"Never marry a widow (unless her first husband was hanged), or she will be
always drawing unpleasant comparisons.
Never refuse a pinch of snuff, but
do not become a snuff-taker: it is paying through the nose for a little
pleasure.
Avoid argument with Ladies. In spinning yarn among Silks and
Satins, man is sure to be Worsted.
It is common to speak
contemptuously of tailors and dress makers. This is bad taste; none but a rat
would run down the sewers.
When a lady sits down to the pianoforte,
always volunteer to turn over the leaves. To be able to read music is of no
consequence, as you will know that she is at the bottom of a page when she
stops short. If you turn over two leaves at once, you will probably have the
secret thanks of most of the company."
"Manners Made Easy; or how to cobble a silk purse out of a sow's ear. "from The Comic Almanack an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
Heavensend - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]
combo mode
tutti open
and close
scribblier midbit
vigorous
Gradus 136 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 24, 2008]
fish or fowl?
Intro (In The Hearts Tonight) - Dawn Richard [from Golden Heart]
produced
into a produced shape
Corollaries: Up's Up - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded June 1, 2023]
paths
taken up
Heat in a Cold Heart - Steve Layton [from Bedtime Stories]
traffic
at the minds' nexus
during a moment of experience
Madrigals, Book IV: Ohimè, se tanto amate - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
space
for space
to speak back
Tröstet, tröstet mein Volk, SWV 382 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
music with strong bones
repetition
through the choral congregants
Toccata in G Major, BuxWV 165 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
clarification of dialog
Premier livre de clavecin: Triosieme Ordre (ut) : La Lutine. Tres vivement et marque - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
cadence
to allow time
for each voice
to catch up
with
the dance
Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölf, BWV 22 - Johann Sebastian Bach - The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, Ton Koopman
rhetorical emphasis
voices (of the text)
enacted
within the
musical setting
not depicting
the voices
but taking them on
we become music
in order
to hear music
centrality
of the chorale tune
as
the embodied voice
of the congregation
Sonata in B-flat Major, Kk. 266 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the music
is for the repetition patterns
to appear within
Les Boréades, Act I - Jean-Phillip Rameau - Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi, Purcell Choir, Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Bendikt Kristjánsson, Philippe Estèphe, Thomas Dolié, Tassis Christoyannis, Gwendoline Blondeel
in this music
the music is
the stage
of the opera's
theater
the actual stage
and its sceneries
and its actions
are all
superfluous
Concerto in F Major, K. 413(387a) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, Malcolm Bilson
as stanzas might be:
two straightforward lines
followed by the
comic kickers
the background libretto
is always clear
and full of playful
wit
scenes with decorations
by the keyboard
Die Schöpfung, Der Erste Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry
extended symphonic overture
resists establishment
(till God says
it's OK)
this music
is the technicolor wide-screen version
the singers are the embodied text
Variation in G Major - Robert Schumann (arranged for piano by J. Draheim) - Florian Uhlig
amid the crossing staccato lines
we find
explicated
a
further space
of crossing lines
Prelude in E Major, Op. 28 #9 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
procession
through the nave of awe
Slavonic Dance in A Major, Op. 46 #5 - Antonín Dvořák - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, John Farrer
what does national identity
or cultural anthropology
or tourism
gain
from being trotted out
on the international
stage?
the world
was getting smaller
railroads and steamships and modern
warfare
Prelude in F minor, Op. 42 #7 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
bodies of figuration
in intimate embrace
Preludes Book II: #10, Canope - Claude Debussy - Walter Gieseking
this music
is concerned
with its quiet chord voicings
ordered
and arranged
Ameno Resadá - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcelo Bratke
the industrial music
of our sad age
was derived
from the
social musics
of the taverns and Bierhallen
of the so-called
Western Culture
in these Americas
Minglewood Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers, with Noah Lewis [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
jumps into its quasi-lazy goingness
(its going-time)
a slowly
throbbing inflection
of pushing forward is felt
that's quite the list
of what to forget
if I can
even though
I wasn't there
at the time
Handsome Hal and his Tintype Gal
Study No. 23 (partial) (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
I'm not sure what he's studying here exactly
May Rain - Lou Harrison - John Duykers, Julie Steinberg, William Winant
a persisting apartness
Reflections in D - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]
the specious present
and the specious here/there
Mood Indigo - Nina Simone [from Little Girl Blue]
not a piano solo for beginners
does this song
like
she's
doing that song
With a Song In My Heart - Stevie Wonder [from With a Song In My Heart]
his voice
is at a vulnerable tangent
Ain't No Way - Aretha Franklin [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
who's that coloratura back there?
{Cissy Houston}
shit man!
(we don't need no stinking Theremins)
Aisumasen (I'm Sorry) - John Lennon [from Mind Games]
weary guitar
heavy strum
loud piano chords
stand for
heart and soul
Languidity - Sun Ra [from Languidity]
has filled
our viscous sphere
shoulda been playin' this
in the cantina
ex nihilo
a texture of quiet motions
back into nihilo
long
pause
we test the waters
one at a time
apparent continuities
of: instrument and thought
: puppet
beings
did we plan the pauses
priorly?
not a clue
I wear a colored hat
sip at it
it might be too strong
yo ho ho
March 19, 2025
Helter Skelter - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]
bathed
in stadium hubris
Banned Rehearsal 342 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [October 15, 1993}
synthesizer production of sound
from waveform up
the actions of human bodies
are not native to its design
except
as a stopgap accommodation
making a replica
in electronic signals
of
what might be
a sound wave
the device
then
acts upon parts of itself
to produce that
sound wave
in real space
guided by
but not made by
a
human agent
what engine powered organ blowers pre-electricity
(and presumably post human-powered bellows)?
shouting in our several corners
somewhat stoppered in the ears
throughout
power
without personal effort
an attractive nuisance
obtuse dynamism
incessant
all the different sounds
are the
same
arm banging
{journal entry of October 26, 1998:
lots of Aaron's synth and the organ
the big organ
hey
and the new trombone
Dervish
electronique
do we want
anymore
to know
what your mind
was
then
reli{?}d
into now
or
do we want
to know
what your mind
is now
with us
cooing dove
loses some energy
and bite}
The Fundamental Things - Bonnie Raitt [from Fundamental]
differentiated stanzaic functions
(rondo)
it isn't about making music
it is about making an ear
not to hear
but to hear through
Better Get to Livin' - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
life advisor
moral instruction
preachin'
Gradus 226 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 20, 2013]
when a note isn't playing
it's thinking
sshh
now they're all thinking
now
they are demonstrating
the particulars
of the device
that makes these sounds
mallets
and taut wires
and a
soundboard
Improvisation #1 - Taylor Ho Bynum and Mark Dresser [from THB Bootlegs Volume 4]
bass and trumpet
chasing each other like puppies
Sinfonia 1 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded June 15, 2023]
quite smugly content
Tin Roof Blues - New Orleans Rhythm Kings [from That Devilin' Tune]
life
in the ritenuto lane
My Honey's Lovin' Arms - Ray Miller [from That Devilin' Tune]
nothing ritenutoid about this
it cooks right along
with its
roaring decade
Summer Moon - Florence Price - Lara Downes
a strand of music
in America
that lives
between worlds
as much like
as unlike
each
the other
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata VI - John Cage - Adam Tendler
poem on nice paper
That's When Your Heartaches Begin - Elvis Presley [from Sunrise]
spoken stanzas
cornpone
Night Time Is The Right Time - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles at Newport (live)]
educating the populace
how it is
Misery - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]
throwing pebbles
into the fadeout breaks
A Cradle Song (Blake) - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]
vision
as interpretive conception
arising
in a body
in
response
to a stimulus
(demanding enactment)
text of Blake
enacted
with Ginsberg's apparatus
Tenderness - Paul Simon '[from There Goes Rhymin' Simon]
back when production
was about clarifying the arrangement
so that
everyone sounds good
let the musicians do their work
For You - Prince [from For You]
inscribing production
on his own self
(nice choral writing!)
the first 45rpm single I ever owned
a Bard Band
I knew the
guitarist (Bruce Huber)
one of the oobah singers (Nancy Chase)
and
the cover
was hand decorated
for me
by my good friend
Jill Borner
Banned Telepath 16 San Diego - Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
single pokes
into a reverberation beast
recorded in a
culvert?
thirty seven years ago
next week
access to a piano
didgeridoo
voice
drum not piano,
guitar?
both?
the space this might be in
eludes my conjecture
and yet
its
image
is unmistakably present
in the sound
each instrument's
pokes illuminate
some aspect of it
even
when the identity
of the instrument
is unclear
follow the traveled ecstatic path
spaghetti
pass Getty
could be a Sunday school upright
with that tuning
plus seven
days minus seven years
and thirty
a space bubble
of several space bubbles
that is a kitchen
I strongly suspect
this tape
has several
sources
interlain
hymnody
(a family thing)
{NB family lore has it
that Robert
Shaw
was a distant cousin of mine}
Dempster Retirement Jam (end) - University of Washington Contemporary Group Improvisation Ensemble Alumni [June 12, 1998]
conversational language
need not be
as loud as music
to be
effective
in conversation
performative ejaculatory exclamation
is not conversational
it
louds itself
to music's level of loud
(fight response)
that a sound
is music
does not guarantee
that the music it
is
plays nicely
with the rest of the room
quite probably
the last time I ever touched timpani
with musical
intent
Comin' Back To Me - Karin Blaine [from Dirty Money]
microhone intimacy delta
(performance/enactment)
to perform
is to imitate
faintly
enactment
a project's full sound library
to be remixed for specific use
in
this case
the use was
as a part
of the sound
for
loudspeakers
for
the mostly speechified piece
in which
I poured 200 pingpong balls
onto the Chapel's wooden stage
from the top of the staircase
that forms the back wall
The Joy of Accumulation
spilling seed
upon the wooden floor
Mujo Kuje - Hope Wechkin [from Leaning Towards the Fiddler]
vocal focal pitch
structured
as open strings
the pitch space
holds firm
Corollaries: Down's Down - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded June 1, 2023]
one could do the corollaries
all at once
as a four-voice motion
a concatenate motion
exploratory cartography
"If I Had No Place To Go" (Townes Van Zandt) - Star Anna [from Love Shades, streamed February 14, 2023]
one of the sweeter sad songs
tuning trouble
full song enactment
My Lord's Gonna Move This Wicked Race - Norfolk Jubilee Quartet [from Goodbye, Babylon]
music to preach with
telling God
what They're gonna do
Prison Cell Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
song
is a way to use language
set apart
from direct
communication
(a conceit)
You Had An Evening to Spare - Fats Waller [from That Devilin' Tune]
such clean little ornamentations
Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too) - Peggy Lee [from Rendezvous with Peggy Lee]
relationship economics
She's All Right - Muddy Waters [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
an image of amplifications
in space
boardmix-like
Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
character enactment
obligatory dance stanza
enact it
all the
way
to the back of the hall
In Session at The Tintinabulary
March 16, 2025
Eastport - Keith Eisenbrey
March 17, 2025
Prelude in B minor (#6) - Lockrem Johnson
any set of notes
can be a gamut
to be partitioned
(taken
apart)
ordered
arranged
by any set of notes
given
a sufficiently robust modular arithmetic
the particular senses
by which means
a music
made itself
to be made
by the party of the first part
and the senses
by which means
a music
allows itself
to be made
by the party of the second part
need not congrue
id est
a music
may be
(probably is)
another music
also
but
not immediately accessible
(media intervenes)
the body puppet
the body media
lid kept on
fashion man
earmaneyemannosemanmouthmanfingerman
ears
eyes
noses
mouths
touches
fashion
(the
sixth sense)
March 20, 2025
Prelude in A Major (#7) - Lockrem Johnson
Prelude in C-sharp minor (#10) - Lockrem Johnson
Prelude in G-sharp minor (#12) - Lockrem Johnson
Postscripts
Drops
One of the shining lights of the local music scene during the pandemic
lockdown was Nonsequitur's Wayward in Limbo series: 134 commissioned
recordings of new work by local musicians. I was honored to be asked for a
contribution. The essential intimacy of the clavichord seemed fitting for the
occasion, and I offer this series of short improvisations for your
enjoyment.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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