notion
of
then mixing the two telepaths together
(but:
why not?:
I
could do that now in a few minutes:
what would I call them?
a
Banned Playalong Playalong played along?
(heavy sigh)
Banned
Playedalong Combo package)
there are also some metallic bumps and rubbings
which have now utterly
supplanted the wind
but no!
the wind blows back!
a reference
to the past
perhaps we're being played along?
In Session at The Tintinabulary
December 1, 2024
Rochester - Keith Eisenbrey
December 2, 2024
Banned Rehearsal 1114 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Postscripts
Drops
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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