Preface
"Franklin proposed that the executive, whether singular or plural, receive no compensation beyond expenses. 'There are two passions which have a powerful influence on the affairs of men,' he asserts. 'These are ambition and avarice: the love of power, and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but when united in view of the same object, they have in many minds the most violent effects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of honour that shall at the same time be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it.'"
H. W. Brands, from The First American - The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
Texts
Live
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Lotus Lungs and The Hegramatics
Chapel Performance Space, Good
Shepherd Center, Seattle
Lotus Lungs
burbles from below
liquid occupation
permeable interaction event
idiolectic signifiers
strum drum arm rhythm
subito geyser
eruption on the right
regularities as such
not lightly disturbed
the last of it wafts away
The Hegramatics
ample breathing
easy sway
gentle swells
playful crabs
harbor stillness
buoy bop
seals and shorebirds chase the surf
a new boat moves calmly in
an evening hymn
a calm
then a squall
the boats complain to their moorings
a massive beast rolls
Recorded
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Nocturne in F Major (#6) - John Field - Benjamin Frith
so what is a Nocturne
if Mr. Field invented it?
an ornately pretty
song
for solo keyboard
right hand puppets a singer
left hand puppets a guitar
or other
accompanying instrument
Au bord d'une source, S156, R8 - Franz Liszt - Jean Dubé
seeking
with music
to do
what painting might do
with a
sylvan theme
present a scene for contemplation
and an attitude
toward it
static but vibrant
Introduction and Allegro in D minor, Op. 134 - Robert Schumann - Bamberg Symphony, Janos Furst, Peter Frankl
we are provided a menu of persons
and are plunged into the thick of
their drama
this recording is unfortunately muddy sounding
6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76: IV. Eglogue - Cecile Chaminade - Mark Viner
time is given to breathe
and to seem to settle the accounts
Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72: No. 5, The Prillar from Os Parish. Springar - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
concert dances
sit athwart
examples of a type
and depictions
of an event
My One and Only (Incomplete Take) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
her voice commands attention
Five (Live) - Bill Evans [from Another Time: The Hilversam Concert]
a rhythmic disbalance
driven fast
nimble turns
showy but
loads of fun
Laughing (Live in Toronto) - REM [from Murmur]
first stanza type
word bursts
second stanza type
words
spread out
Willie Dong Hurts Dogs - U-Men
wallowing in the low
as armor against the high
Down With Love - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]
advanced doo wop
Fall Away - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
differentiating parts with small details
and more dramatic sound size
contrasts
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie [from Reality]
the voice of the poem
presumes a dialog/interaction with the subject
Dance 2Night - Madonna [from Hard Candy]
lots of high bell sounds in the tutti stanzas
staccato action in the
rhythm tracks
Jemma - Steve Layton [from The Composer Plays Revisited]
salutary insistence on its stony sound
Lazy - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
holds to its thesis from beginning to end
SoundScroll VII, part four: Far Landscape - Steve Scribner - The Hexaphonic 3 [from Soundscrolls V-IX Live]
what comes along has been there
and stays there
we are moved inchingly
inapparently
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Buzzard Song - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong [from Porgy and Bess]
this album treats the opera
as a source of connected songs
that is
an elaborate "musical" of songs
a professor at the UW
went to some lengths to argue
that the
original work was a "true opera"
and not something less worthy
but
then
so what?
what is the worth of categorical prestige?
Yer Blues - The Beatles [from The Beatles (The White Album)]
owns it
excellent guitar work back there
interesting fade ending
to pull the vocal out
to just a ghost of itself
and then
fade the residue
Car Wash - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
shit job witness
a bit of a generic tune
sketch for an idea
Tuba Polka - The Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
the tuba is indeed a nimble instrument
as any tuba player will tell you
at length
but
the lower notes
played at too great a
nimblocity
tend to lose a pitch that speaks
there are not enough
vibrations to register
Previn-Look at Him Go - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
in jazz combo mode
cute
We've Only Just Begun - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
for those who were sentimental
about the days of musical interludes in
movies
Brown Eyes - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
rounds her mouth around her diphthongs
Shed a Tear Every Day - Your Mother Should Know [from Demo Album]
the purpose of this album
was to prove the concept and technique
a
rehearsal for recording an album
not to get the balance right
at this distance
the balance is way off
but considering I was
learning as I was going
I was happy I managed to make it work at all
Stars and Soulmates - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
sweetly wide eyed
Anthem - Rude Tuna [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
with a horn section
along with guitar bass and drums
introduces
everybody Wyld Stallyns style
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Puttin' On The Ritz - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
threes in fours
patterns measured against a common yardstick
Mudride - Mudhoney [from Superfuzz Bigmuff]
keeping close to the ground
refinement kept away
Sister Kate [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends 3]
avoid touching anything unclean
family friendly
I Can See Clearly Now - Kathi & Andi [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
solid intonation on the vocals
Sweet Dreams - Beyoncé [from I Am ... Sasha Fierce]
each line follows a similarly bounded descent of four items
or is
measured against same
All I Want Is You for Christmas - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Smokey's Jugband Country Christmas]
simply said
fancily strummed
Best of Me - Christina Aguilera [from Lotus]
anthem of world defiance
Diabelli Recomposed (end) - Various [streamed May 1, 2023]
48
with crossed hands
49
as performed by a clock shop
50
excitable and jittery
51
barely holding it together
writhing to free itself
52
like an unwilling cat
53
stomping on it firmly
53
back to the top we go
Goldbergishly
54
clown coda
back into the little car
This Is My Story, This Is My Song - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
from the hymnbook
how it goes
Rebonds A - Iannis Xenakis - ST-X Ensemble, Charles Zachary Bornstein
perturbated loops morph midstream
more to fascinate than to amaze
using skill to produce an episode
rather than
to display
itself
playing the rhetoric of completion signaling
Eleanora Buonpano-Italy [from The World Sings Goodnight]
a very quiet hurdy gurdy accompaniment
should be bigger in the mix
Cello Set 3 - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
a particular mode of going
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Water Vapor - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
rates at which words go by
shift from quick to slow
hilly terrain
up and down
pedal and coast
Too Close - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]
poem in charge
music follows along
Bad News - Choke The Pope [from Who Cares]
plodding complaint
People Come Out of Your Shell - Bettye Crutcher [from Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
music alive to dance roots
the poem arises from a moving body
In Days To Come - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [December 1968]
prophesizing in severe tones
The Virginal Book - Milton Babbitt - Nina Berman, Steve Beck
knot of notes
Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam [from Rearviewmirror]
solid armored wall
shows minimal modulation of surface
to
intimidate
Crusader General John Ashcroft - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
deeper than long
Funeral for a Victim of Zeus - Gabby - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
static cycle
The 100th Time - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]
slow dancing words
Track 11 [from Unknown Christmas Album]
this reeks of sheet music publishing house
Circus - Bruce Huber
murky backwaters
sudden clowns
screeching queasies
juggler
of dubious virtue
Bravo Xerife Bonzo - Camarones Orquestra Guitarrística [from O Curioso Caso da Música Invisível]
patterns of articulation
accompaniments without melody as such
song without song
You're a Shooting Star, I'm a Sinking Ship - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star, I'm a Sinking Ship]
crashing waves wash the last stanza from the next
One: Sixtext - Benjamin Boretz [from Open Space 2]
blocks of thoughts
calving thoughts
active partitions
chorale to the night
Frequency - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
human voice in a machined music
once set going nothing new will be
revealed
On My Mind - Slothrust [from The Pact]
articulating each word carefully
downspeak at lines' ends
{see doodle]
Seadrift - Hope Wechkin [from Leans Towards The Fiddler]
describes a wooden house for birds (briefly)
Birdsong Fantasia - participants [from Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions 2018]
piano and violin
thicket song
bird bramble
August 19, 2026
Art is Either a Compliment or do Something Else, Introduction - John Cage - John Cage
other statements are produced
Mudshark Galore - Bad Cop, Bad Cop [from Wings of Techno]
in Seattle's early days as a timber town
mudsharks were so plentiful
in the waters of Elliott Bay
that the grease obtained from their
carcasses
was used to lubricate the skids
upon which lumber was
dragged
imagine how that must have smelled
You're Not Him - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]
among the 50 ways not previously explicated
Misery Over Dispute - Waxahatchee [from Cerulean Salt]
second verse extended
song ends suddenly
where a chorus would go
Castaway With You - Denise Glover [from Gaps In The Stories]
epistle to a found partner
being chosen
You're Going Down With Me - Red Ribbon [recorded live at The Comet Tavern, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
through thick
no thin
Exercise #10 - Blazzed [from Blazzed]
modified instructions on a loop
Los Marineros - Dead Bars [recorded live at The Comet Tavern, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
home run while away
ever hopeful
I Will Go - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
deployment treadmill
doesn't need the postproduction frill
weakens
the impact
Let Everything Fall on November - Canals of Venice [recorded live at The Comet Tavern, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
in a social situation
wherein a performance takes place
among
multiple conversations
learning to perservere
while being partly
ignored
side show
The Magpie's Shadow - Peter Nelson-King [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, November 17, 2022]
short moments of sharp focus
specific targets
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
a portrait sympathetic
Morning Stroll - Patrick O'Keefe - Thornton Creek Clarinet Quartet [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, January 5, 2018]
poking along comfortably
no hurry no worry
pause to enjoy a
flowery bush
busy with bees
discussion of versions and clarinet types
Bleeding Blue - The Swearengens [from Waiting On The Sunrise]
irregular and broad
One Mo' Gen - Mariah Carey [from Caution]
pillow plea
mo' sex please
The Oak Wood - Lori Goldston [from Film Scores]
undulating resonance drone
Tetractys - Sounds of Late - Count Constantin Pârvulescu [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
bass and muted trumpet
unfussy
cooperative
that sure sounds like Mr. Knodle on the horn
My Dearest, My Darling - No Man's String Band [from Let The Truth Be Told]
epistle to an absent loved one
At The Quiet Limit - Jacob Meshak - Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
guitar and free reed share pitches
The First Song - Peterman [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
spirited
two tempo senses
two modes of vocal delivery
Threnody - Jim Knodle - Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
bowed open string floor
viola?
must be
that open string is a
C
arpeggiated pizzicato alternates with melodic bowing
Mary - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]
hymn
When I Fall - Blair Ziegenhagel - Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
bass and flute
fluttering boxed wings
fitful dream
fruitless
attempts at release
breathing quick and shallow
some talk
as
to a cute animal
then
much more freedom of motion
sudden
alarm
slither away
Bonus Track-Sabotage - Chaotic Noise Marching Corps [from Smashed at Smash Putt]
positive obnoxiousity
a clown type
persona projection
Minuet in a Minute - JD Davis, Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
guitar and clarinet
hardly time to sit down
Giant (Vagina) - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]
music as a vehicle for attracting notice
April Showers - Noel Kennon - Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
I'm guessing this would be bass and viola and flute
still shot of street
scenes
perhaps also a violin
heavy vehicles spatter puddled
streets
shot in black and white
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Dragon Chaser I - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]
when I was an undergraduate
I asked myself what it was
about a
development section
that differentiated it
from an exposition
that is
what was development about it?
of course
in the music for which the question might have been relevant
Mozart for instance
it was all development
beginning
to end
in this music the question wouldn't arise
Lullaby - Timothy O'Brien - Sounds of Late [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
violin and viola
development is quite relevant here thank you
answer?
it is what the music thinks
in its own terms
Pangkur - B'Shonorkestra [from Go To Orange]
and also here
in a groove adjacent mindset
the harmony
is about how it shifts
rather than indicating a
location within a stanza shape
the melodic material flows with the poem
As I Sit Here With My Trendy Tea Beverage - Spencer Arias [recorded live at Gallery 1412, Seattle, April 16, 2018]
a scribbly sensibility takes shape on the bass
Death Will Call Your Name - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]
the parts come together and stay put
accumulation is a ground level mode
of development
How Can I Keep From Singing - Chris Vincent - University Temple Chancel Choir, Chris Vincent [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, June 3, 2018]
gosh we sounded pretty darned good
quite an attractively composed
arrangement
Everything You Know - Star Anna [from Go To Hell]
in the blues
all motion is toward the payoff line at the end of each
stanza
the development
is in how that motion holds back
He'll Make a Way - Byron J. Smith - University Temple Chancel Choir, Chris Vincent, Howard Wolvington [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, June 3, 2018]
this arrangement is a bit of a mess to be honest
trash-jazz
Morning Coffee - Cumulus [from I Never Meant It To Be Like This]
two chord vamp tune
sticks to four or five notes
the occasional
stray above or below signifies accentuation
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| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
how it all fits in the enforced fours
no motion only pressure
continually applied
Glare of the Sun - Swearin' [from Surfing Strange]
a clear shape forms
a boundary is crossed
and we are in a
differently shaped stanza
back to the opening forming
Banana O'Clock - Bread & Butter
hook-based song writing
open with the title
repeat it at every
opportunity
Fan Appreciation Song - Swingset Showdown [from Cymbal of Appreciation]
sounding like a forced thank you
Forest Show (beginning) - John Teske, Neil Welch, Greg Campbell [recorded live at Ravenna Park, Seattle, August 4, 2018]
I began the recording
when we left our house
perhaps I'll know for
sure
when the sound of the highway becomes obvious
but I may have
waited until we got closer to Ravenna Park
now I'm pretty sure we were
closer when we started
since car sounds are fewer by far
than the
highway would produce
there I am punching a crosswalk button
likely at 65th
long discussion concerning low-use elevator
maintenance
it might have been 75th
it seems like more walking
than there would have been from 65th
now there's quite a lot of
traffic noise
which might be finally 65th
or crossing 15th
if this is the show with the tiny bells
{it was}
which is
quite likely
either way
we must be nearing the start of the show
which
when we arrive
will be a good place to take a break
White Dwarf - Ancient Warlocks [from Ancient Warlocks]
we do not develop sound
we assert it
work the parts of its beat
bed
sword forging heat
Celebration of the Life of Carl Richard Eisenbrey (beginning) [recorded live at Langley United Methodist Church, Seattle, August 26, 2018]
the opening music as we gather
then Rev. Boyd's opening prayer and
remarks
we stand and sing Love Divine
If You Look Too Close - Greg Sinibaldi, Jesse Canterbury [from Ascendant]
into a reverberating space
moments linger and sweeten
New Jerusalem - University Temple Chancel Choir, Chris Vincent [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, September 30, 2018]
shape note arrangement
spirited
Variations - Aaron Keyt - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded July 8 and 9, 2026]
I had had the score of these lovely pieces on my piano
since shortly
after they were completed in 2013
and had worked on them several times
but they kept getting set aside for other projects
I finally
decided this year
to learn them come what may
and finally managed
to record them last month
they share a certain obsession with E-flat
 |
| Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee, WA |
Tarantino Etudes - Nicole Lizée - Leanna Keith
only guessing here
pre-recorded sounds from the film literature
perhaps other sounds
with flute
completion and foil
violence and extremity on echoing loops
contrast between wholesome and gruesome
(somes, whole and grue)
A Response to the Wednesday Morning Shooting at Café Racer Track 1 - Neil Welch
what might serve as a working notion
of what musical development is?
use and re-use of musical material
(pitch and time and timbre
figures)
in ways that deepen the inter-referential suchness of an
utterance
in this case
every nuance of tone-size tells
Lil Coop - Monktail Collective
we all
each of us
have a range of acceptability
as to the
pace and complexity of development
as considered above
on both
ends of each spectrum
and
a range of acceptable types of things
that can be considered as valid musical material
and
there are
many modes of working with such material
that fit with how our earminds
work
and how our skills have developed
much of the purpose of
listening to a wide variety of musics
is to expand our earminds on all
fronts that yield desirable results
and to understand what aspects of
whatever musics might be coming at us
that hinder or assist in that
endeavor
this music moves riparianly
sometimes quiet
sometimes in swift
white water
Two Piano Pieces: Overtone Scale; P=I/R^2 - Carson Farley - GraceAnn Cummings [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 5, 2013]
each piece features a firm distinction
between left hand figures and
right hand figures
Puppet Pieces - Kam Morrill - Nobuko Hasegawa [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 5, 2013]
I was hosting this Seattle Composers' Salon
and was so taken by these
little pieces
that I begged a score and worked them up myself several
years ago
they are wonderfully pianistic and respond well to sensitive touch
In Session at The Tintinabulary
August 16, 2026
Silver Street - Keith Eisenbrey
August 17, 2026
Gradus 435 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
bunches
and singles bunched across time
gradual ascension
dragging bunches up pitch mountain
taking in the view midway
what lies above
supported by what lies below
ledges toward
the summit are narrow
exposed
footing delicate
rarefied and
clear
we rock from harmony to harmony
descending
patterned
moving
mostly sticking to the middle portion of the keyboard
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 34: 2024-2026 Arrangements of Shape Note Tunes (Part 2: Common Meter)
Hymnals find me. For decades I had been wondering how I might make use of all those notes. In July of 2023 I decided that each Sunday morning I would make short piano arrangements of each tune in the oldest hymnal on my shelf, The Christian Minstrel, from 1846, which arranges them metrically. Since mid-2024 I have been working through the "Common Meter" (86.86) tunes, and am happy to share them with you now. Part of my discipline is to spend no more than an hour or two on each one, from first transcription of the tune to finished recording. When I got to the 100th tune in the book I amused myself by writing its arrangement with exactly 100 notes.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream.
