Preface
Gertrude Stein, from The World Is Round
Texts
Recorded
May 30, 2026
Sonata in C Major, Kk. 327 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
contrasting
narrow groupings
and expansive support figures
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156/R. 8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": IIa. Le Lac de Wallenstadt - Franz Liszt - Ashley Wass
Romantic art
sought to elevate
the relation pertaining
twixt
man and nature
to one
of perfect sympathy
in all its
sweetness
and violence
it seeks to teach us
how to view the world
by example
this
for example
is how to contemplate a lovely flower
Album für die Jugend für Klavier, Op. 68: II. Für Erwachsenere - Robert Schumann - Éric Le Sage
down on the floor with the kids
playing with tin soldiers and dress-up
dolls
fireside adventure tales
and dreams of quiet pleasures
depictions of fantastic creatures and lands
begets a wandering
mind
ghosts and goblins
and elves of mischief
Poetic Tone-Pictures, Op. 3 - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
bunches of notes
stumbled through
clear meter and balance
to work against
pleasing pieces
passions kept
under careful
Northern
control
Promenade matinale - Marie Jaëll - Alexandre Sorel
lines drift free
from their original moorings
I'm liking the drama
between the hands in this second one
lengths are measured
by figure alternation count
this fourth one
has weight to throw around
2 Poems, Op. 69 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
a bouquet
such as a fine wine might provide
faeries on skates and sparkles
Beau Koo Jack - Louis Armstrong and his Savoy Ballroom Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
feeling good
spread it around
Summertime - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
she grabs you
at every phrase
right at the start
keeps you
All Too Soon - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
everything aims at the title
at the end of each stanza
Julia - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]
voice doubled
Zero and Blind Terry - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
such a grandiose hero fantasy
so that
any schmo might imagine
themselves into it
Tears Tears Tears - T. Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]
poem composed around the title
and similarly repeated words
as a
way
to forestall the payoff
in the ensuing lines
Bring Us In Good Ale (Holst) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
this one is fun
thanks Gus!
Ecstasy - PJ Harvey [from Rid of Me]
out of body doings
Disco 77 - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
vocal closely embedded into the mix
doesn't stick out
but is
clearly distinguished
and reasonably intelligible
now and then
Curse of Cthulu - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
monster movie adventure
maritime
days of sail
Play Selection (Interlude)/The 1 - Janet Jackson [from Discipline]
entirely meretricious
for social dancing
ending gambit
reduce the parts in play
then pattern the residual
vamp
Of All The Limbs To Cling To - Mikey and Matty [from Harbor Island]
our day to day troubles
become a poetic world
Don't Have Time for Candy - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Skylark, Seattle, March 1, 2018]
the endless tuning of guitars
stripped down version of YMSK
guitar
tambourine and vocals
Tree and Stone - S. Eric Scribner [from Ussers of Sleep]
mineral tapping
vegetable rustling
I have participated in realizations of this score
several times now
the score object
is a black and white graphic
of
(I
think)
a landscape
with mountains
peppered with wooded areas
over which
is laid
an asymmetrical grid
each segment of which
corresponds
to a span of time
more or
less
chronometric
the density of marks
within those grid segments
taken
to
represent
proportions of the time
to be allotted
to sound
making
or not sound making
each player
has a differently configured grid
there are no particular instructions
as to coordination
beyond the
clock
on this end
we hear mostly rustling
punctuated periodically
by the tapping
the rustling
is full of internal detail
the tapping
points
to particular moments
the spans of its events
are brief enough
to be almost without
duration
we hear it
but
it is not there
by the time
we register it in consciousness
up front
though
is the overt
made-by-humans nature
of
both the rustling and the tapping
hustle and bustle
it's yet another opera stage party
half expect
Don Giovanni and Leporello
to make an appearance
instead of the
drunken oaf doctor
the orchestra plays
a tone poem
of the story
concurrent with
but independent of
the stage business
You're Gonna Hear From Me - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
melodist on the light fantastic
takes a bow
The Puppet - Echo & The Bunnymen [from Nancy's Mix]
the mix starts
at a moderated presence
then they turn up the
volume
for you
Hairshirt - REM [from Green]
uniformity of sound throughout
the notes
are within the sound's
start to finish
homogeneity
top to bottom
Plateau - Nirvana [from Unplugged in New York]
stratified polis
Coyote Dance - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
fipple flute duet
with guitar
lively
Nothing Fails - Madonna [from American Life]
a thread in the tropes of American pop
is the notion
that a pop
woman
is faithful unconditionally
abuse
is felt
to be
deserved
social gaslighting
fay-ills
(two syllables)
Cologne - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
as above
from a different point of view
how a woman
was expected
to leave her mark
on her man
Hanuman - Steve Layton [from The Composer Plays Revisited]
these pianos are conversing
with intent to converse
femme fatale
among a cohort
Which Side Won? - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/50s Music]
backwaters of hippiedom
my immediate elders
Wakefield - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [December 24, 2023]
these
are an awkward
but earnest
dance couple
songs from the travelin' types
Those Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
his touch enforces pitch
You're The One For Me - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]
so sweet
but does it normalize stalking?
Angels We Have Heard On High - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]
I earnestly hope everybody involved with this
got paid
at least among the musicians
who wants to play tastefully?
gratuitous key change
so manufactured
yep
there goes the
descant
and
the trumpets
Cold Mountain Songs: The Bird of Five Colors - Robert Morris Deborah Norin-Kuehn, Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
it shimmers
Speechless - Beyoncé [from Dangerously In Love]
another trope of the culture
the total absorption of the woman
by
the man
as a make out loop track
Babe You Ain't Bad - Smokestack and the Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
his guitar playing
is intricate
nervous
heavy and delicate
Don't You Care - The Swearengens [from Waiting On The Sunrise]
the engineered sound
has an offputting harshness to it
too much
compression?
Duke of Sorrow - Strung Out [from Black Out The Sky]
similar problem here
the sound
of old tech
is difficult to
reproduce
with new tech
Adapt - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]
persons of sounds
arrange a space
to suit the time
or
a time
to suit the space
Summertime - Miles Davis [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
with some swagger and some sleaze
I Like It Like That - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]
out of town dance hall
Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music 831211 830 PM (end) - John Cage - New Performance Group, John Cage
music of the ellipsoid solids
She No Rattle My Cage - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]
diversity among musical cultures
reflects the same
among us
as
presumably
homogeneity among them
reflects
the same
among us
so that
we identify musics
by
their cultural origin
O Madame, pers-je mon tems (1552) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]
one wonders how much of this
is from a score
and how much
was cooked up for this performance
Soundscape - Kathy [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
the last morning on earth
somebody may be fishing for splashing
Propitious Visions - Christian Asplund [from Viola]
as though made of double bass
Genius, Carnivore, Beauty Queen - The Hunting Club [from Holiday Beach]
adventure party types
they sing as though the words
might be worth
understanding
even if buried
the energy expended
in doing so
Let There Be Love - Christina Aguilera [from Lotus]
dance club vibe
Sarabande - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey, Jim Knodle [from Keith Eisenbrey #9: 2002-2005]
gosh but Jim blew that sweet
Sit Down Servant - Ida Craig [from The Art of Field Recording]
interesting ornaments on the ends of lines
lightly voiced
work
song?
Come Back Baby/Groovin' - Aretha Franklin [from Lady Soul]
cultural icon
cultural brand
personification of a product
clever quote
of a contemporary
in the backups
Sunday Sunday
Untitled - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
flirting
with tuning
into the piece
one is intoning
until
it bursts out
we have been there all along
then
there are adjustments
to
the space's furnishings
Atmadja Duma Strachilu - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares Volume 2]
the history of our music
confuses itself
in perpetually hearing
itself
in itself
the voice-leadings of these arrangements
are echt Late 20th Century
as is the engineering
as is the concept
every artifact of music one comes across
is an act of volition
an
idea to do
that is
then
done
whether it's Mr. Perlman
and his pianist
having a blast
or Ida Craig
singing while
washing dishes
giving Joplin the full Paganini
Colors: Turquoise Paisley - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
all the fleshy squiggles
sparkle at the points
Space Beneath the Door - Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
poetics of hard drinking
bottom plumbing
as a blues
Driving In New York - Lori Goldston [from Film Scores]
the constant anxiety
even the daylight is dark and glare
Clacking at the Clicking - Bret Hart [from Double Thud]
a music that seems comfortable
with its steady
stable
ticking time
clever as it is
within the grid
it remains a grid
once extruded
the time remains
as a color
within the residue
Totem 30 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totems VI]
these sounds are obscured
by a moot scrim
a medium between us
a membrane
an enclosed resonance
anything that touches the
membrane
distorts
creates artifacts
in its substrate
medium
a device
is a delicate being
with parameters
for optimal
fidelity
adjustment of parameter
adjusts fidelity
it hasn't finished
just because you think it has
strange trolleys and trams
Pictures of Lily - The Who [from Magic Bus]
the joy of stroke mags
Double - J. K. Randall, Mathew Rosenblum, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]
anyone comes into music
from their own self
alternate routes being
unavailable
what one is
is
what ones music is
or
one is
as to
what ones music is
as music
is
to what oneself is
but leftward right
the old mirror trick
quoth 86
which indelibly dyes
all we do
in doing music
or ingesting it
the rightness
or wrongness
of a moment
is not the moment's
problem
we'll store these tunes
in this closet
where they can be found
when their time is upon anyone
what might be a sign
of the end
is a sign
to continue
further
we have entered a new chamber
this music has wandered
onto an empty stage
peopled
by
ghostlight
and them
Tony's Theme - Pixies [from Surfer Rosa]
comprehension presumed
if not accomplished
Toe! Knee!
I Got Shoes - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]
the nice part of the lyric
as the title
rather than
the
ever'body talkin' 'bout heav'n ain't agoin' there
part
She'll Drive The Big Car - David Bowie [from Reality]
first we check the controls
lights
signals
go
stop
steer
strap in
and go out
into city traffic
They Are One - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]
roots rock
as a pop genre
has one foot in string band
one in
blues
one in suburbia
Chubin - No Man's String Band [from Let The Truth Be Told]
right on cue
with accordion of some kind
Clairvoyant Dance Remix - The Science of Deduction [from Alternative Works]
a dance music
might be a sequence of prompts to movement
open prompt:
it is a prompt
if a dancer takes it to be so
and
is a prompt then
to do that movement
that the
dancer
so moved to do
was so moved to do
open until enacted
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #9: 2002-2005]
strophic structure
needs stanzas of like size and shape
the payoff
is
that they are fun
or otherwise engaging
to be
inside of
for as many stanzas
as there are to sing
Shout (Parts 1 and 2) - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]
holding it back until the end
and continues to accelerate
or to
seem to
driving forward eagerly
An Innocent Man - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]
not far removed
from a Frankie Avalon schtick
or Sinatra for that
matter
Positivity - Prince [from Lovesexy]
a dance song might be a soundscape
upon which to move
a prompt
to the feet and hips and shoulders
from below
a bed bounce
this one wanders around
is it lost?
Sign of the Times (Outtake) - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
a serious talk
Twilight Time - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
triple whammy vowel sequence
Ode to Billie Joe - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]
bad news across the supper table
White Eyes - The Botherations [from The Botherations]
an edge to the intonation of everything
the imparted residue of
amplification
nothing ever quite matches
though
it seems
it must be matching
Depression and Cigarettes - Choke The Pope [from Who Cares]
failure
self defeatist
loop script
What Is Your Middle Name - Anna La Berge, Tom Baker [from Sand]
Edward
after my Uncle Ed
my dad's brother
making characters
in stories
out of folks
at back tables
Looking For You (I Was) - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]
text arranged syllabically
on a solid frame
with only certain
tolerances
for give and take
Maryland, My Maryland [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends Vol. 3]
all stand
and sing praises
of their motherland
sounds more like Oh Tannenbaum to me
Inside #1 - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
a found footage soundscape
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
top of some idea of style
fantasy wear
Track 5 - Pouch [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
the first song we ever learned
a keepsake
a boss fight with stages
Bends - Bad Luck [from Four]
I see race car footage
in slo mo
its smooth careening
dissected
over an industrial Bo Diddley generator
running out of juice
or broadening
into more tortured planes
we are the track
heard from below
it howls and shrieks
four-wheeled banshees
in their frenzy
smothered
in
bells and tinkles
Psalm 133 - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #9: 2002-2005]
this setting
makes each syllable an event
I set the text
and
let it explain itself
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 31, 2026
Revelation - Keith Eisenbrey
June 1, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1152 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 32: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 3) 2014
In 2013 I had reached an inflection point in my big project, Études d'exécution imminent, and took a sabbatical (indifferently observed) from composing written-down music. I filled the time with various forms of improvisation, both "in-the-moment" composing, and sometimes puttering about with multi-tracking and other digitally applied effects. Here is the third bunch of them.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
