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| Bridal Veil Falls State Park, Oregon |
"'She had no fear - she had no distrust - she had no suspicion - all was confidence and reliance. "Mr. Bardell," said the widow; "Mr. Bardell was a man of honour - Mr. Bardell was a man of his word - Mr. Bardell was no deceiver - Mr. Bardell was once a single gentleman himself; to single gentlemen I look for protection, for assistance, for comfort, and for consolation - in single gentlemen I shall perpetually see something to remind me of what Mr. Bardell was, when he first won my young and untried affection; to a single gentleman, then, shall my lodgings be let." Actuated by this beautiful and touching impulse (among the best impulses of our imperfect nature, gentlemen), the lonely and desolate widow dried her tears, furnished her first floor, caught her innocent boy to her maternal bosom, and put the bill up in her parlour-window. Did it remain there long? No. the serpent was on the watch, the train was laid, the mine was preparing, the sapper and miner was at work. Before the bill had been in the parlour-window three days - three days, gentlemen - a Being, erect upon two legs, and bearing all the outward semblance of a man, and not of a monster, knocked at the door of Mrs. Bardell's house. He inquired within; he took the lodgings; and on the very next day he entered into possession of them. This man was Pickwick - Pickwick the defendant.'"
Charles Dickens - from "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club"
Texts
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| Bridal Veil Fall State Park, Oregon |
August 12, 2023
Étude in G-flat Major, Op. 10 #5 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
running through sprinklers
Davidsbundler Tänze, Op. 6 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
clumps of chords adhere
harmonic friction zones
melody drops from
vines
a Couperinish reluctance to move to new material within segments
theme and variation type sequence of affects
material insurrects
spontaneously
if we take another go at it
we'll perhaps better
understand where we just landed
polyphonous
but the voices are
only clear when they need to be
or when they are passing the baton
they group themselves from within the prevailing figurations
changing touch mid note
two weave themselves from one
August 13, 2023
String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 (#6) - Felix Mendelssohn - Emerson Quartet
1
they tell the spooky story as a team
how the spirit of F minor
possessed the imagination of Hero Felix
striving for solutions to the
alchemical conundrum voiced by F minor
Sehnsucht desperado
better
in the morning
is it gone
time will tell
nope it's back
2
Sisyphustian
there it goes
back to the bottom of the hill
again
3
seeking the consolation
of quiet
domesticated
sanctioned thought
how dangerous
after all
can F minor
be
in an ordered world
4
back to alchemy
things are happening
it may be progress
but maybe not
if we hold quiet
maybe it will go away
but maybe not
They Are There - Charles Ives - Kronos Quartet
appears to be conceited to be an historic recording
with which the
quartet may be bandwagoned in
as though on a Victorola
Hotter Than That - Louis Armstrong [from That Devilin' Tune]
how to bounce a tune
I Got A Woman - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles]
a boast song
man the possessor
woman the possession
I'm Gonna Leave You - Nina Simone [from High Priestess of Soul]
the possession
talks back
nonstop
Once You've Been In Love - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan with Michel LeGrand]
gloriously sumptuously sappy
a true winner of a cut
loving it all
the way
Simple Things - Carole King [from Simple Things]
moral lesson
from the self helped era
Human Nature - Michael Jackson [from Thriller]
kind of kinky
making his breathing part of the rhythm
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| Vista House at Crown Point, Oregon |
Go Lil' Camaro Go - Ramones [from Halfway to Sanity]
stripped down to little more than the structure of a pop song
Turkey Song - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
the parts of the text needn't fit together as a single subject matter
Worlds Apart - Bruce Springsteen [from The Rising]
bring on the exotic
Take It Back - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Kitchen Recordings]
self made field recording
in the moment blues
Cherry Moon Rendezvous - Steve Layton & Improv Fridays [from ppp]
circular track
plucked guitar
corner turned in a straight line
watch your head
low hanging synth sound here
Part 3 - Seattle Phonographers Union [from Georgetown Steamplant]
in what sense(s) might this have been intended for the manner of listening with which I habitually engage as a listener
mixed (on the fly?)
by a group of field recordists armed with laptops
and tracks
(at least that's what I think they do)
this is either
recorded in the Georgetown Steamplant (as a venue)
or consists of
recordings made there (or both?)
I hear mysteriousy sounds
in a
non-generic acoustic space
one can sense unseen chambers
and hard
surfaced objects
and an emptiness
there are events
usually
onsets of new sounds or elements or cessations of same
among which I
perceive no intentional intertransformation
beyond the proximity that
sounds might have
out there in the anywhere
except
perhaps
a sensitivity to transparence
a world in which sounds
even
assertive ones
get along pretty well
not many toes stepped upon
an episode
Sonata on Themes by Thomas Commuck - Menuet and Trio - Jeremiah Lawson - Jeremiah Lawson
concerns itself with its melodies
and making the guitar do fancy things
does not concern itself with stage projection
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
all correct
even the poetry
everything in its box
It'll Be Me (slow version) (take 2) - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Rare & Rockin']
why would he get on a rocket ship to Mars
to find her?
that sounds
like he's headed as far away as he can possibly get
Gone With The Wind - Bill Evans [from California, Here I Come]
tight corners
thread the laser's eye
Runaway - Bonnie Raitt [from Sweet Forgiveness]
epistolary
wish you were here
the chord cycles
cycle back
to a firm re-arrival
to mark the stanza break
Unimaginable Zero Summer - The Young Fresh Fellows [from The Men Who Loved Music]
mimicking hick
"till all ends anon and follows and rise" - John Hopkins - Benjamin Boretz, John Hopkins, Mary Lee Roberts [from Open Space 6]
prefatory scuffles
to guitar
synthy string sound
some
quiet percussion
a softly intermittent white noise inhabits both
channels
a darker turn
things to say
so the guitar says them snarly
a reedy sound
scribbles hard
tongue in corner mouth
screwed tight
a grumble toad
the synth might be that little Casio Ben had
when the Psychedelic
Saab Brigade visited The Tintinabulary
back in '89
an infant says
infant things
as they might
while nursing
a vigorous rubbing
August 16, 2023
I've Been Waiting For You - David Bowie [from Heathen]
the lyrics are about something
but the music has no clear reference to
the lyrics
except
to their rhythmic form
the stress rhythms
of saying those words
so that they impart the intended hue of meaning
the rest is fashion
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| Gradus 130 |
more lids!
I'm Addicted - Madonna [from MDNA]
finding the inner mechanical precision and purity
a core sound
narrowly kept to
add a few that don't change it
Gradus 323 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 26, 2017]
introducing the second B up
the fewer the notes
the more obvious
the difference between rungs
a composition factoid
for your
keeping pocket
smaller sets
are easier to distinguish
based
on content alone
a fine firm figure of a B
arbitrarily thorough
the time allotted
is the time taken
the sounds' needs
are not part of the bargain
the second rung is rung in
(Cis!)
It's shy but not long
at
last
played together
onset and release
now the Cis as a
coloring among the uppers of the B
now the B bends the Cis
fun
with a new friend
no time for review of past lessons
Gradus
presses on
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
a list and a sump
a new list joins
sump may have some listical
qualities
and the lists some sumpish
expression
the expression of it
what?
not an emotion?
such
emotions as are its
unnamable
except
by it
being
it
{slogan: The namable emotion is not worth music's time}
Ready Teddy (take 1) - Little Richard [from Here's Little Richard]
sock hop ball
dance craze
at the beginning
what the kids
wanted
Rael 1 - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]
it tries so hard to be meaningful and compositional
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| Vista House at Crown Point, Oregon |
Madrigali: I: Ov'è lass', il bel viso? - Morton Lauridsen - Polyphony, Stephen Layton
massed sounds
directed audienceward
the choir here
is a
single instrument
Truth or Dairy - Dubious Duo [from Children of Siberia]
sassy jeering frenetic
Beyond A Door I Made But Don't Close - Jarrad Powell - Jessica Kenney [from Stonehouse Songs]
descending from a tone leaped to
explore the slope
and the bottom
the tone below the high tone
is a place to be
hanging man
Blind Death Boredom - Yuni in Taxco [from Prizes]
dive bars
are where folks go
to relax
lubricate
and
complain about the day-job world
quite an interesting one-note-at-a-time
tune they make in there
A Line Describing A Cone - Antonioni [from Lullablaze]
lines pause in their middles
move on past the sticky spot
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
a clearly contrapuntal texture meets a homophony
and they partake of
each other
tech comment
the clear stereo pan
of high register on one end
and low on another
perhaps
overstates the distinction of the
voices
which is quite clear without the pan
Cristina plays this fabulously
sensitivity to touch
timing
dynamic gradation
all there
nicely turned suspension pun there Tom
Salt Peanuts (live) - Miles Davis [from 'Round About Midnight]
narrow nibbles
hamster twitch
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - The Beatles [from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]
the problem
with the notion of an album
composed
as a piece
made of songs
that
"need to be heard as an album to be truly
appreciated"
is
that they sound like they really mean it
but
don't quite have the chops to pull it off
so that
the songs
couldn't possibly be yanked free
Clair De Lune - Claude Debussy [from 100 Greatest Classics]
falls softly through the night garden
nimble nymphs bathe lithely
our eyelids close quiveringly
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera [from Stripped]
confession and comfort and plea
self talk pep talk
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
the freedom I afforded myself
when I decided against attempting an
actual career in music
comes down to the freedom
to not need to
justify what I do
this thing
for instance
has justification
to me
but isn't about that for anyone else ever
who might listen
it is
what I made it
the timing
I set it going is all
why?
because I invented it
to see what it would sound
like if I set it going
Roots - Bigfoot Wallace and His Wicked Sons [from Virgil]
drums and vocal
long first part whispered secretly
second part
shouted
same song twice
once little
once big
almost
Construction - Karen Eisenbrey [October 20, 2017]
recorded from a window at her place of employment
a hammering in rhythm
big noise from the device
the hammering is pitched and polyphonous
air traffic passes o'er
Alien Superstar - Beyoncé
a brag
Blossom's Blues - Blossom Dearie [from Blossom Dearie]
raised in a lion's den
another brag song
I ain't Red Riding Hood
skoodly ah doo
skoodly ah dee
Matilda Mother - Pink Floyd [from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (digital)]
a song can be produced
and a song can be composed
and a song can
be composed using production
this song
is composed
then
produced
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
must admit it's delightful
and concerned with nothing else
but to
be delightful
and to be delighted in return
The Eton Rifles - The Jam [from The Sound of The Jam]
has the sound of soccer hooligans
but I'm glad
I guess
they're not eating rifles
Small Change - Peter Fedovsky [from The City of Good Neighbors]
this song appears in a Curtains For You album
no surprise
Peter
was their keyboard player
goes all Beatles-psychedelic
Rain Storm - Song Sparrow Research [from Song Sparrow Research]
a waltzy lullabye
decadent suburban
goes on
till sleep comes
Cut - Greg Sinibaldi [from Ariel]
the EWI (electronic wind instrument)
has its own authoritate sneer
something of a rush
overwhelm
Crossing Over Place - Lori Goldston [from High and Low]
now known
I believe
as Pioneer Square
old Seattle's
old Seattle's
old Seattle
in flickering
vintage
residue of media
Till There Was You - Meredith Wilson [from The Music Man]
and then we have the romantic payoff
sweet fragrant meadows of dawn and
dew (breathe)
triumphal surrender
People Get Ready - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
trying out what they're hearing
how does it feel to sing this
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| Vista House at Crown Point, Oregon |
Easter Hymn from 'Cavalleria Rusticana' - Pietro Mascagni [from 100 Greatest Classics]
and so that
we can hear it well
they're singing backstage
ah
I guess we found them
layers of sound all massed
Track 10 - The Humidiflyers [from Humidiflyers 2002]
sounds like a house party
this one goes out to
not the first time
Zither Film 1 - Keith Eisenbrey [December 7, 2007]
as the bursts of sounds' pulses cross phase
apparent melody is grasped
as they dissipate
they fail to appear
Bloody Gloves - The Swearengens [from Devil Gets Her Way]
confession trope
the rhythm is danceable
after its rural way
but it would seem strange to me
to dance to someone's confession
of spousal homicide
even if they
(sort of)
regret it
In Session at The Tintinabulary
August 11, 2023
Sinfonia 5 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
I made a few adjustments while working this up on clavichord
August 13, 2023
Danvers - Keith Eisenbrey
an arrangement I made of the hymn tune as found in The Christian Minstrel, an 1846 shape-note song book
August 14, 2023
Banned Rehearsal 1082 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
we gathered on the patio
on a lovely warm evening
and shot the
breeze without words
there are some dry leaves to walk in
August 15, 2023
Sinfonia 2 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey
finally got this one on piano
I need to re-do my clavichord recording
because I noticed an error in the score
while working it up for
piano
Sinfonia 4 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey
I'm rather tickled by this
it's a bear to play
but sounds so
simple all laid out as sound
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| Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument |
Invention in D minor - Gavin Borchert
Invention in E-flat Major - Gavin Borchert
and I continue to work my way through Gavin's set of 30 Inventions.
The
next two
both in E minor
are more difficult
so it may be a
week or so before I have them in the can
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2005 and 2006
