Preface
"One Boa constrictor, at the Zoological Gardens, swallows the other.
from The Comic Almanack, 1st Series 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
R.S. - Steve Layton [from Red Sky]
what is cast into the cauldron
is subsumed
what wafts out from the
cauldron
is addressed
with ritualized drumming
bound to its medium
Sonata in D Major, Kk. 333 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
brief first segment
more extensive after the hinge
Nocturne in A-flat Major (#3) - John Field - Benjamin Frith
searching out the stance
from which the opening figures
can be
most effectively reopened
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156/R. 8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": III. Les Cloches de G(eneve) - Franz Liszt - Ashley Wass
generous with time
the magic settles gently
enfolded within its
embrace
we breathe in deeply
we enter its world
exit through
sweet sleep
Ouverture-Manfred, Op. 115 - Robert Schumann - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
among the more potent of symphonic three-chord bursts
this magic barges
right in
leaves what's left of you
hanging by a thread
on
that final unmistakable chord
3 Piano Pieces, EG105 - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
1
let's be a harp
we can shimmer in motion
2
let's best our passions
in simplicity and humility
3
let's play swords and bucklers
2 Poèmes, Op. 71: II. En Rêvant, Avec Une Grande Douceur - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
intervals of transposition
and complex melodic intervals
Tight Like This - Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
the piano player is fun to listen to
heads in a more Art Tatum direction
I Won't Say I Will (Incomplete) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
the written melody
has a clear shape across its entire stanzascape
which gives the singer
a firm base
from which to range
this set of takes
has several tries at the end
Moonlight Bay - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]
on britcom tv
Let Me Sing and I'm Happy - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
if my song can start you cryin'
then I'm happy
Hefner and Disney - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]
another of those sneering tales he tells
The Little Green Lane (Lovatt) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
this melody lilts of the 1890s sentimental
Lou-Easy-An-I-A [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends Volume 3]
the state song?
Sex and Rebellion - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
confidence is a power play posture
Mother and Father - Madonna [from American Life]
using distinct vocal
to create a dialog
across lines and stanzas
I Will Always Love You (Live) - Dolly Parton
anthem of devotion
Cadenza Sans - Steve Layton [from The Composer Plays Revisited]
sans concerto
it would seem
The Teacher - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]
a portrait song or cosmogony
Melodic Landscape (Soundscroll 1, Part 3) - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls: Lost Landshapes]
billows of hills float on the horizon
On Green Dolphin Street - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
chords of sevenths or greater
increase the likelihood of common tones
in any direction
Sitting Still - REM [from Murmur]
melody is adequate to the chord changes
note by note
syllable by
syllable
the elision between two stanza types
is thus made plain
Security of the First World - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]
just the beat folks
nothin' else to hear here
move along
Are You Still Up/Sweet Dreams/Whoops Now - Janet Jackson [from Janet]
the album is interspersed with short segments of sound
that seem to
purport to be slices of a life
to be fantasized about
the giggly good life
Beyoncé Interlude/Gift from Virgo - Beyoncé [from Dangerously In Love]
this song has a sensually smooth sound skin
Rubies - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
singalong
fire circle
at the summer beach
I Can't Help Falling In Love With You - Peterman [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
during this song
two burly fellows were so enthusiastic
in the
good feeling
as to give each other
a big burly fellows embrace
right there on the floor of Victory Lounge
I was amused
For Robin - Slothrust [from The Pact]
an epistle
telling the recipient
the story of the recipient
as one might address a memory
You Never Left (Demo) - Dead Bars [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have to be Cool]
a scrawl on a wall
as seen by night life
among the moneyed and swank
Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks [from Nancy's Mix]
in order to cleanse the room
of past energies
gets into all the
corners
Something2 Dance 2 - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]
here they comes to save the day!
instructions for those at home
Une nymphe jolie (1587) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]
the world of nymphs and sylphs and fauns and unicorns
is a safe seeming
sensual pleasure land
for use
in the ritual of seduction
strong well writ tune
Soundscape - Darrell [from Jack Straw Cultural Center, Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
Satan Junior's lullaby
loves waves
a fleet of bush tits flitted by
Frenetic Interlude #2-various - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
found on the table
666 - Chaotic Noise Marching Corps [from Smashed as Smash Putt]
parade clown band
drummer's tattoo
rudiments to the front lines!
Sapwood [from WCRMS Participants 2018]
slow flow soil chemistry
process depiction
audible graph
intermedial mapping
Diabelli Recomposed (continued) - Various [streamed May 11, 2023]
17
Satie had a crack at it or two
18
peep show sound track
19
as a troupe of puppet clowns
Petrushka's taunt's progeny
20
an oracle and its yesman-ma'am-man yes'm
share a waltz
21
hang on we're picking up something
in a dialect of Morse
22
now in warm silks and mood lighting
23
here's Buster and Fatty
tossing plates of food
from kitchen to dining room
24
gets lost in prettyland
Do You Feel It - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]
rockin' instrumental track
proto Stooges
Supplement - Elaine Barkin, J. K. Randall, Mathew Rosenblum, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]
July 13, 1983
I'll need to check
but it wouldn't surprise me
if I hadn't met Elaine
that Summer
on the same trip East
but no
that was in the Summer before
in '82
here the emerging poem
in word language
by being sounds among
sounds
an interesting way
to think about the setting of text to music
its sounds
on a level footing
as sounds
to all those
other
given time and humans
a music will arise
and it will not be static
until societal norms
force it
into acceptable channels
is a stone a female rock?
are we all still here?
wherever here
might be
a hungry beast
devours the poem thus far
the end of the thus far
poem
previously rumored
was overstated
not unscathed
but not nil neither
Freedom - Marley Marl [from In Control Volume 1]
who owns what
what owns whom
rhyme drummer
Hungarian Dance #1 - Johannes Brahms - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
and we come full circle
to Johannes and whatzisname Joachim
Colors: Bright Yellow - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
in which the space is clearly audible
Bye Bye - Mariah Carey [from E=MC2]
the woman who wears grief more cheerily than you
Happiness - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]
world weary teen mask
The Custody Battle - Steve Kennedy, Lisa Puteska [from Untitled Album]
a constant and intense pressure
only gets worse
Sleepless Cycle - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs - Wordless Lullabies from The Sleepless, volume 2]
in gradually unlimiting space
along an activated pitch scheme
Ask Me Now (take 2) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
each singular gesture
distinctly made
no blur between them
Head Injury - Soundgarden [from Ultramega OK]
novelty numbers were a staple of the scene
Renjeng Su - China (Taiwan) [from The World Sings Goodnight]
swaddle song
Donald Rumsfeld - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
textures of layered surface noise
distant drums and dry wind
Starstruck (feat. Space Cowboy & Flo Rida) - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
using voice to activate effects
Blue Girl - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]
a battle with a rival self
2f2f2f(2f) - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]
there is business to transact at the reception desk
we are taken up in
its clockwork arms
particularly noted and logged
we are now a part
of its process
the motor spins
we are suspended in the suspension
room
watch kept far above
You Can't Win With a Losing Hand - Eddie Floyd [from Written in their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
solid guitar work
Little Sally Tease - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]
shaming circumspection
alternate fade-out ending
Bullet The Blue Sky - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]
lifted on platforms of theatrical portent
ick
The Juniper Tree - Andrew Toovey - EOS, Charles Peebles, Marcia Bellamy, Richard Morris, Jacqueline Horner, Nick Hariades
Marcia Bellamy was a classmate of mine at the UW.
Neal had kept in touch
with her
and that is why I have this recording
it opens with a lengthy violin solo
then dives into nightmare
puppetland
character signified in voice
each statement
set as a new poempage
each scenestatement
carefully crafted
to punch on stage
without overt or
overbearing cross-reference among scenes
sounds have traditional significance
musical manners also have
traditional significance
whosoever cooked up this tale
is twisted somewhere
taboo
horror
incest and cannibalism
traditional response:
revulsion
we fade into the legendmist
to black
followed by
the curse
taking hold
that is
Scene 4
the inquest scene
a traditional method of societal closure
to ease
us
from revulsion
into complacence
dramaturgical problem
it's hard to follow cannibalism
with
anything more horrible
though
perhaps
resolution of
revulsion is worse
playing his part occupying his voice even through the full frontal arrangement
Low Clarinet Symposium [from Low Clarinet Symposium]
Sim-Symposium
with cymbals and drums
honkfest
a rage against
machine
an applause pause
regroup
not without its charms
its clear commitment
sticking with it
without over thought
some folks
has just gots to get together
and shred
evacuate
the system
purge maximally
it's a bit like watching a fire hose
at full throttle
the drums
are the low clarinet lion trainer
keeps them to their
traditional roles
Tonight - Acapulco Lips [from Acapulco Lips]
is time to ParTEEE!
so kick off your shoes and dance
Chasing a Straight - Kara Hesse [from Soujourner]
another cardplay metaphor
life at the love table
A Noiseless Noise - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]
stanzaic freedom
short lines
care paid
to phonemes
and
their rhymes
Stimmung 1968 (continued) - Karlheinz Stockhausen
jumping in midway
we are in a suddenly more varied sound world
but
only because we recall
the opening pitch focus
but here
it
is the focus
on each presented pitch
rather than
just the
one pitch one focus of the open
(per my immediate recollection)
articulatory aberrations
in the form of spoken words
in various
languages
this piece and many other of Stockhausen's oeuvre
are such products of
their theatrical moments in history
that the idea of a revival
performance
abrates
the chorus resonators
pick up sounds
from the spoken bits
and melt them back
into new words
technique for listening
latch on to any clue
as to what might be
going on
and stick with it
until
the music tells you
something different
this piece transpires
in the space
where language sound
resonant sound
and word sounds
jump states freely
Adagio - Samuel Barber - The Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
I presume that brass players learn to optimize mouth shape for tone
(part of what distinguishes practiced players from novitiates)
GamElang - Elaine Barkin - Sue Carole DeVale, Michael Bakan, Elaine Barkin, Wanda Bryant, Lindsay Clare, Alice Hunt, Jay Keister, Grace M, David Martinelli [from Open Space 12]
events with shapes stand at the entry
inside
the discussion is
held
in terms of events with shapes
I'm reminded of her hubcap masks
this is like those
difference between
needing specificness
and needing specifications
Ain't No Way - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]
sung so it sounds like she means it
right then
Hunger, The Journey of Tamsen Donner (beginning) - Tom Baker - Maria Mannisto, Jesse Canterbury, Greg Campbell, Brian Cobb, Tom Baker
a poem in the voice of a handwriting (impersonal)
(or rather
not
projecting expression
beyond the bare words)
and hymnody
scraping the mountains plain
(a nocturne)
Black Magic I - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]
two bad dudes
couple of wild and crazy
posture clowns
were these the guys that had a shtick
where the drummer would solo
and the other guy would go to the bar
and buy
and return
with
a beer?
this is a long enough drum solo
Sinners and Angels - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
badboytemptation trope
transgression always tempts
Romulus Hunt (continued) - Carly Simon - Nashville Opera, Dean Williamson
over-produced beyond any believable stage
the words are too large for
their import
these folks are confused
in their self absorption
triumphal downfall
belt it out
or be buried
Kraanerg (beginning) - Iannis Xenakis - Callithumpian Consort, Stephen Drury
this music dismantles hulks
cuts large into small
slag heap
resonance
ferrous items sorted out
several camera angles
on each station
Shakin' All Over - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]
the engineer says
we have plenty of tape
but in the context of a
three minute pop song only
and then they fade
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]
any line has a tight footprint
mostly within a tight registral area
Midnight Blue - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
reminiscence of a song
sentiment mnemonical
Hollow Earth Radio - Seattle Phonographers Union [from Seattle Phonographers Union]
fireworks
reports
ripping pants
and spinners
crowds
roar
traffic horns
inventing
an unforeseen space
out of collected events
collectively
or
a trajectory
through unforeseen spaces
Snarkiselk - B'Shnorkestra [from Go To Orange]
passing through a sequence of tempo grooves
street fair crowds
Switch and Bait - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
footstomping hoedown freestyle
Study in D-flat Major - Jeremiah Lawson - Jeremiah Lawson
Jeremiah seems
as best I can tell
to revel in using the craziest
possible guitarist means
to produce plain spoken music
In Session at The Tintinabulary
July 12, 2026
Zerah - Keith Eisenbrey
July 13, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1155 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Aaron Keyt - Part 3
This third collection of the music of my long-time collaborator Aaron Keyt is composed of two sets of short pieces: Hedgehogs (2014) and Music for Wallace (2016). The recordings were made at my home in 2020/2021.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream.
