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"Come, I would say to them, it's not that bad. You should appreciate a pig's advantages. Mud-slick and swift, they are hard to catch. Low to the ground, they cannot easily be knocked over. They are not like dogs, they do not need your love. They can thrive anywhere, on anything, scraps and trash. They look witless and dull, which lulls their enemies, but they are clever. They will remember your face.
They never listened. The truth is, men make terrible pigs."
Madeline Miller - from "Circe"
Texts
Recorded
August 31, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 509 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály--Meyer [September 26, 1998]
we take our places
as instrument specific sound sets
a session's
sound
can often persist
as a span
of unmoving location
a wave washes over it
moving its pebbles
and again
a space
we explore
and our vehicle of exploration
the tools we use upon it
our response within it
radio sound
from the room's radio
non-diegetic music
transformed
into diegetic
(it's been diegeticized)
a nonpermitted use of radio broadcasts
a ceremony in octaves
is changed
upon the piano
proper to
the service
{journal entry of October 24, 2006:
articulative distance
confounds
has a tendency
to confound
the cognition
of temporal relationships
Bach praxis
can be seen
as
bringing order
to
perception
by means
of careful regimentation
of all aspects
of sound
into discrete relationship{s}
to each other
vertically
horizontally
rhythmically
and metrically
it is the path
of compositional justification
and
its
goal
is depth
through clarity
meaning
through maximal
determinacy
a music
eschewing this clarity
might arise
that strives
for sensual whelming
a surface
whose
depth
is the apprehension
of maximal articulative difference
a music
that thrives
among the parameters
that
strongly resists
discrete rationalization
in which
that
discrete rationalization
is secondary
non-essential
to the
primary discourse
of noise with noise
we characterize
rather than rationalize
the resonant qualities
of a sound source
are primary
to the
rational construct
of the music made with that sound source
this
of course
is a dialectic
{NB hm}
and neither can
nor ever will exist
purely
in this context
the use of
plug & play styles
to borrow
the magic
of formerly
fully developed utterance
comes across
as a distracting nuisance}
What Up Gangsta - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or die Tryin']
fluent boasting
to overwhelm response
Improvising a Framework for Composition so as to Compose My Thoughts about Improvisation - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey[recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, September 4, 2008]
as a composition to be performed
it is formed
of several
interweavable
(movable and optional)
parts
no reason
to prepare any performance
so as
to mimic
another
every reason
to re-tailor it
to the occasion
ladies and gentlemen
the National Anthem
Godddess I - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]
danced from the middle parts
stones talking
Gradus 333 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 14, 2018]
inscribe an image
as though it were words
notes
persist
at their
locations
if nothing
moves
through them
book back
book front
angle can
Phil Ochs is Dead - The No Ones [from My Best Evil Friend]
vocal harmony singing
or
just an effect applied
the sheen of
vocal harmony
without the blood
hearing oneself in a mirror
Shake It Down - Lillian Glinn [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
the blues announces itself
so we know what's in store
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata XI - John Cage - Boris Berman
a dance of right angles and icy surfaces
Something To Remember You By - Morgana King [from Morgana King Sings The Blues]
fantasizing break-up sex as a torch song
Put On a Happy Face - Stevie Wonder [from With a Song In My Heart]
marketing
Happy
like clothing
a brand
Little Miss Strange - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]
the sung stanzas
are there
to introduce the guitars
I'm One - The Who [from Quadrophenia]
they put the singer in a
can costume and lighting change!
motion
from internal confession
to public presentation
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Primary Phase, Episode 00 - Douglas Adams - BBC
an advertisement
deranged imagination
September 2, 2025
Crickets - Keith Eisenbrey [September 1, 1982]
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| Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial |
or some sort of cicada
but
some of them may be frogs
one layer
seems to be either constant
or produced in durations
longer than I would expect
of a frog
but some
are more syllabic
believably air powered
there is also some traffic heard
from 9G
a hundred yards or
more away
through the woods
this was recorded
from my apartment door
which looked out into
Ben's backyard
air traffic noise
is not as constant
but frequently
occasional
I ended up using this sound
as part of a 1983 recorded performance
of Intermezzo 5
which is a text
spoken
in that
performance
by Jill Borner
I don't recall how I managed to put
them together
but
the idea was to cover up some of the tape hiss
that crept in
(modest success)
due to the less than optimal
technological means at my disposal
this goes on
for as long as it does
because that's how long the
tape side was
this sound has no events
until we make them
no span of its
continuity
is transformed
by any other
a mass of sediment
Dum Transisset Sabbatam - Cambridge Singers, John Rutter [from Brother Sun, Sister Moon]
Palestrinal thirdiness
wafts through space
whom does one make
of a blended voice
the choral person?
Branle de la torche (Praetorius) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll - Popular Music of Renaissance]
dance on the buzzies
Ray of Light - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
there is an art
to capturing the public's attention
but the
history of commercial successes
is not necessarily
the history of
our music
but
the history of musical performance
packaged as
product
Song of Solomon 3:1-4 - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, November 6, 2004]
a poem of seeking out
and pulling in
and enclosing
filter feeding barnacles
Black Cat Blues - Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
small town western blues
weight that defeats
insists on nothing
less than abiding it
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| Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial |
thirdy down
forth A up
louder softer
nearer farer
each
a metaphor of the other
each
creating within themselves
the image
of the other
image creation
all the way down
is there a difference
between creation and appearance
what is
created
appears
what appears
is created
that is
it is created
as it appears
and appears
as it is
created
the difference
is in attitude
and position
either
from one side
or the other
or
in some
other position
relative to them
but
what is the substrate?
is the substrate
a what?
or an object
of any kind?
how could it be?
(without resorting
to the turtles
of
Yertleland)
perhaps
not
that
there isn't an end
to the turtles
or substrates
but
that
the conceptualizing minds of
humans
(not the brains)
have no possibility
of passing
through the impasse?
would it appear different from there?
or
would its appearance
create another substrate?
it is
what/who/where/when
cannot appear
and cannot be
created
(nor spelled out
for that matter)
once again
explanation muddies waters
it is louder
or softer
and seems
nearer or farer
each
is a metaphor
but
each metaphor
creates a geometry
and geometries
are also metaphors
but
we accept
the mapping
between them
immediately
no explanation
could keep up with it
not even John Henry
(we won't even start on larger or smaller)
Murky Shadows - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Summer Sessions]
collecting samples and filters
for game play with others
web-enabled subcultures
Brewer - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [July 16, 2023]
the second (added) part
is helpful
but also
has its own
business to attend
Madrigals, Book VIII: Dolcissimo uscignolo - Claudio Monteverdi, Rinaldo Alessandrini
such elegant ornamentation
Wagner was just jealous
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here the ornaments are ponderous
magnificent
severe
comportment:
logical
stern
fugue subject
a two part figure
the leaping part
and the
stepping part
simple
plain
vernacular
oh
so you thought I was done did you
must get grander still
augmentation upon augmentation
and
how could we not have a
Gigue?
Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgen ein Schmerz sei, BWV 46 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
music impersonating text
words spill out from within each other
the time of text
severed from the page
and set adrift in choral
space
impersonates text
by co-opting text
for the proper
articulation of human voices*
in blended voices
now
we're
being told some stuff
our baritone hero stands up
and affirms
correctness of behavior
to meet the crisis
proceeds
to
melismate at some length
a voice from on high
*human voices
sound more human
if they're saying words
scat
plays on that image
with nonsense syllables
in lieu of
words
the flutes
wind ribbons
around
our chorale response
the ends of these
do not close themselves off from the world
into
which they are sent
Sonata in G Major for Organ, Kk. 290 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
a new way to think about time in music
balance and dynamism
Mazurka in D Major, Op. 33 #2 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
every figure
its own tonality
they dance across the floor
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conjures a scene
from a few notes
and a culture
that sees
scenes in music
Ballade in B minor, S. 171/2 - Franz Liszt - Beatrice Berrut
left hand
rolling waves stage set
crank them up
per the
script
pre-empting Rimsky-K's Sinbad scenes
by decades
operatic peril
not intent
upon verisimilitude
not necessary
all peril
will be encountered and vanquished heroically
fade on a long suspension 6-5
Prelude in B Major, Op. 37 #3 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
sneaks his way
from voice to voice
in passages
between
phraselets of figures
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| Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial |
There'll Be Some Changes Made - Chicago Rhythm Kings [from That Devilin' Tune]
Vaudeville stage vocal delivery
even some time to tap or dance along
with the band
Love Me Or Leave Me - Nina Simone [from Little Girl Blue]
sung with elbows at hips
where the action is
insistently quick
no time to waste
I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight) - Aretha Franklin [from Laughing On The Outside]
commercial recording
seeks to fill the audio image
with
product
feelings divulgement
The Weight - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
story told across a bar
Out The Blue - John Lennon [from Mind Games]
a valentine
Why Do You Do - Los Lobos [from And a Time To Dance]
upper body dance
shoulders and chest
twist down the middle
Bad Brain - Ramones [from Road to Ruin]
novelty lyric
sophomoric humor
Intermezzo 1 - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 2, 1983]
trying them at a quicker tempo
in prep
for a presentation
of
the lot of them
which
outs this one
as heart on sleeve
Serenade - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded May 19, 2011]
sometimes a music just wants to skip along happily
to end in worry
mixed thoughts
quiet contemplation
a trill of a different
mode
we visit Ken
each movement
is toward a narrow focus
lovely playing past me!
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
unfolds as an operatic scene
devastatingly sung
ravishing
lovely
it adjusts within its story chair
a battle passionate
vibrato
like a silently filmed seawavescape
note:
it's best you don't actually zero in
on the sound of the
vibrato
it isn't what you think
fascinating
but distracting
but then
that's generally true
no sound
is what we think it
is
if we were to listen carefully
at each
Heroic Struggle
so manly
nothing some good solid polyphony can't
handle
you just see!
Banned Rehearsal 510 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 3, 1998]
we have sneaked in
to occupy the drum stool
and piano bench
side drums
take the floor
this stuff kinda cooks actually
then parts themselves
to retool and regroup
thought experiment
listen
as though one's past with the session
wasn't
works its way
into a polytemporal groove
screamy reeds ride atop
bouncily
tribal vocabulary
insistently
multiples of events
some of what might rub me wrong
in a music
may not rub
any
other so
or
if so
then
most likely
not exactly
so
nor
so
through any identical route
a session
is an expanse
in which
to think communally
a sequence of musics
symphonic and chamber
somebody's piano extravaganza
sounds like it must be me
soliloquizing on the Kingsbury
the doorchimes
usher
in and out
a sudden room sized hum is hummed
a bit of hum magic
end of a life
style
radio beams in
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
drums and light sax
heavy drum
hand drumming
piano and
violin
piano and ukulele
very gentle
intimate
like
dust settling on knickknacks
piano and drums (hand)
radio guiro
piano sax
in many ways
quite a sophisticated session
in the
sense
that
it takes a great deal
of Banned Rehearsal savvy
listening history
to really grasp what's going on
socially
i.e.
lots of conversation
underlying this utterance
is
this Aaron's new alto?
must be
played
really
with
remarkable restraint}
The Christmas Song - Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]
she controls this song
as though she were singing it through
rather than
as though
her singing
had been assembled
later
from fragments
Gradus (Chapel Event) - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, September 4, 2008]
what it means
is who we are
knock down
drag out
with the feet
Gradus
as an experience
over the long haul
has been a
laboratory space
a neutral realm
(for a certain idea of neutral)
for speculative thought
wanders outside certain cultural
considerations
(will it sell
for starters)
Mars - Chaotic Noise Marching Corps [from Smashed at Smash Put]
Seattle's Favorite Feral Pep Band Carnival Act
Banned Rehearsal 959 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 21, 2018]
the room is listening
otamatone makes its sound
under protest
a gripe and a grumble
we remain hushed and blankety
our hands-on elbows-into-it
laboratory
the otamatone sings drunkenly along
with the voice on the radio
Through the Door - Tom Baker, Anna La Berge [from Sand]
fluttery flute sounds
acoustically wrecked
probes and wires
acoustic signals
inserted
as electronic signals
inscribed
as digital media
that describes
the acoustic
signal
and performs operations
upon the digital media
to
make
desired effects
upon the electric signal
as
it
gets re-inscribed
into
an acoustic signal
and
we hear
it
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Four or Five Times - King Oliver [from Really The Blues]
if I die
I'm going to try to do it
[insert title here]
droll conceit
at a shamble
I've Got A Woman - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles at Live at Newport]
old school slow open
until
we go through the door
to the new
school hep tempo
thin lyrics
for vocal play
Please Please Me - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]
guys making demands
barely a song
just enough to mass produce and
sell
Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]
a day at the space beach
tripping
American Tune - Paul Simon [from There Goes Rhymin' Simon]
an unfortunate skip
we all
wonder
what's gone wrong
Thirteen Emily Dickinson Songs: XIII "She Bore It Till The Simple Veins" - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee, Morey Ritt
to be sung in a dimly lit vigil
Intermezzo 2 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 2, 1983]
the opening three note salvo
an 8/9 interval within a 17 interval
music for piano without dampers
an intentional limitation
of ones
means of articulation
other methods
will need to be
optimized
(wildly wobbly)
also
eschews dynamic contrast and process
Get Up - REM [from Green]
could pair with The Beatles' I'm Only Sleeping
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
music of the spheres
universal vibrations
harps eternal
Round & Round - Bonnie Raitt [from Fundamental]
did the engineers take something off her vocal track?
bandpass filter?
like she's on the phone
(why?)
Song of Solomon 3:1-4 (050517C) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle, May 17, 20025]
the importance of leaving ones prior intent in the back seat
Frenetic Interlude #1 - Kai - Sacajawea Students [from Digital Dreams]
a synthesizer doodle repeated a few times
Gradus 237 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 19, 2013]
we compose
two tones
together
to think
toward
tune
if Rung the First
hath two tones
that match in pitch
and
Rung the Second
hath two tones
that match not in pitch
is it
a different sense of two in play
does pitch matching
affect the meaning
experientially
of
number?
Try New Things - Black Dresses [from Hell Is Real]
sharp
brittle
handle with care
Banned Rehearsal 1080 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 17, 2023]
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
we behave like
(the sounds of)
wee critters
so as
not to overly alarm
those
as is
wee critters
without intentful behavior
we imitate the sound environment we are in
(a hunting skill)
an
audio blind
or a diplomatic mission
behave like frog calls
and bird song
the pipsqueaks
arguing
it out
electronic production of sound
crosses a distinction
different in
kind
from the distinction between
say
two acoustic
instruments' sounds
when in woods
do as woods do
production
into the clear air
in imitation
of the sound world
around us
we include those sounds
that are ours
and are likely to get
creative
it accepts
its own balance and mix
no over-fuss allowed
that loud car
was not well imitating
the qualities
of its
aural environment
in order
to blend in with them
lacks
environmental empathy
Chocolate To The Bone - Barbecue Bob [from Really The Blues]
even the various guitar strings
are in conversation among themselves
as to
the conversation they have
with the vocal
More Than You Know - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
a message of devotion
writ on elegant stationery
color by technicolor
O Come All Ye Faithful [from The Life Treasury of Christmas Music]
on a big organ
once through
no more
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| Maryhill Museum of Art |
keep to one's assigned slots
Grey Seal - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
the mix makes it clear
that even if it is Elton playing piano
he's
not doing so
while singing
or
he's not in the same room with
it
the pernicious magic
of industrial music production
In Session at The Tintinabulary
August 31, 2025
Brattle Street - Keith Eisenbrey
September 1, 2025
Gradus 420 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
all but one of all the notes in play
and then
all the notes in
play
when we speak
of the types
of Fuxian motions
we are
referencing
an analysis
of the music
into voices
within a pitch geometry
that is inherently directional
up's
up after all
comparing pitch-directional vectors
among the voices
but also
relying on pitches
to be matched
an item
voided of its content
what do we make
of all that we leave out
when we abstract?
does it vanish?
retrievable in imagination
the imagined
retrieval
of the remainder
of abstraction
but
pitches
can also be recalled from memory
indirectly
through their
effects
on subsequent pitches
melodic intervals
melody itself
are
(is)
acts
of
extra-conscious
immediate
memory
music
touches the stuff
of our experiencing
of our
experience
it cracks our code
in its simulacrumifications
of
real time
(it isn't our real time
it is its real time)
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Benjamin Boretz
Keith Eisenbrey, piano
The music of Benjamin Boretz, which I first encountered as an undergraduate, has played a central role in my own sense of musical possibility and depth ever since. I was deeply fortunate to study with him for a few years in the early 80s, and have been blessed with his ongoing friendship and conversation since that time. It is my distinct pleasure to share these recordings with you now.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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