Preface
A voice was heard, coming from where, he knew not,
but he could hear it saying: "Why, O Cadmus,
Stare at the serpent slain? You also, some day,
Will be a serpent for mortal men to stare at."
- Ovid "Metamorphoses" (translated by Rolfe Humphries)
Texts
Recorded
 |
| Ravenna Park, Seattle |
Sonata in G minor, K. 108 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
Just how close are those closely related keys? Etched so clearly they seem more clearly distant.
contrapuntaled key parts
Sara (Live 1982) (Remastered) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
So: If the referenced story or milieu is irretrievable from this text residue, as such, what parts of it might not be? Perhaps only or as much as the gap between what of the story or milieu can be told to any others, or by any others. The shift of points of view from line to line is the heart of it.
Johnny 99 - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985]
I'd love to hear someone like Braxton take a run at that opening harp Schrei. Once again, the room is too big for the lyrical thrust of the song. He has to shout.
Gradus 201 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
 |
| Ravenna Park, Seattle |
It (can) witness(es) us back to us. mirror by which we hear our face, or see our voice.
Different pedaling provides multiple splash patterns for sympathetic reverberings.
sounds awaken wires
sound wakes wires
SOUNDS WAKE WIRES!
echolocation of the soul, man
groovy
::{{dis-alliteration: gradually removing alliteration to reveal the residuals, the outliers}} thus: graduy removing aiteraion to revea the residuas; gaduy emoving aiteraion to revea the residuas; gaduy emoving aiteaion to evea the esiduas; gaduy emoing aiteaion to eea the esiduas; gadu moing aiteaion to ea the siduas; gau moing aiteaion to ea the siuas; gau moing aiteaion to ea the iua; etc.
::
Purple Berries - Low Hums [from Shine Rock]
absent tracks are allowed to bleed
melodic construction (by the quatrain) straight and clear
Sonata in A minor, K. 109 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
How much of the key do we glimpse at once?
Reading: Luke II 20-21 - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
were there now
abiding you say
An Experiment in Reading (Beckett) - Jill Borner, Benjamin Boretz, Charles Stein [from Open Space 3]
Jill's speaking voice is sparing of the hard "t"
a remarkable set of vowels and rhythm of reading
the words of at least one speaking reader seem to affect the pattern of the others' patterned appearance
an image like any other
March 29, 2020
For When I Go - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs [from Alone In This Together]
anguish as fuel
to lift anguish to voice
no slack
Gradus 299 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 2016]
The two rungs are distinguished from each other only by the inclusion of a C-sharp in the second that isn't in the first. The size of the collections is large enough that the single distinguishing feature could be regarded as ineffective, unless you knew to listen for it.
However, Neal usually makes a compositional decision to also distinguish co-sessional rungs by a shift in performance approach. What might the motivation for that thumb on the scale be?
This music speaks piano. It does not imitate. It clears a space for itself, a wide open space.
Sonata in A minor, K. 110 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
The ornaments are anything but ornamental. They are tools to pattern with. Put pin here.
How Still My Love (Live 1982) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
Word play (on "still" - used two ways) to hook.
Wraps the line up in a cocoon. The rest of it is a conversation cloud around the hook.
Reason to Believe - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985]
A well written song, even for Bruce, who is no slouch most of the time. the tune and delivery isn't so far lifted from conversational description - just lifted enough.
Banned Rehearsal 804 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
A procession with instruments
into a chamber
like a toybox
more to process with
calling to
within the chamber
each gesture
has ceremonial intent
We have learned to play the rattle.
seed shaker and tinkly bells
new sounds new phase
cowbell takes an extended solo
bell canto
leads to the misty pool
so we shift gears
get in the boat
preset intros
out us
sunda - Paul Kikuchi - Paul Kikuchi, percussion; Taina Karr, oboe and english horn; Ivan Arteaga, clarinet; Greg Sinibaldi, bass clarinet; Natalie Mai Hall, cello; John Teske, contrabass [from Autonomic]
overtly ceremonial
no troop of misfits these!
poeticized minimalism
made lyrical
Sonata in G minor, K. 111 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
oh the hang
of the beat three!
oh!
syncopation owned
This Man is Mine - Heart [from Greatest Hits]
Well, those vowels sure are.
Ungaresca - - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
on recorder
with fancy fancies
and odd tuning
Monster - Tyrannosaurus Grace [from E.P. 1]
This song is clear in how it wants to sound. The combined gender vocals are killer.
Banned Rehearsal 920 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 2016]
We start off where we left off
→→→→excelsior!←←←←
breathing
imagine that(!)
pitched thumps thumping
impact-rhythm-farben-melodien
→→→→Impakrytmusfarbenmelodeon←←←←
meddlodeon
each corner of the room has its voice, its aural face
wholly fine in how each successive moment clarifies the past
exquisite pp percussion bit
pitch returns
to our world
the Pythagorean authority of a pitched wire
returns to our world
March 30, 2020
Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 112 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
stumping the GPS
loves square corners
Edge of Seventeen (Live 1982) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
propelled past all by the motor
it spills over the 4X4
Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985]
It isn't like he goes to great trouble to make himself understood. He starts nowhere and goes back to it in some sort of triumph, I guess.
April 1, 2020
Gradus 202 (Rung 1) Live at the Chapel - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
For his live presentations Neal performs three rungs spread out over two hours. The ratio of time spent on each rung is 40/60/20. Usually one of the rungs exhibits a single pitch for its entirety. Sometimes that's the 60 minute rung. He generally inserts a lengthy silent bit in each rung, proportioned (I think) to that rung's duration. Here, the first rung is 40 minutes, and has three pitches, all A-nats: one high-mid, one low-mid, one quite-high.
The chapel has things to say.
More later.
Crapitol Hill - Choke The Pope [from Emotional Material]
local flavor place name dropping with sophomoric attitude in prominent display. Not profound.
Jim Squared - James Kelly, J.K. Randall [from Inter/Play]
If what we do in this moment adequately composes this moment, then what do we care else of deeper structure? Closely following its own impatience with stagnation, it shifts on its haunches and plays with the woowoosterious, steps back to take in a lovely thought. Our fingers fiddle jointly. It stops mattering who who is, though we know who who is. (Or what is.) When two are four. Ears when followed lead deeper. Unknown where we are. Light a candle. Look around. It was growing into a dynamic harmony blob that might be an other self. Enter without thought of a prior substrate.
The End of September - Larry Solomon
We are in control of these pulses. We have all agreed not to move. Do not let go. Though the ground will.
Track 1 - High Class Wreckage [Live at the Funhouse, July 2011]
From which (HCW) Neal got his loud DeVille amplifier. Beer spewers of yore. So long ago. This was, or so I hear, their last good {epic, totally} show - the last one in which the guitarist wasn't so wasted as to fail. Too fancy to be punk. Flipoff Metal? Jalopy racing.
April 2, 2020
Penny for My Thoughts - Robber's Roost [from Swallow Your Fears]
hardened data bits
under pressure
Rhiannon (live 1982) (Remastered) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
grieve out dancing
at one point actual grief intrudes upon the proceedings
||:: an aesthetic issue with direct emotional expression. It shows up the inadequacy of the means by which emotion is expressed in aesthetic discourse, or it undercuts that discourse's strength of expression? even money, I suppose ::||
Nouvelles, Nouvelles - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
Reconstructed practice. We guess at it. Plausibility rather than authenticity is the best we can do.
Gradus 202 (Rung 2) Live at the Chapel - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
Rung 2 (60 minutes) is a very low A-nat, one instance of which is enough to suffice as to the greater score. Ring the rung for all it's worth. While listening to this live I became obsessed with the endings of tones. Beginnings can be big or little. Endings can be many things, or it might be supplanted, made never was, by a new beginning of the same tone.
Knells.
encounters it flame on both persuading
love holy execution stem from god
hence the soul thinks time this shoots up delight
melodic construction (by the quatrain) straight and clear
Sonata in A minor, K. 109 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
How much of the key do we glimpse at once?
Reading: Luke II 20-21 - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
were there now
abiding you say
An Experiment in Reading (Beckett) - Jill Borner, Benjamin Boretz, Charles Stein [from Open Space 3]
 |
| Ravenna Park, Seattle |
a remarkable set of vowels and rhythm of reading
the words of at least one speaking reader seem to affect the pattern of the others' patterned appearance
an image like any other
March 29, 2020
For When I Go - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs [from Alone In This Together]
anguish as fuel
to lift anguish to voice
no slack
Gradus 299 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 2016]
The two rungs are distinguished from each other only by the inclusion of a C-sharp in the second that isn't in the first. The size of the collections is large enough that the single distinguishing feature could be regarded as ineffective, unless you knew to listen for it.
However, Neal usually makes a compositional decision to also distinguish co-sessional rungs by a shift in performance approach. What might the motivation for that thumb on the scale be?
This music speaks piano. It does not imitate. It clears a space for itself, a wide open space.
Sonata in A minor, K. 110 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
 |
| Ravenna Park, Seattle |
How Still My Love (Live 1982) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
Word play (on "still" - used two ways) to hook.
Wraps the line up in a cocoon. The rest of it is a conversation cloud around the hook.
Reason to Believe - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985]
A well written song, even for Bruce, who is no slouch most of the time. the tune and delivery isn't so far lifted from conversational description - just lifted enough.
Banned Rehearsal 804 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
A procession with instruments
into a chamber
like a toybox
more to process with
calling to
within the chamber
each gesture
has ceremonial intent
We have learned to play the rattle.
seed shaker and tinkly bells
new sounds new phase
cowbell takes an extended solo
bell canto
leads to the misty pool
so we shift gears
get in the boat
preset intros
out us
sunda - Paul Kikuchi - Paul Kikuchi, percussion; Taina Karr, oboe and english horn; Ivan Arteaga, clarinet; Greg Sinibaldi, bass clarinet; Natalie Mai Hall, cello; John Teske, contrabass [from Autonomic]
 |
| Skunk Cabbage, Ravenna Park, Seattle |
no troop of misfits these!
poeticized minimalism
made lyrical
Sonata in G minor, K. 111 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
oh the hang
of the beat three!
oh!
syncopation owned
This Man is Mine - Heart [from Greatest Hits]
Well, those vowels sure are.
Ungaresca - - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
on recorder
with fancy fancies
and odd tuning
Monster - Tyrannosaurus Grace [from E.P. 1]
This song is clear in how it wants to sound. The combined gender vocals are killer.
Banned Rehearsal 920 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 2016]
We start off where we left off
→→→→excelsior!←←←←
breathing
imagine that(!)
pitched thumps thumping
impact-rhythm-farben-melodien
→→→→Impakrytmusfarbenmelodeon←←←←
meddlodeon
each corner of the room has its voice, its aural face
wholly fine in how each successive moment clarifies the past
exquisite pp percussion bit
pitch returns
to our world
the Pythagorean authority of a pitched wire
returns to our world
March 30, 2020
Sonata in B-flat Major, K. 112 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
loves square corners
Edge of Seventeen (Live 1982) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
propelled past all by the motor
it spills over the 4X4
Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen [from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985]
It isn't like he goes to great trouble to make himself understood. He starts nowhere and goes back to it in some sort of triumph, I guess.
April 1, 2020
Gradus 202 (Rung 1) Live at the Chapel - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
For his live presentations Neal performs three rungs spread out over two hours. The ratio of time spent on each rung is 40/60/20. Usually one of the rungs exhibits a single pitch for its entirety. Sometimes that's the 60 minute rung. He generally inserts a lengthy silent bit in each rung, proportioned (I think) to that rung's duration. Here, the first rung is 40 minutes, and has three pitches, all A-nats: one high-mid, one low-mid, one quite-high.
The chapel has things to say.
More later.
Crapitol Hill - Choke The Pope [from Emotional Material]
local flavor place name dropping with sophomoric attitude in prominent display. Not profound.
Jim Squared - James Kelly, J.K. Randall [from Inter/Play]
If what we do in this moment adequately composes this moment, then what do we care else of deeper structure? Closely following its own impatience with stagnation, it shifts on its haunches and plays with the woowoosterious, steps back to take in a lovely thought. Our fingers fiddle jointly. It stops mattering who who is, though we know who who is. (Or what is.) When two are four. Ears when followed lead deeper. Unknown where we are. Light a candle. Look around. It was growing into a dynamic harmony blob that might be an other self. Enter without thought of a prior substrate.
The End of September - Larry Solomon
We are in control of these pulses. We have all agreed not to move. Do not let go. Though the ground will.
Track 1 - High Class Wreckage [Live at the Funhouse, July 2011]
From which (HCW) Neal got his loud DeVille amplifier. Beer spewers of yore. So long ago. This was, or so I hear, their last good {epic, totally} show - the last one in which the guitarist wasn't so wasted as to fail. Too fancy to be punk. Flipoff Metal? Jalopy racing.
April 2, 2020
Penny for My Thoughts - Robber's Roost [from Swallow Your Fears]
hardened data bits
under pressure
Rhiannon (live 1982) (Remastered) - Stevie Nicks [from Bella Donna]
 |
| Maple Leaf, Seattle |
at one point actual grief intrudes upon the proceedings
||:: an aesthetic issue with direct emotional expression. It shows up the inadequacy of the means by which emotion is expressed in aesthetic discourse, or it undercuts that discourse's strength of expression? even money, I suppose ::||
Nouvelles, Nouvelles - Boston Camerata [from A Renaissance Christmas]
Gradus 202 (Rung 2) Live at the Chapel - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 2011]
Rung 2 (60 minutes) is a very low A-nat, one instance of which is enough to suffice as to the greater score. Ring the rung for all it's worth. While listening to this live I became obsessed with the endings of tones. Beginnings can be big or little. Endings can be many things, or it might be supplanted, made never was, by a new beginning of the same tone.
Knells.
Postscripts
encounters it flame on both persuading
love holy execution stem from god
hence the soul thinks time this shoots up delight
a such beetle like thing
spins the blades
of Jack the Ripper
