Preface
Texts
Recorded
May 2, 2026
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 324 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
Scarlatti bedazzles with clarity
at the hinge a huge surprise bursts forth
as might the sudden arrival of
royalty
Novelleten, Op. 21 #7, in E Major - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
this is the Schumann that exuberates
this is the Schumann that thinks
things through
this is the Schumann that leaps across logical steps
this is the Schumann that dreams
shadowed and fae
Buch der Lieder I, S. 531: VI. Angiolin dal biondo crin - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
this music spotlights the performer
is about how well it is being
imagined
even when not being pianistically spectacular
Sonata in C Major, Op. 70 (#10) - Alexander Scriabin - Ruth Laredo
wisps
languid
drift across the lake
en pointe
playful naiads bathe splashily
fauns lounge on mossy stones
sylvan scented scenery
Since I Laid My Burden Down - The Elders McIntosh and Edward's Sanctified Singers [from The Anthology of American Folk Music]
the tempo presses forward
as with mass behind it
the wind
pushes it along
I Wants To Stay Here - Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald [from Porgy and Bess]
She leaves the S off of 'wants'
never really belonged there anyway?
that is
what did it signify?:
blackness
or a dialect
or a dialect that signified blackness
giving words a skin color?
You Really Got a Hold On Me - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]
Rock and Roll
may have appealed to its target audience
because it
didn't perpetually look back
to remind its listeners
of musics of
the past
as Jazz did
with the so-called American Songbook
early on
it was devoid of nostalgia
a prelude in long cascades
current events
eyewitness reports
flourish around the arena to close
7 Preludes for Guitar - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded on clavichord April 20, 2026]
these seven
are in the Chopin order
I wonder if he hoped he might
complete a cycle of 24?
the clavichord has a different set of articulations available than guitar
not to mention the lack of anything quite like open strings
or the
different methods of activation
quintessential Lockrem
witty
droll
touching
Pretty Flamingo - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
a song we can all sway to
big crowd hug
but now that he's got your
attention
he'll tell a long story
it's important
that you
believe
the song is autobiographical
by this time
nostalgia had laid down roots
House of Mirrors - T. Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]
the voice of this poem
has a strong stink of disdain
as though
authoritative
Orange Crush - REM [from Green]
we come in
to the middle
of whatever situation
the words may
purport
to appertain to
but
are offered
no useful
assistance
Alice in Wonderland - King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]
nostalgia trip
Little Star - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
clean electric sound
sci fi containment vessel
Construction - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]
set the corners
measure the extents needed
The Tracks of My Tears - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
rural tempo
village life
Electric Hands - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]
factory floor tempo
robotic arms
protective equipment required
Enter Summer - Steve Layton [from Próxima Estación]
as if it had a skin
and liquid deeps
we are submerged
within this music's space
Lauda Anima - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #7: 1995-2001]
a hymn tune
treated as a text
for commentary
as to
its
strangeness
He's Coming Soon - Laura Henton [from Goodbye, Babylon]
unfussy temperament
you can see them sitting there
with their
instruments
piano
back against the wall
singer
in
front of the sound funnel
A Word To The Fore - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]
looking back across the fertilizer
no need to sally forth
Katie's Been Gone - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
relationship in flux
and suspense
an aria
in the form of an
epistle
I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow [from Nancy's Mix]
surfer wanna be
beach dance
Looking For You (I Was) - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]
melody opens rhyme
into gardens
beyond the phonemic
The Wedding Song - David Bowie [from Black Tie White Noise]
polyrhymic
Sex and Rebellion - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
desperate lust
Gold Fever - Scurvy Bastards [from Piranthology]
singing in character
a narrator
tales
around the common fire
Devil Don't Remember My Name - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
understanding ourselves
by insinuating our selves
into literary
figures
(characters or conceits)
Cumulus - Cumulus [from I Never Meant It To Be Like This]
this music
is a bed
for language
to rhyme upon
How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]
reproduction
of a former production
old
as older
than
old
Hush, Little One - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs 2]
melody spinning
the recorded space around her voice
is strangely
empty
Nightmare - Alphonso Trent [from That Devilin' Tune]
walking along
minding its business
the usual howdies and heys
to fellows
Breathless - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]
that's too close to the mic there Jerry
back off
Remember - Rusty Dedrich Orchestra [from Irving Berlin, All by Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
Ben's example song
forever transformed
by cultural context
helpful advice
as a safety skit
Louder Than a Bomb - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation]
this musicpoem
seeks immediate pertinence
chorus keeps verses
apart
Neapolitan Fisher's Songs - Black Cat Orchestra [from Dante's Inferno Live Score]
stage orchestra
plain facedness
Peru - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
this music
is a cavalcade
sound scene
with dancing costumes
Soundscape - Jose [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
lots of lively crackle in this one
What Is Time - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
old John Henry
hammers on
end of the line
Circles - Cornelius Dufalla, Patrick Derivaz [from Bass Violin]
among ancient beasts
long dead
long wings
glide
through
keening air
Walk Away - Slothrust [from The Pact]
restraint of tonal color
frustrated stasis
The Farthest Shore - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey #7: 1995-2001]
each tonal activity clearly delineated
Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying - Blind Willie Johnson [from Goodbye, Babylon]
strenuous pull on the downbeat
Fred Adams - Ray Rhodes [from The Art of Field Recording]
came to a bad end
(noose department)
Medley: All The Things You Are - Bill Evans [from Alone]
quick figures
of variously even rhythms
left hand support
Brain - Dan Sedia - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
as
it learns
new tricks
Something Like That - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]
persona projection
branding
Love Part 2/Because of Love - Janet Jackson [from Janet]
chorus opens
like a rondo
Colors: Brown - Jesse Canterbury, Brad Hawkins [from Brad Hawkins/Jesse Canterbury]
a glimpse
No Ones Got The Guts to Steer - Solvents [from Manresa Castle]
from a vaguely suburban life
Boundary - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
naming references
is not calling upon muses
muses can't be
referenced
by imitation
they sing direct
or not at all
Dreamtime II - Nat Evans [from Flyover Country]
tones float away from their centers
across the taut earth
ironed
plain
Soundscroll VII (part 1) - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls V-IX]
depending on mood
a title can be a help
or a hindrance
creaturely
more than graphically
Texas and Pacific Blues - Frenchy's String Band [from That Devilin' Tune]
loose and relaxed
Fever - Little Willie John [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
slinky dance
The Rebel - Marley Marl [from In Control Vol. 1]
a collaboration among the parts of manufacture
Calm - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]
an ambrosia
that flows
in glowy sparkles
cool colors
blue and pale
Of Old - J. K. Randall, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]
we comprehend such music as this
by displacing events
from a
timeline
into characters
(or agents)
(or identities)
the positions of those agents to each other
are projected
from the
timeflowline
but
the strata
upon which they are projected
is outside
of that timelineflow
comprehension confounds sequence
agents have locations
in heardspace
(the space we perceive the
sounds
to transpire within)
independent
of the flowlinetimes
of their various enuncements
persistence of agents
across the flowtimeline
signal processing
only understands
the line of time's flow
not
the persistence of the agents
enuncing within it
nor
even
their existence
howsoever virtual
that
existence my be
languageness
stands in front
musicness
lurks behind
No Matter What - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]
broad meter
packed with moments
The Clearcut - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]
fitting voice and strings to each other
Parts of Speech - Swearin' [from Surfing Strange]
quantitative prose poem
Bundles and Waves - WRCMS Participants [from WRCMS 2018 Participants]
it is quite easy to produce music
and to bend that music
into
familiar figurational activities
as easy
as telling a story
Surrey - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [December 3, 2023]
this one really gets somewhere I think
there are two arrangements
a two-voice and a three voice
one after the other
What Are They Doing in Heaven Today - Washington Phillips [from Goodbye, Babylon]
a spiritually didactic song
ancestor memories
Exaltation - Carl Ruggles - Greg Smith Singers
hymnal textures
of solid certainty
not just triumphant
but
righteously so
without question
I Should Care - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
a jazz composition
is
a thought
for a performance
to
be about
a ready-made reference
a thought-object
for discussion
Fuel - Echo & The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]
musical paper
is distinguished
by its ingredient list
and
processing steps
Angel of Harlem - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]
some papers are generic
so as to vanish from awareness
but run a
risk of dreariness
Cold Mountain Songs: A Critic - Robert Morris Deborah Norin-Kuehn, Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
this music
is not a paper
upon which words are printed
but
a wire sculpture
tangled
in its co-independent words
The Crawford Overture - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
this music
is about the sound
of a time
and place
and
includes
its technologies
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
dance fragment
for the aspirations of pop culture
Kitty or Baby? - Swingset Showdown [from Cymbal of Appreciation EP]
diapery doo wop
Orion OrYouOn OrWeOn - Steve Kennedy [from Untitled Album]
the groove
is the common property of all in its space
its value
depends on the population of that space
who hold it in common
that is
its value
belongs to the population
the
population
not
to the groove
The Nether Edge - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old Year Dying]
the vocal stanzas
require
the lengthy instrumental stanzas
(intermezzi)
so that
their impact
can settle
adequately
bridge to the finish
King of Kings - Rev. Johnnie Blakey [from Goodbye, Babylon]
preached at a projecting holler
with lifted voice
Donna - Richie Valens [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
it must be a strange experience
to have a hit song about you
ubiquitous on the radio
Do You Love Me? - The Kingsmen [from The Very Best of The Kingsmen]
there's that mashed potato and monkey
flattery will get you anywhere
Jane - EPMD [from Strictly Business]
fantasy day in the life
Tant que vivray (1530) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'N'Roll]
from a themed collection
(a collation of musics)
but ignore the
cutesie album title
One Wish (for Christmas) - Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]
commercialism
out-commercialisms itself
at Christmas
Satellites - Beyoncé [from I Am...Sasha Fierce]
the subject of this music
is our projection into its situation
Cactus Wine - Ancient Warlocks [from Ancient Warlocks]
dive bar rock
is a sound
to be within
not
to be
properly observed
from a disinterested standpoint
There's a Halo Around the Moon - Black Dresses [from Hell Is Real]
a rage
at being
a lust
for being
a rage
Banned Rehearsal 1089 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 4, 2023]
a device
is set to drumming on things
its mechanical persistence
is its primary character
persistent mechanisms
can deafen
I venture
briefly
through triadic harmonies
we move
about the room
watched warily
by the mechanical device
Stowaway - Earl Hines [from That Devilin' Tune]
gleaning rides across the sea
requires charm
and style
and
showy politesse
Images - Sun Ra and His Arkestra [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
highway driving
countryside scenes
Cactus Tree - Joni Mitchell [from Song to a Seagull]
mixed tense relationship
Jubilee - Lawrence McIver, McIntosh County Shouters Group [from The Art of Field Recording]
robust stage
for stomping drums
blessing at show's end
Foster-The Old Folks at Home - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
sentimental
for the lost age
lost home
lost lives
sweetened up
for memory's use
Yo, Han - Greg Sinibaldi [from Nuclear Frog Pond]
sodden depths
for creeping critters
basso dwellers
Friday, Sunday - Courtney Marie Andrews [from Urban Myths]
digging into self deceptions
Row Away - Dawn Clement [from Tempest/Cobalt]
a flavor of sentimental redemption legend
Behind the Dempster - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]
pulses slowly
distant sounds
carried along
the rails
slow
pulse
of the yard
breath
of the network
Chamber Music VIII: Particles & Waves - Steve Peters [from Chamber Music]
the sorts of things
that things can be
particular and wishy-washy?
vague?
concepts
nodes within thought
He's The Lily of The Valley - Texas Jubilee Singers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
quite the fibrilous vibrato she's got there
piano goes all dancey at the
coda
Got To - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]
intro riff
adds instruments
track by track
verse
chorus
long long verse
back to the chorus
to
release
fade to end
(such a pity it was going so well)
Love on a Farmboy's Wages - XTC [from fossilfuel]
introduction
page margin
brit country
Golliwog's Cakewalk - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
a stage act
puppet
clown
My God Is a Rock - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]
catechism notes
Jesus as a hero
Slavonic Dance - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]
dancing in uncomfortable clothes
short carousel ride
too many
times around
Mi Yo Mei - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]
vocal ensemble
folkish
like a sea shanty
Just So You Know - Holly Palmer [from I Confess]
production forward
voice
brand
rom com montage song
Sinfonia 9 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [December 8, 2023]
a game of steps
Smiling Skies - Benny Meroff [from That Devilin' Tune]
cheer up music
be happy
This Is The End - Buddy Guy [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
fancy guitar blues
Bucket T - The Who [from Magic Bus]
let's be California
and sell something
we dance
to songs
of romance
howsoever sad
or crossed
Do I Move You? (Outtake) - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
low slung beat
Track 13 - Eckstein Middle School Students [from Mach 6]
sounds like a TV theme song
of a certain age
Keep On Moving - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
being The Clash
in a new land
Flecha Ligeira - Camarones Orquestra Guitarrística [from O Curioso Caso da Música Invisível]
shopping action
upscale mall
price is right
Inside - Kara Hesse [from Sojourner]
singing the blues
in the night
Begin Again - Tom Baker Quartet [from Begin Again]
in two modes
(odd couple)
Avalon Blues - Mississippi John Hurt [from Really The Blues]
another song
about wishing
to be back
in a hometown
Quintet for 2 Violins, 2 Violas, and Cello - Roger Sessions - The Group for Contemporary Music
insinuates its tonality
takes right over
pinball nightmare
Caligari creepy
cobbly Viennesian alleyways
cloaked
in
1930s fog
The Wayward, Barstow - Eight Hitchhikers - Harry Partch - Harry Partch with Ensemble
beatnik theater
life on the road
underbelly of the West
they say there's a hell
what do they think this is?
Shout, Lulu - Guy Bruce [from The Art of Field Recording]
fingerwork
to fascinate
tongue work
to amuse
if that billy goat runs away
whoopee and bombs away
Ubi Caritas - Cambridge Singers [from Brother Sun, Sister Moon]
words
made so pretty
as to remove them
from earthly life
Original Dixieland One Step [from New Orleans Traditional Jazz Legends, Vol. 3]
museum display
all the notes
none of the smell
Back Down - 50 Cent [from Get Rich Or Die Tryin']
assertion person
in your face
The Illusion of Transparency - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]
a bass and a percussion
poke at their images
Gleaux - Dawn Richard [from Goldenheart]
verse lines
cut short
leaves gaps
for the dance
to
show
Caution - Mariah Carey [from Caution]
track two Mariah
comes in
over the top
of track one Mariah
don't count Mariahs
if you know what's good for you
Sinfonia 9 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded December 9, 2023]
the further I get
from the time of composition
the less inclined I
am
to care how I devised it
A Blues Serenade - Frank Signorelli [from Really The Blues]
measures introduced
in dis-symmetric pairs
curtain rises
onto a slower time
Susie Q - Dale Hawkins [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]
a record's sales
a confluence
of demographics
marketing
and the whims of a market
this is half a song at best
these
are asserted
to be
important
and
infantile
Tom Watson Tune - Mabel Cawthorn [from The Art of Field Recording]
voice
tuned
to the banjo box
Panis Angelicus - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]
sung for operatic stakes
Bedjo Makekar-Indonesia [from The World Sings Goodnight]
to a quiet bell
99 Problems - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]
taking a stand
out loud
The Way I Loved You - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]
to
and about
peers
and peer relationships
a narrow band of aboutness
Henryesque - Hope Wechkin [from Leaning Toward the Fiddler]
back and forth bowing
vigorous straight strokes
Tribute to May - Canals of Venice [from Fall on November]
romance
of the possible catastrophic fail
the old
do or die quest
Totem 29 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem VI]
demonstration of
performance of
production of
playing of
expressing of
saying of
that they might not be
mere examples
but actuality
right
there
in the buff
Pinetop's Blues - Pine Top Smith [from Really The Blues]
an introduction
in two times
neither of which features
in
Pinetop's Blues
the pianist is a time scamp
The Book of Love - The Monotones [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]
A+
for clever vocal writing
Everyday People - Sly and The Family Stone [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
and scooby dooby doo
socially conscious sells
when fashionable
Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music December 11, 1983 8:30 PM (beginning) - John Cage - New Performance Group
at minimum
we can grasp
onto the ritual motions
of doing
music
louder than silence
outside its purview
that is
we are in a space together
and we are listening
and
that
is music
I note
that I was able
just now
to easily
and quickly
distinguish
the sound of our tea kettle's whistle
and Atlas
Eclipticalis with Winter Music by John Cage
and that
is music
the night sky
as score
so geocentric
mapping notes
from a Romanticized chaos
tossing sticks
or
coins
guys
tell guys
how they
being guys
deal
with
dames
but
it's all bar brag posturing
so guy
That Was - Fastbacks [from Zucker]
guitar chorale preamble
a scrim of distance
tween us and
them
palpable alienation
On The Sunny Side of the Street - Glenn Tate [from Days of Wine and Roses]
songs become familiar
as being old favorites
they point
to
their times
like old photos do
No Path to Ground - Cross-Talk [from Here Now]
the hard softens
a pitch salve
Notebook A: Rock & Roll - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]
||:adding bits
bit by bit
bits are machines
they do
their bits:||
Any Old Time - Denise Glover [from Gaps in the Stories]
country trope
welcome back home
on honest
country
sheets
of musical paper
Sinfonia 9 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded December 20, 2023]
in the affect
of a Lisztian
station of the cross
the motions
descend
inexorably
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 3, 2026
Hanley - Keith Eisenbrey
Northfield - Keith Eisenbrey
Since we were away on the 10th
I did two of these
to keep up
with my
one arrangement a week
habits
May 4, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1150 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
we gathered on the patio
for the first time this year
hard to say
if we'll be back
on the 18th
or return to the studio
May 11, 2026
Gradus 433 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
locations within
and between
filling it in
//
follow the poetics
of branches
into the canopy
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Gavin Borchert (part 2)
This volume collects 30 additional two-part inventions by Seattle composer Gavin Borchert, performed on clavichord. The recordings were made at my home in 2023.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
