"Conventional wisdom teaches you what to experience when you experience your own experience, teaches you what to say you are experiencing, teaches you to believe you are experiencing what you say you are experiencing. It doesn't just teach you what distinctions to make, it defines and circumscribes the limits of what distinctions are and can be made, and what value to place on which side of each distinction. Obviously, creating the cultural level of consciousness not so much to align all the chaotically disparate natural consciousnesses of people as to supersede them, using them as the originating engines of undefined experiential energies which are given substance, reality, meaning, and intersubjectively intelligible properties, enabling the level of reality which is functionally intersubjective."
- Benjamin Boretz - "The Universe of One, And the Music of the Other"
from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
From Recent Arrivals
December 3, 2021
Fake - Chastity Belt [from Fake / Fear]
lost awash
drifting self-flagellation
Lazy - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
improvising a melody explains how they are spun
this one joins each
phrase to the prior phrase with 4 or more notes
not that I was counting
but that seemed likely given how reasonably it moves along
A1 - Atomic Cafe - Lindsey Triangles and Mort Xoke [from 1996 Crossroads 1982]
a jumble of sound files
narrated by script
partly jumbled
from Dr. Strangelove I think
yup
there are the precious bodily
fluids themselves
Cherry Red Slipper - Laurel Evers - John Helle Otto - baritone saxophone. Beverly Setzer - bass clarinet. Holly Tuttle - french horn. Jim Knodle - flugelhorn
trombone (nope!) and clarinet
slog through the mucky clam beds
to
find the other(s) on firmer ground
not firm but firmer
they make
their way back to shore
a good ways off
by paths of widely
meandered sloughs
origins of irreversibility - Claire Lodge
wrecked guitar sounds
fed to power tools
being all done more or
less with one hand
activating the strings while playing in the
accustomed configuration
there arises a dialog
between the strum
made sounds
and the pluck or pick made sounds
but right now we
have some windows to shatter and tools to grind
a railcar screeching to
halt
caroming off the sides of its abysmal plunge
there is a
tether back up but attachment is uncertain
the abysmal walls are an
infinite landscape
being is void
|| unrelated stray thought:
two modes of compositional presentation:
"this is the song I made" and "I am playing this song I made"
difference:
A: manufactured
B: experienced process
all recordings are type A
as fact
but not all are type A as image ||
there is an awful lot of guitar sound in this
a humdrone persists within
it like feedback
putting on the finishing touches
done
November 27, 2021
Gradus 2 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 28, 2002]
working with damper pedal on damper pedal off
foot-ear coordination
the dampers are capable of dissecting
after a fashion
the
overtones in play
which activity is a large part of the moment by moment
sound world that Gradus has become
they are a valve into the resonance
world of all those taut wires
this is a drumming session without much
empty space
a sound activated into the box of taut wires
will find
all those wires that could be activated as then configured and
tuned
and activate them
vocal duet over modestly orchestrated guitar band
a friendly party
without banging of heads or other extravagance
November 28, 2021
Ask Your Question - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The High Dive, April 6, 2012]
verse chorus bridge
a method of organizing one's rhetoric
leaves
some open doors for the lyrics
while circumscribing the nonlyrical
component
into an essentially steady state
that could go on as
long as needed.
Yiríya aiteiya - Marisol Jiminéz - Seattle Modern Orchestra, Julia Tai
scrape string
sounds snap
tones
low
finding a toehold
clutching on
there are no stable platforms
The Hunt's Up, Fvb 59 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
not apparently a tone painting or storyboard
such as the battle in
My Ladye Nevells Booke
but presumably an elaboration on
a melody
episodes of answering and imitation
episodes of going elsewhere
to
answer the imitations
our habitation
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 146 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the vocal paradigm is in there
but not on the surface
it's all
fingers there
Kurze und Leichter Klavierstücke, "Alla polacca in E-flat Major", Wq. 114/6 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
a melody made of odd parts oddly balanced
we are thus kept on our toes
Il mondo della luna, Act I - Franz Joseph Haydn - Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati, Chœurs de la Radio Suisse Romande (chorus master: André Charlet), Domenico Trimarchi, Arleen Augér, Edith Mathis, Frederica von Stade, Lucia Valentini Terrani, Luigi Alva, Anthony Rolfe Johnson
recitative directed at the audience makes us a co-conspiritor
our
relationship with the character that addresses us
is on another
narrative level than our relationship to anyone else
(the Leporello
effect)
(the main clown)
so far the numbers are each
self-contained
they don't look forward
wears its artifice on its
sleeve
cobbled together shamelessly
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 31 #3 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Stephen Kovacevich
an effort to energize time spans
tiny and spacious
linked to
intervals
no figure is left on its own
Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 10 #10 - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad
by the end we have changed our attitude toward the key
which becomes not
quite the carefree spirit it seemed at first
Stars in a Velvety Sky - Herbert L. Clarke and Orch. [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
brass band arrangement hasn't changed much has it
pretty fine cornet
playing
Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne - Howard Wolvington [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, June 3, 2018]
among the last recordings of our organ in the now demolished sanctuary
Howard was instrumental in its repair and in helping in its removal to
storage
eventually to be installed in our new space once that is built
Ill Wind - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]
how many of him does he have in there
figurational non-sequiturs
but its not like he's the first guy to indulge in tasteless display
Johnny Come Lately - Duke Ellington [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
his melodies
like Beethoven's
are made from the intervals out
impeccably patterned arrangement
that is
composition of the
orchestration
big band composers
trying to free themselves of the limitations of song
structure
verse chorus bridge and like frames
but to preserve the
homogeneity that allowed commercialization
and a living to be made
Dial 110 Blues - Jim Bledsoe [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
like haiku or sonnets a template
but here it is a synthetic medium
i.e. both words and music
but an organic synthesis arising out of
immediate dialogic negotiation
Keep A-Knockin' - Little Richard [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
a blues but not for the sake of the words
which aren't much more than an
excuse to sing rhythms
Night Drive - The Ventures [from Walk Don't Run]
what is this for
who is this for
for dancing possibly
but too
short as a recorded thing to allow much interaction
and certainly no
words to make it problematic
which was the point I suppose
these
guys self-censored the easy way
just cut out all words
Respect - Aretha Franklin [from I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You]
the backups deconstruct phonemically
||:sockit2me:||
P.R.I.M. Cycles - Elaine Barkin [from Open Space 34]
recorded so that each note
and these are notes
pushes a cushion of
noise
nothing fancied up
nothing wasted
says exactly
superbly engaged
2 chords alternating a few times
not many
measured out ad hoc by
rhetorical necessity
Most Likely You Go Your Way - Bob Dylan [from Before the Flood]
don' trust no BOdy no NEver
really into the big accents
YOU go
YOUr way and I'LL go MINE
bad-tempered bob is the house
Gradus 9 (San Diego Series) - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 19, 1987]
first and third As
up from the bottom
or
right from the
left
on clavichord the keys are also arranged
left to right
low to high
but the wires in the box
go
near to far
low to high
the distance
from the lowest note (key)
on the left
and the corresponding tuning pin
on the right
determines to
some extent the length of string possible to be tuned by a single person
if the low (longest) wire were further back in the box
it would be
hard to reach the pin
in keyboards where all the wires stretch back
away form the presser of keys
all the tuning pegs are about the same
distance from the presser
but I suppose
the left right low high
paradigm
dates back at least to the early portativ organs
for
those of us who think in keyboard
it is worth realizing
that
neither low
nor high nor left nor right
are real aspects of aural
experience
except as metaphors
how much tautness and wire strength
would be required
to make a wire as long as the lowest A-nat
match
pitch with the highest C-nat
or would that even work?
as a singer
low notes feel like they are produced lower in the chest than higher
notes are
but even this may be a reification of a metaphor
November 30, 2021
Human Touch - Bruce Springsteen [from Human Touch]
poeticized pick-up line
from the land of the unmoored
bland
Banned Rehearsal 458 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer
ominous drums
Isaac nears speech
(why is speech speech but speak speak?
who's in charge of this stuff?)
unfriendly intent
all our teeth are out
keep back
entry not allowed
(entry forbiden in case of penalty)
|| Morder Kurzville ||
largely but not entirely my doing on guitar I think
our guard is relaxed occasionally
but not much
thornhedge of sound
all perimeter all the time
behind the walls we ready for siege
regale with tales and solemn hymns
{from my journal entry of March 20, 2005:
big sinister sound
guitar, drums, piano, organ
(odd pan - mostly over in one channel)
[NB: possibly a mis-adjustment of the playback equipment, it sounded fine this time around]
cartoon music full always full centered down deep in the belly a problem with feedback on tape it has a tendency to suck out all the most colorful aspects of the other sounds in the room rendering them toneless thin and wasted malevolence like trapped at Carnival time in Rio de Antville quite remarkably sheerly ugly harsh uncompromisedly compromised}
In The City - The Jam [from The Sound of The Jam]
attitude
trying to be The Clash and The Who at once
certainly no
longer than it could have been
Consider the Birds 24 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
meanwhile I was chopping sound files up into itty bits
this one finds
itself in a texture of 2 and 3 pulses
Hypothetical Islands - Yannis Kyriakides - Splinter Reeds [from Hypothetical Islands]
surmised from clusters of notes
constants emerge
if the data is
solid
so will the land be
and we sink
song of the faceless extra
December 1, 2021
Tregian's Ground, Fvb 60 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
each branch is followed
music shaped like a tree
each branch
seeking its share of light
this tree has had some time to grow
Die Wohltemperierte Clavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in D minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sviatoslav Richter
speed knitting
|| fugal entrance passages and stretti trend knotty
and pleached
especially at first
the episodes briefly clear the
air
Sonata in E minor, Kk. 147 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the balancing phrases in this one are unusually clear and un-interrupted
at least through the first repeat the
second section is extensive
and seem to bend
Kurze und Leichter Klavierstücke, "Allegro in E Major", Wq. 114/8 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
CPEB loves hinges:
measures with dual phrase balance values
Sinfonia:
the balancing occurs in two planes
earth and moon?
apparently there are birds on the moon
including cuckoos
offstage or backstage instrumental ensembles!
echo effects with
voices back into the offstage
not above clever effects
gets silly
with it
dissertation topic:
the relation of chordal root progression to
rhetorical thrust in opera buffa recitatives
a fine chorus to close as chaos ensues
Sonata in E-flat, Op. 31 #3 - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim
induced confusion of |place within|
by means of metrical/phraseological
sensory overload
Lim's flexibility with tempo and rhythm
is high
strung
(much too so for New Orleans)
Etude in E-flat Major, Op. 10 #11 - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad
this one is fantasizing about wearing a lovely key to a lovely ball
so
dreamy
Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116 #6 - Johannes Brahms - Keith Eisenbrey
I had worked this up to play for our church service last Sunday so I thought
I'd record it.
Of course all I can hear is how I might improve it.
I'll give it another try or two.
Smoke House Blues - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers - volume 1 Chicago Days 1926 - 1927]
the image of a slack lazy no hurrieder than he lets on he can get
the
image is just that
though those guys have got it locked down tight
starts with a hummmmm
then hangs the commmme in my kithennnnn
his
guitar imitates a hound dog howl
and he knows it
even says so
Eighth of January - Nathan Frazier & Frank Patterson [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
music may not be (isn't) the universal language
but banjo and fiddle
music
is banjo and fiddle music the world over
without regard as
to what one might call the local incarnation of banjo or fiddle
and has
been ever thus
Romance Without Finance - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy & Dial Masters]
is a new-SANCE
not big band music
but combo
a chamber feel rather than an
orchestral
I get the distinct feeling they're doing this for their own
amusement
but I'm happy to be there
Darling Brown Eyes - Church Brothers [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
tune designed for two-part harmony singing
with long hanging
syllables on strident vowels
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
after all these years the kick-back echo on his voice sounds very strange
whose idea was that? Sam's?
Look Away Over Yandrow - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon
sappy in the extreme but they sound great
Lock Your Door - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
barely a track
maybe half a chorus
americana sing-along rural rock
everybody jam in
Backwater - Brian Eno [from Before and After Science]
gets a beat going and riffs on it without disturbing it in the least
(in three movements) - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from A Cassette Player]
the discussion
I presume
following Aaron's performance at the UW
of my first Intermezzo
then untitled
quarter note 10 to 15
general puzzlement
my current feeling: tempo negotiable
December 2, 2021
Syzygy - Deborah Drattell - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
a cinematic cue
atmosphere without content
Psalm 23 (meditation, responses) Version A - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 22, 1992]
I seem to have put this version together thusly:
all of the instructions
and vocal takes in its twice through entirety
plus the clavichord
responses at the end
I'll see when we get there
I'm not certain
what the point of doing it this was as I saw it then
(actually just
the first time through the text with explanation and infant squall
then
the clavichord responses)
each of the six responses on the page has two
notation blurbs
one is constant throughout
appears on each
page
the other
on each page
is unique
for the
recording I would start each response with the constant
and then compose
my way to the unique
lots of pounding in that one
then the second
time through the text at the very end
Wind Your Spring - Shonen Knife [from Brand New Knife]
is there anything to be made of this?
manufactured music for a
manufactured life
Banned Rehearsal 630 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer
at sea
weather uncertain
though not clearly dire
murky gray
we make a go at persisting
on shore now with no apparent episode
of landing
we drum and scrape by
drumming and piano gets
lively
we subside
wood flute and metals
The Pugilist - Curtains for You [from Heaven's Waiting]
the blows and the days as they come
Banned Rehearsal 811 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 9, 2012]
immediate state of static activity
as at the lip of an accelerating
current
we ooze upstream
we find Finnegan again
freefloating
intact dronish
the old muggerhogger
once he starts he never stops
just like an Irishman
unspooling
doing what we do in response to the other sounds in the room
is
infinitely preferable
to doing what we do in reference to the
microphone
or in reference to future listeners
(we have plenty of
listeners right here in the room with us)
which is always one of those
good ideas that isn't
Bats & Rainbows II - Swamp Meat [from Higher Art Vol. 1]
an exquisitely bad 80s sci-fi-soft-porn extravawannabeganza
December 1, 2021
Gesänge der Frühe, Im ruhigen Tempo, Op. 133 #1 - Robert Schumann
I had worked this one up also for church last Sunday, so recorded it.
Hyfrydol - arr. Keith Eisenbrey
This was arranged specifically for that service, but I gave it another go on the 3rd.
Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116 #6 - Johannes Brahms
see above, also in need of a redo
December 3, 2021
Two-Part Invention in C Major - Gavin Borchert
Two-Part Invention in C minor - Gavin Borchert
I haven't edited these takes down yet
Hyfrydol - arr. Keith Eisenbrey
nor this one, but I think I got it this time
Special Mention
Much of my musical energy during the first year of the Pandemic went into producing this virtual recital of recent solo piano music by my long-time collaborator, Aaron Keyt, and by me. There are 9 reels total in the playlist, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes or so each, the whole stretching for just under 2 hours. I am quite pleased with the results, especially with how well I manage to illuminate the extraordinary "in-your-presence-alone" intimacy of Aaron's compositional voice.
Postscripts
::Consult the Oracle
never back down truly hoping something
that's it maybe think she's gonna in a few
weeks he's not gonna him manufacture
Reality Check::
a cube stretch, dark
in the oblique sun
mir soll's
