"With this prelude, Mr. Samuel Weller burst at once into the following wild and beautiful legend, which, under the impression that it is not generally known, we take the liberty of quoting. We would beg to call particular attention to the monosyllable at the end of the second and fourth lines, which not only enables the singer to take breath at those points, but greatly assists the metre:-
ROMANCE
I
Bold Turpin vunce, on Hounslow Heath,
His bold mare Bess bestrod-er;
Ven
there he see'd the Bishop's coach
A-coming along the road-er.
So he
gallops close to the 'orse's legs,
And he claps his head vithin;
And
the Bishop says, 'Sure as eggs is eggs,
This here's the bold Turpin!'
CHORUS
And the Bishop says, 'Sure as eggs is eggs,
This here's the bold Turpin!'
II
Says Turpin, 'You shall eat your words,
With a sarce of leaden
bul-let;
So he puts a pistol to his mouth,
And he fires it down his
gul-let.
The coachman, he not likin' the job,
Set off at a full
gal-lop,
But Dick put a couple of balls in his nob,
And perwailed on
him to stop.
CHORUS (sarcastically)
But Dick put a couple of balls in his nob,
And perwailed on him to stop."
Charles Dickens - from "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
Hang Your Head In Shame - Ray Charles [from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music]
the choir serves as a highlighter
these are the important take-aways
Ol' roison the beau - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
private workshop tapes
made public
the sound is unbalanced
harsh and muddy
Organ Introduction, Opening Remark, On Our Way - Aretha Franklin [from Amazing Grace]
introducing the concept of a recording session
as
primarily
a religious service
The Silky Veils of Ardor - Joni Mitchell [from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter]
long held syllables
freely remetricized lines
Blue Intensity - Sun Ra [from Celestial Love]
jazz adjacent music
sharing a set of conceptions
about form and
content
and their relations
in action
among a
population
(steady hand at the tiller)
presumably
arising spontaneously
within an economy of musicians
playing
together
and listening to one another
So Many Stars - Sarah Vaughan [from Brazilian Romance]
the sung melody
is a stable presence
in a scene of sinking
harmonies
Crocodile Song - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
tall tale
to sing on board ship
Conversation Piece - David Bowie [from Heathen]
sung
as one might mumble movie lines
rather than
as one
might declaim stage lines
Long Walk Home - Bruce Springsteen [from Magic]
to escape from
is to be forever tied to
all encompassing intensity
of the big screen
Le Dénouement - Steve Layton and Improv Friday [from Shared Circle]
vigorous containment
compulsive fussiness
Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift [from Reputation]
role playing
as gang boss
or corporate wolf
adding a word
to a ritmato line
for the metrical game it makes
Totem 46 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem IV]
ultra quiet ultra slow
ramp up
a cartoon sound
slidy voice
greeting to floor
walls
ceiling
angles
dimensions
the pitched hum complex
does not represent a
space
but
we represent what it is
with the metaphor of space
cartoon sound
joined by others of its kind
formed from the
woodwork walls
not open to hierarchic functionality
Rondo in D minor, Wq. 61/4 - Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach - Alexei Lubimov
this music has pieces
scraps
inscrutable continuity
the path
to outside
must be here somewhere
Baur, was tragt in Sacke - Orlando Lassus - Tielman Susato Krummhorn Gesellschaft [from The Glory of the Krummhorn]
the persons of each instrument
are not always obscured
by the
intricacy of the part writing
Epona - Greg Sinibaldi [from Frieze of Life]
racing on foot
huffing and puffing
then in a pacing game
of
microdistances
side wary
eyeing the other
Bathtub - Waxahatchee [from American Weekend]
confident songwriting
tape's in the mail
End of My Line - Timberbound [from Roll Columbia]
family almanac history
Missing Words VI: I. Witzbeharrsamkeit (Joke-Insistence) I - Eric Nathan [from Missing Words]
gestures
as puppets
gesturing the gestures
King of the Road - REM [from Dead Letter Office]
still learning each other the song
take it slim
Rocket - Beyoncé [from Beyoncé]
aural soft porn
They Ain't Coming Back - Gaytheist [from Let's Jam Again Soon]
even a song such as this
has qualities that can be noted and considered
the frustration on my end
might be analyzed
as a reaction
to those
musical qualities it possesses
being used
primarily
as a means of social posturing
an ID badge
and not
primarily
as a thought about music
from within
its presented rhetoric
Track 11 - Star Anna [streamed from Fiddler's Inn, March 7, 2022]
so
is this different
and if so
how?
for one thing
what she sounds like she's doing
is not posturing
but
something more like channeling of a persona
from within the self
that is
the singer
singing the song being sung
disappears
becomes utterly transparent
the music
is a
music
not a costume
Bard Improvisors' Ensemble (side 2) - Tildy Bayar, Andrea Brandfon, Dan Sedia [November 4, 1987]
difficulty in the hearing of a dyad
(as an experience)
for example
with earmind
trained and practiced
in any of many Western
diatonic dialects
we hear
what it is
its name
(a
third)
before we hear that it has properties
local to its
immediate context
hence
the Viennese School's
attempted
eschewal of tonal structures
or even of tonally smelling structures
the tactic failed
not because of any defect in atonality
as
such
but
because the culturally received earmind
was
at that time
far more deeply
and intuitively
understanding
of that pitch landscape
so that
it could
not even hear a thing as music
if it weren't heard
as diatonically
contextualized
Rahn's "tonal filters"
or "12-tone filters"
but
what are they filters of?
nice piano solo
is that Tildy?
I don't know Andrea
and it
doesn't read like something Dan would do
but I would readily believe
Tildy
some sound may be leaking in from another music room
rockin' out bass
but pianissimo
far under even the piano's pianissimo
the
piano persisted past the bass
but now it's back
I have no reason to think she doesn't mean it sincerely
she sings
because she has to
fair enough
its the commercial sheen of
it that bugs me
Pupil - CEP [from Drawing The Target Around The Arrow]
the compositional identity
of any of these cuts
is just not what
they're about
Symbiosis - Jessica McCann, Benton Roark - Re:Naissance Opera [from Music from The Apocrypha Chronicles]
improvisatory sound design
for an aesthetic construction
or
installation
designed space with designed sound
321 North - Cowgirls, The
this song actually happens right there
naked
long jam
longberry jam
lognberry jam
Donald the Lump - Amy Denio [from The Big Embrace]
no playing games
Floating Out To Sea - Tom Swafford [from Rough Spaces]
we observe the tone painter
painting a painter
painting
vigorous marks
made truly particular
even peculiarly so
November Rain (Guns N' Roses) - Prom Queen [from Covers]
mixed message
or not
it's complicated
I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone - Chastity Belt
a special pre-order gift
shuffled into my listening pieces
after
the entire album
of which it was a pre-order special
time is
porous
how one's listening habits
transform the artifacts
displaced in memory time
Solitude (Trio) - Steve Peters [from With My Back to the Wall]
resisting mildly
function and cyclicity
Waltzing Walrus - Black Plastic Clouds [from Electroplate]
a band is music by committee
one hopes consensus reigns
but
difficult to maintain
Alien Invasion - Klondike Kate
schematic decision tree
limited moves available
Frost (Mirjam Tally) - Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir [from Strengur]
slow
deep
heart throb
breath of the mountain giant
clad in sheets of rock
the moon pulls
the sun pulls
the giant pulls back
Drunk Driver - Camarones Orquestra Guitarristica [from Live in Natal]
thrill ride with
no thanks
Serial Diatonicism for Harp - Carson Farley
takes some odd turns
what would this sound like
on clavichord
(thanks for the score Carson!!
I'll be getting back to you on
this)
Pie - Tyrannosaurus Grace [from Much More Than a Story]
to whom is this pro-Darwin diatribe addressed?
is it expected
that
the recipient (intended)
will actually hear it?
what ends up
coming through
is less the thrust of the argument
than the
resentment of the speaker
Cut 12 - Nancy Cole Silverman - Adam Varner [from A Much Married Woman]
final payment made
success
entourage and black cigars
the
place to go
equal counterparts
4500 of what
absent
a
real husband
the end
with music and credits
coincidental
Fria - Bruce Hamilton and Friends [from Mash Hits Vol. 1]
aesthetics of connection noises
playing with plugs
the guitar and
reeds soldier on
episode
not piece
Go - St. Paul de Vence [from St. Paul de Vence]
advice and instruction
for those about to launch
long b'bye
Pissin' Up a Rope - Freddie & The Screamers [from I Ain't Crazy]
bad boys
at the bad boy bar
we speak bad boy here
The Chart - Low Hums [from Low Hums]
about the groove
not about being a song
suburban jungle drums
segue to a new song
no break really
Heart's Content - Brandi Carlile [from Bear Creek]
circling around a signified
only hinted at
Kill 'Em With Kindness - Swearin' [from Swearin']
the sound is more kill 'em than kindness
Surfactants - Triptet [from Figure in the Carpet]
on wavelengths
groove episode
evershifting
our clockwork
rooms
Godzilla - Swingset Showdown [from Short Bus Ruckus]
the monster monster
the humanity
oh the horror
plot synopsis
executive summary
another battle piece
tone battle
That's Just The Way It Went Down - Karin Blaine [from Modern Day Living]
dealing with wreckage
Godzilla and what not
all the ways
we
talk to ourselves
Responsible Too Long - Shannon Stephens [from Pull It Together]
simple strum
reducing the melody
to its notes
misses
what just happened
Masterpiece - Madonna [from MDNA]
missed a chance
to rhyme Lisa
of Mona Lisa
with see ya
as in
came to see ya
the art history professor
gushy luv song
gets stuck at the end
for the dancers to exhaust themselves
Seattle Heatwave - Song Sparrow Research [from Song Sparrow Research]
all stops
big warm lazy
Let It Out (feat. Neal Kosály-Meyer) - Andrew James Robison [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
doing
doing
the song
What Dust We Dote On - Land of Pines [from Live from Sound Off 2012]
negotiating cooperation
in the adolescent middle of everything
over-mattering
do competitions help
whom help they
how sparse
the page is
if this sound
it ends
because
you ran out of intervals
grabbing pitchspace
in peculiar manners
listening
is the key operation
the grandfather
of
let's take it easy
everything that was
now resonates
as
that
a great place for burble
nothin' goin' for sostenuto
principals to run around
with pithy cogency
the present
situation
has been molded
that comes a cropper
we get it
it knows we get it
in on it
the same kind of kicks
it
does
the very opposite of razzle dazzle
ethical and political and
fundamental
the aesthetic dodge
use the new
to recolor the
old
ridiculously impoverished
Freya Fantasie in F-sharp minor, Wq. 67 - Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach - Alexei Lubimov
a tale of woe
when suddenly
the scamp
comes scamping in
tells of scamp's own woes
the tale of woe
hath cast a pall
o'er all
Étude pour le pianoforte d'apres les caprices de Paganini in B-flat Major, op. 3 #4 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
taking the plain
and playing tricks upon it
adventure on every
hand
Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op. 50 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
dreamily it falls
from the ceiling
faery motes
sparkle
but oh
the handsome captain
such dash and dance
and
that's how it's done kids
An Old Flame - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
so proper
Introspection - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
close on each side
Please Mr. Brown - Sarah Vaughan [a Rescued Record]
anything
but what Mr. Murray taught
a novelty song
I'm Guilty of Loving You - Bob Dylan [from A Tree with Roots]
Heaven Help Us All - Ray Charles [from A Message from The People]
it must have been the times
that brought so many
to need to say
something
but
message covers up
whatever the music might be
by hijacking sympathy
Sophisticated Lady - Sun Ra [from Celestial Love]
nice sounding electric keyboard of some kind [?]
it morphs
a song
is a thing to be playing
not a piece
in the 19th Century
European sense
When You're Alone - Bruce Springsteen [from Tunnel of Love]
gets stuck in the chorus
Go On, Ol' Gater - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
knots all over his tail
put him in a muddy hole
Panic in Detroit (Outtake) - David Bowie [from Heathen]
each line has a person
with a life to tell it
Dreaming of Seahorses - Steve Layton and Improv Fridays [from PPP]
close up to the tapping drum
rubbing drum
the electronica
permeates at a distance
liquidly
an acoustic instrument
contends
with the act of playing it
in a way
that
electronica
steps back from
this version of the album
includes a complete set of demos
one for
each song
Totem 53 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem V]
delicate work
down in the tens of microns
solders must be precise
energy must be vented away
from its release
:|| a thing anyone is doing allows in and out privileges
:|| doing so if
that thing anyone is doing is a piece will result in significant loss of
whatness
:|| from that standpoint maximizing personal profit is
paramount
:|| one must attend to it all to consume it at all
Aretha's Introduction/Wholly Holy - Aretha Franklin [from Amazing Grace]
arrival
at a certain frenzy of orchestration
Scott LeRock Megamix - Boogie Down Productions [from Criminal Minded]
80s Headroom nerves
to the max
we are taken on a verbal joy ride
Melodia na Neblina - Greg Sinibaldi [from Frieze of Life]
the voices lead in a slippery way
not quite graspable
not quite
parallel
not quite
as in
parallel you say
is that what
that was
seemed weird to me
but if parallel you say it is
then parallel it is
are lines lines here?
does the math hold
across the metaphor?
these pitches may be immatchable
Stay Stay Stay - Taylor Swift [from Red]
I'm a power blonde
deal with it
vocals mirror
in compatible
but distinct persons
Columbia's Waters - Caitlin Belem Romtvedt, David Romtvedt, and Joe Seamons [from Roll Columbia]
right good worker
sell the experience
to be shared
prosperity around the corner
the old American Dream
[The
Grand Co-]
UL Double E
Suéltame - Christina Aguilera [from Aguilera]
the image they seem to be going for
is that
each word
or
syllable
of the vocal
is individually massaged
by the
engineers
making the singer disappear
or better
to appear to
be
no more real
than the AI replacement
soon to come
Cantus - Keith Eisenbrey - Tielman Susato Krummhorn Gesellschaft [from The Glory of the Krummhorn]
I had forgotten that the Gesellschaft
included this piece of mine on
their compilation
not all that far off
rhetorically
from my flute trio
the clicking sticks provide a place to stand in observation
more of those immatchable pitches
for unutterable chords
Mine (feat. Drake) - Beyoncé [from Beyoncé]
taking multiple runs at a phrase
each character segregated separable
Consumer: 2080 - Gaytheist from Let's Jam Again Soon]
more he-man he-man dystopian utopianism
it's an action movie
as a
rock radio opera
scripted by 10 year-old boys
Missing Words VI: II. Betttrug (Bed-Deception) - Eric Nathan [from Missing Words]
thinking about pitch matching
and its tolerances
Wolves, Lower - REM [from Dead Letter Office]
man of few words
and inscrutable sequence
the occasional brief
light show
Open Your Heart (Madonna) - Prom Queen [from Covers]
a plea
Window Seat - CEP [from Drawing The Target Around The Arrow]
if being a music
is what this is doing
it is not wanting to budge
from bed of a morning
built in
acoustic bias
to the pitch field's shape
Track 12 - Star Anna [streamed from Fiddler's Inn, Seattle, March 7, 2022]
watch in full
over and over again
side B
where it's a little
shorter
in the panic room
Bard Improvisors' Ensemble (side A) - Tildy Bayar, Hillary Butler, Dan Sedia [November 25, 1987]
we all take some time
to accustom ourselves
to the space
see
where we fit
how much room we have
the room itself
insists
on its openness
assertion fails to fester here
conversation is
earned
playful poking game
allowing nothing to happen
opens
potential
guiro goes big
gentle souled sounds
feels
like eavesdropping
Feral Fleas - Amy Denio [from The Big Embrace]
don't make us freeze
or turn us into bees
Space Invasion - Black Plastic Clouds [from Electroplate]
sung in hero voice
everything builds in fours
Sporocarp - Jessica McCann, Benton Roark - Re:Naissance Opera [from Music from The Apocrypha Chronicles]
cool sounds
for a nature show
best without narration of any kind
Qua - Bruce Hamilton and Friends [from Mash Hits Vol. 1]
machines to manufacture sounds
via signal manipulation
machines
have limits
all physical objects have limits
or they wouldn't be
objects
capable only of making those sounds
of which the hardware
is capable
in only those ways
that programmers can devise
given the language in use
Bastard - Klondike Kate
putting on a beat
like a costume
it is a show
relies on
being instantly understandable
The Surrogate - Tom Swafford
this performance is stageless
immediate
with us
here
now
this would be quite the cadenza for the Brahms
Your Butt's Too Big - Freddie & The Screamers [from I Ain't Crazy]
every song
is a misbehavior
a standup act
Track 12 - Curtains For You [recorded live at The High Dive, Seattle, April 6, 2012]
one is being narrated at
Bronx - Camarones Orquestra Guitarristica [from Live in Natal]
the fourth bar
prepares the cycle
back to the recurring now
of the cycled group
it's the same day
as always
it
just keeps coming around and around
Glass - Tyrannosaurus Grace [from Much More Than a Story]
that cheap trick
of starting quiet
to tempt the listener
to
turn up the volume
then WHAM in your face
Modern Day Living - Karen Blaine [from Modern Day Living]
from a family
common to mine
of preachers and musicians
consumption will always be conspicuous
Falling Free - Madonna [from MDNA]
piano's sound filtered
what changes exactly
it is scoured clean
of person
phonied up
sounds readied for AI understanding
warmed
softened
tortured
Rise Again - Brandi Carlile [from Bear Creek]
clinging to the stringband outfit
nothing wrong with fringe
Wherever Time Takes Us - Song Sparrow Research [from Song Sparrow Research]
doing a Western Lou Reed
Empty Head - Swearin' [from Swearin']
each stanza
adds to the telling
of multiple tales
differentiated by line number
the last line
is
existentialler than the others
turns into a regular showcase
even a guitar solo
It Hurts Quite a Bit - The Oh Wells [from Live from Sound Off 2012]
I hadn't thought about this album in years
and I am just now realizing
that most if not all of these
are 'covers'
the songwriting
is a bit too consistently sophisticated
for even a well-funded
high-school's talent show
(but
I may be misremembering that these
were limited to high-school bands)
(but
my point holds anyway)
J. K. Randall Interview Part 6 - Scott Burnham, J. K. Randall
a compensatory strategy
for having perfect pitch
the shape that
pieces find themselves in
spliced them all together
and filtered
out the metronome
what got me into computer in the first place
get
the rhythms right
Beethoven
is the supreme arbiter
not just
for all things musical
but for all things period
a helluvan
anthology
the punchline floats
exegesis
construction of
cycles
within 12
the +/-(1 and 5) cycles
an analogy
not ambitious
quite refreshingly distinct
with similar
structural effect
culturally delivered pre-composition
a
composition that reeks of its own principals
things that cropped up
you can sort of imagine
what about octaves
they crop up
oddly
everything is flickering
odd
and interesting
but boy
is it grounded
a vivid magnetism
the deep left
over
building up
step by step
catch up
with it
just cuddly old Jim
Hello Here I Am
In Session at The Tintinabulary
December 31, 2023
Mendon - Keith Eisenbrey
That's 26 of these for 2023.
Still in the middle of Long Meter with long
to go
January 1, 2024
Banned Rehearsal 1091 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt
Aaron brought over a new toy! A Stylophone!
January 2, 2024
And Let This Feeble Body Fail - Keith Eisenbrey
I wrote this hymn a month or so ago
setting Charles Wesley's 4 stanza of
6 lines each
in the manner of a lullaby
January 5, 2024
Gottes Sohn ist kommen - Aaron Keyt
Dein König kommt in niedern Hüllen - Aaron Keyt
I managed a better performance of the first one, and after some trouble even got the second one too
to my ear these could sound fabulous on a fretted string instrument
Theorbo anyone?
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005
This volume finds me exploring both mod-17 and mod-12 environments (sometimes simultaneously).
Volumes 1 through 8 are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2016
