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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
"Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea; but only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the ocean grew still more smooth; seemed drawing a carpet over its waves; seemed a moon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the breathless hunter came so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzling hump was distinctly visible, sliding along the sea as if an isolated thing, and continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy, greenish foam. He saw the vast, involved wrinkles of this slightly projecting head beyond. Before it, far out on the soft Turkish-rugged waters, went the glistening white shadow from his broad, milky forehead, a musical rippling playfully accompanying the shade; and behind, the blue waters interchangeably flowed over into the moving valley of his steady wake; and on either hand bright bubbles arose and danced by his side. But these were broken again by the light toes of hundreds of gay fowl softly feathering the sea, alternate with their fitful flight; and like to some flag-staff rising from the painted hull of an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance projected from the white whale's back; and at intervals one of the cloud of soft-toed fowls hovering, and to and fro skimming like a canopy over the fish, silently perched and rocked on this pole, the long tail feathers streaming like pennons."
Herman Melville, from Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale.
Texts
Live
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Seattle Modern Orchestra: Entangled Sounds
with Donna Shin (flute) and Aaron Wonson (piano)
Julia Tai, Conductor
Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle
tearing down a forest to build a dog bar - Oliver Schoonover
slow slither
stealth music
not an illustration of the texts that are read
but
its
environments
their enveloping atmosphere
Musica fict(iv)a, for wind quintet - Joël-François Durand
announcing bursts
squeezing through tight tonal crevices
the new normal - William Dougherty
through massive interference
the spheres still turn
redaction scratches
La Liorana, for flute and ensemble - Huck Hodge
splash
then
filling in
filling up
tidal
out
as in
Piano Concerto - György Ligeti
the piano can
on its own
imitate an orchestra
quite
effectively
but
when confronted
with an actual ensemble
that power
vanishes
not
because it is inadequate
but
because of the scale of detail involved
an atmosphere
can dissipate
or drift off
or be swept away
Recorded
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Paragon Rag - Scott Joplin - E. Power Biggs
Mr. Biggs plays these on a pedal harpsichord
which
as instruments
go
is quite the contraption
it has the capability
of a variety of sounds
and volumes
depending on how many strings
are plucked
per note
which capability
he uses
to play repetitions off each
other
and
since rags are structured
as a series of repeating
figures/phrases
that technique
is quite effective
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
dream of escape from Loserville
pleasantly subdued for a change
Baby Fall Down - T Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]
four syllables
repeated at various pitch planes
three accented
one un
Get Off The Bandwagon - EPMD [from Strictly Business]
territorial assertion
Tsahay Hailu - Ethiopia [from The World Sings Goodnight]
each line
ends on a rising pitch
except the last of a group
to articulate
completion of statement
Jewels in the Crown - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
with such procedures
music articulates its parts
in imitation of
rhyme schemes
and metrical regularity
sophistication
becomes a game
of adding layers
of
interlocking patternings
Darkness of Estrangement - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]
but
is it those patternings
of sounds
that distinguish music
from the general run of human expression?
sandwich structure
ABA
He'll Come Back For You - The True Bugs
encouraging
in the face
of subjunctive disasters
Steady - Crosstalk [from Here Now]
Ken Benshoof imaged returning articulations
as a signal
of going
back to the start
to do it again
or to do it again
but
different
so that
segments can be compared
vertically
as it were
across sequential time spans
creates columns of
times
in ordered rows of times
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Spider Man - S. Eric Scribner, and others [from Free Improv Quartets Project]
in cases such as this
in which it might be fuzzy
to distinguish a
performed sound
and an accidental sound
but
in which
intention
is firmly imputed
might the music
leak out
from accident
only waiting for us
to attend it
our
intent
draws music out
from accident
it's the spider man
session
The Umbrella Escapes - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Many Voices In Our Heads]
and strums dreamily down the street
can the activity
by which this sound arrives in my living room
be
conceived
as a music making activity
this umbrella has thrill issues
Sonata in A Major, Kk. 320 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
this music is lively dinner party banter
the segments
are dizzyingly
dissimilarly
sized
La Muette de Portici, Act 3 - Daniel-François-Esprit Auber - Dessau Anhalt Theater Chorus, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Antony Hermus, Diego Torre, Oscar De La Torre, Angelina Ruzzafante, Wiard Witholt
the act
in which
the match of revolt
is lit
a story told in song and sound
in which
a major character
has no voice
the chorus is revolting!
(tee hee)
actually
this hymn they sing
is lovely
worth the price of admission
all on its own
Novelletten, Op. 21: No. 3 in D Major - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
spiders play games in the crawlspace
telling us spooky stories
through
the floorboards
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
we drift on the magic river
the old god of the land
peaceful and
beneficent
happy sparkle dust o'er all
Sonata in F, Op. 68 (#9) - Alexander Scriabin - John Ogdon
the four note figure that opens
never goes away
though it may hide
or transform
it permeates
If The Light Has Gone Out In Your Soul - Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers [from Really The Blues]
solid eight bar stanzas
Wun'erful Wun'erful (side-uh-two) - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
stop the show
to pop the cheek
so many bubbles
I Let a Song Get Out of My Heart - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of The Verve Song Book]
this recording
is lovingly engineered
a violin appears out of nowhere
These Foolish Things - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
each measure is a unique dance
The Hexamshire Lass - Fairport Convention [from Meet On The Ledge]
a toast to his favorite
a boast of his favorite
Holiday - Madonna [from Madonna]
party
flashing lights
a commercial
to dance to
Word to The Mother (Land) - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]
altar call
They Don't Care - Fastbacks [from Zucker]
drummed in
pounded out
The Woman - Aretha Franklin [from A Rose Is Still A Rose]
the engineering is fabulous
the production is over the top
but
that's just to keep up with Aretha
end of set spectacular
Peel Me A Grape - Karin Blaine [from Dirty Money]
an album
is a memento
of what was happening
at a time
and or
a demonstration
of mood creation skills
Through the Doorways of Escape Come the Footsteps of Capture - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]
film cue type title
we sneak through the thousand windings
confidence gains within us
the further into escape
the more
possible
success may be
hunker down
to cross the open galleries
tarry not
getting
rather cocky here
careful of that last gate
guarded by the giant
kalimba
and bowed bass
River Rats and Pipelines - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]
an opinion is imparted
less as a fact
than as an attitude
or
as a summation
Gold Star For Robot Boy (Guided by Voices) - Dead Bars [from Red Car Burns split with Dead Bars]
brevity soul of wit
And Let This Feeble Body Fail - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded January 2, 2024]
my cleverness:
two stanzas the same
third slightly elevated
fourth back to the beginning
plus
the music
is almost
entirely in the Dominant
until the last cadence
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Hard Hustling Blues - Bernice Edwards [from Really The Blues]
heavy
load
on
every
beat
Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison [from For The Lonely]
Christmas
is the time for moralisms
I'll Get You (live 10/16/1963) - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]
a collective need
among a certain population
to shriek
in
large numbers
Sweet and Lovely - Thelonious Monk [form The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
recomposing
to freshen up
a familiar face
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Nancy's Mix
was where
mostly
I learned
what my
immediate peers
outside of music school
were listening to
their attractive baubles
Margarita - Traveling Wilburys [from Traveling Wilburys]
this bauble
has a machined surface
for guitars to slide on
spat lines
extended lines
handwriting distinctions
Looking For Lester - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]
a beat bed
is spread
trumpet shows us around
guitar takes a turn
then sax
big band dance floor
I Bow Out - Whitney Houston [from My Love Is Your Love]
condition described
in verse
determination of that condition
made
in the chorus
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Close as I'll Get to Heaven - Bettye LaVette [from A Woman Like Me]
song creates a character
the persona of the singer
which might be
identified
as the person
of the poem's voice
but might not
or
might be
in the region
between that song-persona
and that poem-voice
a Blues singer
such as Ms. LaVette
certainly lends itself
to a full identification
as an aesthetic image
which is a
separate category
entirely
from any sort of thing
as a
biographical fact might be
Tell Me Why - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]
for a singer such as Ms. Swift
there is the added factor
of the
person
of her public image
the dance acts
the photo shoots
the reportage in general
generated by the pop-star production
industry
her marketable portion
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
this music
is a widget
assembled from widgets
twiddles dials
to a machinery pulse
directing
as much as playing
the person has been disappeared
one pulsed thing after another
Hell Is Real - Black Dresses [from Hell Is Real]
at the pitch of outrage
the voice is a costume
of outrage
identification incomplete
or
not quite believable
Totem 27 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem VI]
a music that isn't a song
as such
might create a character
of its perpetrator
as well as
a separate character
which is
its musical image
its definitive feel
On My Way to Heaven - Blind Roger Hays [from Goodbye, Babylon]
this poem
being a question and answer
has the voice of the
question
and the voice of the answer
to answer for
A Foggy Day - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
a singer such as Ms. Vaughan
performs the role of the singer of the song
they are an actor
and create a stage around them
Death of an Angel - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]
titillation of the macabre
This Kind of Music - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]
celebration
of a local scene
Prelude and Fugue on the name BACH - The Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
it sure is
Man Size - PJ Harvey [from Rid of Me]
the different parts of a song
have differing sets of persons created
that's how they are parts
and not impersonally selected partitions
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
size of sound
vehemence of warning
I presume
it's a drug
she's warning about
Track 10 - Eckstein Middle School Students [from Mach 6]
grand and stately
a right and proper celebration
Words (Interlude)/Never Letchu Go - Janet Jackson [from Discipline]
the industry has a voice of its own
with which all the others contend
Artifacts2 - Andrew Young [from Inkplaces]
a collection of ambient sounds
and a thin feedback tone
and honks
Signal Residue - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]
sudden burbles
break into
our space walk awareness
Cabot - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded November 19, 2023]
sharing parts of motion
among the voices
Poor Boy Blues - Ramblin' Thomas [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
these earliest recordings
pick up the residue of past musics
this
is what we sounded like
I Had a Dream - Ray Charles [from Yes, Indeed!]
suspicion of jealousy provoking behavior
not a good look
The Pirate of Penance - Joni Mitchell [from Song to a Seagull]
in shanty lighting key
sea or hovel
dialog poem
acted out
in overdub
Ripeness - Echo and The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]
on the witness stand
the voices in ones head
thrashdance
driving pulse
barely decidable
between one and two
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
the harmonies
of careful rules
flatter
our sense
of
understanding
of the cosmos
Carnival Grotesque - Black Cat Orchestra [from Dante's Inferno Live Score]
funhouse exhibit
Weimar Dada
Strong, Strong Wind - Heart [from Greatest Hits]
reaffirmation of a faith
anthemizing the force required
to break
it
Heat - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or Die Tryin']
gun and power boast
Only Dreamin' - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
penny whistle!
with old-country chords
the suspect sonorities
of the Scotch-Irish diaspora
as airbrushed
to industry
standards
Nero - Peter Fedofsky [from False Ties and Nice Hoods]
if a song's text
describes a second person
it presumes a first
Hiding - Anxious Arms [from Feeler]
we can fill your bar with sound
to pull some in
and push some
out
any draw
can be a push
do we have the correct charge
to properly populate
your beer bar?
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| Golden Gardens Park, Seattle |
Whitmanesque population list
all the people you'll see
tour guide
Sister Maude Mule - Mississippi Shieks [from That Devilin' Tune]
legendary stubbornness
colonel pronounced
almost
as koan-ell
Can't - Norman Monath [from Songs of The Pogo]
Orville and Wilbur
and the Egg
that says
can't
called
Canterbury
that's who
a lefthanded song
Steal Away - Etta James [from Tell Mama]
imperative lust
plea
forbidden fruit
In Session at The Tintinabulary
April 5, 2026
Douglass - Keith Eisenbrey
April 6, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1148 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 31: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 2) 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 second bunch of them.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
