Preface
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
from The Comick Almanack, 1st Series 1835-1843
Texts
Live
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Nonseq Curators Concert
Gretchen Yanover, Haley Freedlund, Cuong Vu,
RM Francis
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Gretchen Yanover
we know where the ground is
so we welcome the light
as it streams
in loop based accumulation
build a place to stand
a floor to move upon
narrow body electric cello
Haley Freedlund, with Brandon Carter, Ray Larsen, and Tom Varner
taking hymns apart
reclaiming free heterophony
Cuong Vu, with Greg Sinibaldi
trumpet and an electronic wind instrument device
warmly lyrical
an
ocean has appeared around us
RM Francis
creative misdubbing
confusing the software
speech
that will
never quite be language
music that will never quite be speech
Recorded
January 24, 2026
Shanti/Ashtangi - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
we'll be futuristically primitive
I've got just the costume
JB - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]
epistolary
working hard
at messing up any sound I couldn't polish
which is all of them
Paparazzi - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
celebrity
selling celebritous fantasies
across the land
Conquer The World With You - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Lone Buffalo]
wake up call
time to get doing
Go - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star - I'm a Sinking Ship]
another break-up song
as though from the heat of the moment
Missionary Chant - Keith Eisenbrey [September 24, 2023]
stately proud and plain
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Madrigals, Book IX: Sì, sì, ch'io v'amo - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
the words dance from the singer's tongue
the notion of pitch-class
is a mode of thinking
in terms of the
registral cyclicity
of pitch space
Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt, BuxWV 183 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
one could conceptualize pitch space
as a registral continuum
made
of pitches
related by position
then
one could add upon that
the terrain of intervals
forming acoustic nodes
as they pulse
across the registral
continuum
of pitch space
then
one could add upon that
the cross-registral cyclicity
of pitch-class space
abstractly conceptualizing
the network
of intervals
forming acoustic nodes
across the registral
continuum
and
then what?
syntaxes thereof?
Laßt uns Sorgen, laßt uns Wachen, BWV 213 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman
these words float
on dancing notes
if a figure seems to sing
we imagine a person of that figure
Bach keeps his imaginary persons straight
(nein echoes)
(not nine echoes)
(not necessarily)
[Ja ja!
echoes]
[Ja Ja]
||:Ja:||
there goes that happy couple
ich küsse dich
over and over
their phonemic parts of speech
phase through each other's gender
Sonata in B-flat Major, Kk. 310 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the count of tonal corners this music turns
daunts
we are in the deepest cellars of B-flat now
I reckon
worry not
we'll head back upstairs now
Kinderszene: Ritter von Steckenpferd, Op. 15 #9 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
a picture book picture
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Buch der Lieder I: Angiolin, S531/6 - Franz Liszt - Alexandre Dossin
as the imagined melody
and the imagined lute
inform each other
the song expands
to fill its swelling heart
2 Morceaux: Désir, Op. 57 #1 - Alexander Scriabin - John Ogdon
a sketch in quick pencil
Two Deuces - Louis Armstrong's Hot Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
tempo shifts
sudden skitters
A Fool For You - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles Live at Newport]
each line
has a center of thrust
that must be pushed
or
rolled
through
or over
the centers
of thrust
cycle heavily
but
their
continuity
gets complicated
as the song moves into further verses
Chants Sacres - Henri Pousseur - Philadelphia Composer's Forum, Joel Thome, Valarie Lamoree, Eric Rosenblith, Jacob Glick, Michael Rudiakov
quasi Webernesque directness
and lovely too
Blue Differentials - Sun Ra [from Monorails & Satellites]
the cogworks
patched together
Corazón - Carole King [from Fantasy]
exoticistic
primitivistic
but can't stick with it quite
It's Hard To Be a Saint in the City - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at the Roxy]
street mouth
spits words
40 - U2 [from Under a Blood Red Sky]
a hymn with chorus
January 27, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 163 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 20, 1988]
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
we participate in that design
as though we were among the parts
each voice
is a person
and our attention
traces a path
through that design
which path
is also a voice
and also a person
this
is not an intricately designed polyphonic passage
though
multiple voices are clearly present
the difference is
that it is
discovering its paths
as it goes
and
we join in that
discovering
as a listening
participatory voice
Cold Mountain Songs: Piano Interlude - Robert Morris - Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
vehement words are spoken
How Many Times - Aretha Franklin [from A Rose Is Still A Rose]
commiseration pill
apparent social purpose
but the moneyed sound
is alienating
why can't I be more glamorously miserable?
I Want Some Sugar In My Bowl - Karin Blaine [from Dirty Money]
time for some clever rhymes
and even some scat
where an instrument
would have soloed
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
registers can move from place to place
jacked into the dynamic trunk
line
as I recollect
and I may be wrong
but I think I was using a small
stereo mic
and aiming it at the wall
point blank
to mimic my
PZMs
and de-emphasize the right/left up/down skew
of keyboard
sound
as metaphorically conceived
these are all A-naturals
since he said so
but
that fact
vanishes in the experience
is not a part of
it
to name a pitch class
is to reify
a set of experience nodes
as being referential
Gonna See John Salvatier- Swingset Showdown [from Cymbal of Appreciation]
a bit of sophomoric patter song energy
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
a few minutes of squawks and screeches in the yard
fowl language
deafened partially
by traffic noise
Soundscroll V, Part 2: Tranquil Landscape - S. Eric Scribner [from Hexaphonic]
what passes before our staring ears
washed in light
Devil's Gonna Get You - Bessie Smith [from Empty Bed Blues]
long long lane
with no turnin'
flame
that keeps on
burnin'
give up now dude
the way you're going on
sure as you're born to die
Do I Love You? - Judy Garland [from Judy In Love]
we can see the nightclub uniforms
and matching stands
she shapes her vowels with her hands
and the quiver of her spine
3 Olden Style Pieces: I - Henryk Górecki - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Zofia Kilanowicz, Antoni Wit
heart on sleeve
and little else
brother to Hovhaness
nostalgic for a lost homeland
Turn Out The Stars - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
the difficulty
with that half step in particular
if we remember it
in each passing chord
that moves to the
next
is recollection remembrance?
now where were we?
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
rewriting Mr. Nobody
for the Grifter era
Train In The Distance - Paul Simon [from Hearts and Bones]
the sound of greener pastures
everybody thinks its true
into our
hearts and our brains
She Loves You - The Beatles [from Past Masters Volume 1]
high school drama rumors
don't be stupid fellow
the chum's advice
March from The Love for Three Oranges - Empire Brass Quintet [from Class Brass On The Edge]
quite amusing
but full of filler
I'm On Your Side - Bonnie Raitt [from Fundamental]
no tone exists at its inception
but only in the process of its duration
Livin' Road - Keith Eisenbrey [from Summer Songs/Winter Mix]
one song piled on another
one song pulled through another
trying on a persona for sizes
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Disappear - Beyoncé [from I Am ... Sasha Fierce]
word painting producer
echo effect of empty space
for
disappearance
Lion Storm - Ancient Warlocks [from Ancient Warlocks]
sound intended to press against the walls
Talking to Myself - Red Ribbon [from Dark Party]
yodel register crossing
Banned Rehearsal 1084 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [September 25, 2023]
listening for how the room accepts its sounds
persons of varying
persistencies
synthetic reproduction
of the original space
or
synthetic
production
of a believable space
believing the space
is needful
for believing the sound
we
are a box of items to rattle with
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
as though in mid weep
song as an act
over the top simple-folk sentiment
Willow The Wasp - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]
in search of lovely lives
to shield it from the sun
wasps with
wondrous wives
lyrical nonsense rhymes
From This Moment On - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: the Best of the Verve Songbook]
Vegas ready
Etcetera - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]
tempo on a rough road
ruts and rocks
all terrain advised
All in All - Morgana King [from New Beginnings]
sparkly evening romance
yikes where'd the choir come from?
end of show send 'em out song
with modulations
and guitar shred
break
shark jumping
can't be far off
Madison Avenue - T-Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]
in demo clothes
highly moral in character
Banned Rehearsal 164 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 23, 1988]
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
crowded with sounds
expertise is no guarantee
bam bam
short cut
motor rhythm
linked
to body feedback
what feels good to do
must be good to hear
(?)
we find a low and rumbly sound
swathes of register
all in a sweep
of zither strings
toy reed organ
in a simulacrum of unanimity
with the big boy
piano
a singing
the pulsers get all excited
about finding a groove
but back off
tribal vibe
lifts into incandescence
leaves room for any hosh
p'kosh
Christmas Eve Eve
a voluntary
on the near nativity
spirited
anthemic
with descant extempore
we cadence and regroup
play childish
and hope for the best
almonds and nectarines
Volte - Michael Praetorius - The Baltimore Consort [from Le Rocque 'N' Roll]
written down music
and writers down of music
for what did this survive?
Track 7 - Students of Joan Schoepflin [June 9, 1998]
every piece
includes its program
as announced
to teach stage
presence and poise
A Woman Like Me - Bettye Lavette [from A Woman Like Me]
a literature of complaint
and accusation
and exploration
Closer - Vince Mira [from The Cash Cabin Sessions]
campfire strum tempo
cowboy sincere
Second Thoughts - Jesse Canterbury, Greg Sinibaldi [from Ascendant]
reeds imitate a bell's resonance
and move from within that space
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Gradus 342 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 12, 2018]
completion
up to
the penultimately to be added B
we open
with notes of pointedly determined durations
mostly short
and spread from there
de rigueur long pauses
allow the space
and the ear
to
regroup
a disciplined articulation
as esoteric as the project
is explained to be
the fact of it
in action
is ceaselessly intimate and personal
Whirlybird - Steve Layton [from Bedtime Stories]
procedure of manufacture
kept in line
by timing belt
so many ticks
for each step
heat pound wash
heat pound wash
In Session at The Tintinabulary
January 25, 2026
Winter - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey
January 26, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1143 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Kosály-Meyer, Verrall, Palmer, Baker, Oldham, Osborn, and Cobb
This album is a selection of music by various Seattle-area composers, composed between the 1940s and 2010 or so.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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