Before dinner and after George Cruikshank, from The Comic Almanack, 1st Series, 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
June 6, 2026
Sonata in G for Organ, Kk. 328 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the figures jubilate antiphonally
Album d'un voyageur, S. 156/R. 8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": IIb. Au bord d'une source - Franz Liszt - Ashley Wass
a clockwork Columbine
saves the best
for the corner into the codas
Birthday Album for Marie - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
a selection
from Album for the Young
learning to play involves
learning to hear
4 Album Leaves, Op. 28 - Edvard Grieg - Håkon Austbø
concert stage
is not the primary social value
of small piano
pieces
they function
rather
as tokens of a conversation
among pianists
and composers who are pianists
they preserve
something
of their native world
2 Preludes, Op. 67 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
rooted in its dark pool
made of winds on high plateaus
Weather Bird - Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines [from Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
hands to knees
side to side
flapper swing
Things Are Looking Up - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
with rehearsal chatter
incomplete
Lover - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
chromatic fall
slyly down the staircase
sets up
the crazy
interval leap games
she plays later
I Will - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]
economically structured melody
I've Got the Fever - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
wallowing in his own performance
a song
might be
a communal
confessionary wallow
Hula Hoop - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]
disdain Hawaiian style
Show 'Em What You Got - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]
this music
is a promotional spot for itself
commercial commercial
music
it's
an eat me
token
If Music Be the Food of Love - King's Singers [from Chansons d'amour]
choral music
to some extent
is its own body of literature
with its own peculiarities of style
because
it is created
largely by insiders to its performance
singers compose what they want to
sing
and so the music
reflects singers' desires to sing
Lost - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
plot summary
of a life so far
dead end celebration
The Spanish Epoch - Scurvy Bastards [from Piranthology]
music being an aspect of theater
one might be pulled into music
through a need to theatricalize
to act the part a musician plays
in a play
putting on the music
of a musician
She's Not Me - Madonna [from Hard Candy]
the bass booms the floor
to tell the feet
to dance
on the
boom floor bass bounce
See You Next Tuesday - Jaguar Shark [from Red Vinyl]
this poet writes words he wants to yell
B! O! K!
Ouroboros - Steve Layton [from Virtual Composition]
Bare Branches - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls: Lost Landshapes]
a music might seek to decorate a screen
with depiction and caption
Vanessa, Act 4, Scene 1 - Samuel Barber - Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eleanor Steber, Nicolai Gedda, Rosalind Elias, Giorgio Tozzi, Regina Resnik
we regard
to the story so far
it seems
it won't proceed
happily
ever after
after all
soap opera plot points
point downwards
all the action occurs off stage
and is reported by the singers
as
they enter the stage
tokens of plot words
a voice
is a name attached to a musical
role
gloriously over the top
deliriously over-acted
Russian Lullaby - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
gazing back East
Moral Kiosk - REM [from Murmur]
half or more
of each line
is pause
alternate articulatory stanza
fills them in
Compton's N The House - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]
their song
is their press
Poland (Yiddish) - Myrian Soszewicz [from The World Sings Goodnight]
an older voice
La Fogata - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
just enough differentiation of sounds
to articulate a dance structure
So Damn Happy - Aretha Franklin [from So Damn Happy]
the amplification of piano sound
actually shrinks it
louder but
smaller
Notebook A: III Choir - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]
the notes of one sound type
articulate lines
of other sounding
notes
Words With Ends - Peterman [from Red Vinyl]
interesting bass rhythm
it colors the meter
Track 6 [from Unknown Christmas Album]
this voice works the mic
a light-voiced tenor crooner
Toccata - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005]
when I did this piece at Salon
all those years ago
I remember one
fellow
who seemed put out
that I would call a piece 'Toccata'
that wasn't all showy and quick
but
it just means touch
and this is about touch
they got their dog to singing along
Walkin' Up - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
lose myself just being amazed
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam [from Nancy's Mix]
urban anxiety
the being pressed up close
to the other
and
its anger
The Symphony - Marley Marl [from In Control, Volume 1]
being
the in
you
the out
improvisational professional verbal wrestling league
Hold On Baby/The Body That Loves You - Janet Jackson [from Janet]
sexual surrender fantasy
cinematic
ir-real
airbrushed
seduction
Fear (Air on the G String) - Brave Combo [from Box of Ghosts]
thankfully they have preserved Bach's bass line
which makes the tune
what it is
no matter what silly words are sung to them
Morning After - True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
cavernous cabaret sound feel
low ceilinged chamber
Palisades Park - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 6, 2013]
they only need to sound
like they might be words
Ode de Tre - Lost in Space [from Lost in Space, Live at the Players' Lounge]
a flowing groove
washing away vestigial song form
stanzaicism
full tilt vocal abandon
Interlude - Dead Bars [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have to Be Cool]
an announcement
into a noise space
a few seconds long
Ping Pong - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]
a common language
within and about the music
one is doing
with others
social binding
a society
of blowers and tappers
When I'm Walking - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]
the joy of feet
He Didn't - Soundgarden [from Ultramega OK]
in character
of a haunted house denizen
Protect Ya Neck - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]
king of the mountain
zero sum life
Scree In Building #3 - Chris DeLaurenti
a patient raking
across a surface
sound
a distant roar
and an electric hum
The Best Day - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]
daddyolatry
Forget You Ever Wondered - Shelby Earl [from Swift Arrows]
hanging in there
Rainier - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star, I'm a Sinking Ship]
epistle plea
from the left behind
Eurydice - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005]
fitting figures to each other
across a mirror
I Hadn't Anyone Till You - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
sloppy vehemence
My Kar Kat - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
observed from many angles
holds its own
When Love Comes to Town - U2 [from Rattle and Hum]
testimony to take to heart
Cold Mountain Songs: The World Is Space - Robert Morris - Deborah Norin-Kuehn, Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
music can be a story
or it can be an expanse
I'll Be Home for Christmas - Whitney Houston [from One Wish: The Holiday Album]
this song's structure
betrays its American Musical Theater origins
she's enjoying those low notes
Ato Drum Slo Trance - Tom (via Cyrus) - Sacajawea Elementary Students [from Digital Dreams]
mechanical flange expression
Track 4 - Old Man Williamson [recorded live at Victory Lounge, July 6, 2013]
the singing is there
to encourage the guitaring
scaffolding
a necessary evil
Use My Head - Red Ribbon [from Dark Party]
melody hangs low
heavy sag
oppressed
Uhtceare - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs - Worldless Lullabies from The Sleepless, Volume 2]
every sound
is an extended technique sound
to every other
sound
artistry of doing
wink wink nudge nudge
Whatzisfish - J. K. Randall, Mathew Rosenblum, Marjorie Tichenor, Daniel Warner [from Inter/Play]
if it begins in silence
it is an invitation to join
as an
equal
we
are as inscrutible to you
as you
to us
let's work
it out
a music
is a room
with sounds in it
what is the thingness
of a recorded/played-back track?
a
transferred signal
communique
dispatch
message
artifact
clue
trace
time travel
I guess we're guilty
per the oracle
ever a fish
we presume
based on perception
colored by preconceptions
existing prior to conception?
pre-conscious conception
perhaps?
all step back
to let no one solo
guilty
in a gilt cage
we all get with the text
because the text arose from among them
as
one of them
how a text can be a fellow
with the music
the
poet
must descend to our level
hear their words
within
us
for an Inter/Play session
this one comes across
after all these
years
distinctly like making hard-assed music
the hard-assed
way
locating the intonation of the vibe
we debrief gently
The Rhythm Series (Medley) - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]
all about the jazz age
Study in Color and Black and White - Stan Brakhage
synaptic flashes
rhythms of appearance
Hitler's Cafe - Frieze of Life [from Nuclear Frog Pond]
the desire
to be part
of a thing
Shinola - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
tellin' 'im off
love from shinola
Shaka - Princess [from Selling Sulphur]
tuning in to a power setting
to exactly rattle the house
and melt
the walls
engaging a flavor of frenzy
Pigs Sheep and Wolves - Paul Simon [from In The Blue Light]
social Silversteinism
Song of Solomon 3:1-4 - Keith Esenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005]
my little folk song
with its faux plain presentation
Hangin' on a String - ? and The Mysterians [from The Best of ? and The Mysterians]
courting ploy
Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music 831211 630 PM (beginning) - John Cage - New Performance Group, John Cage
random
in the sense
that its center of observation
is
arbitrary
we see a universe
powered invisibly
perceive only the effects
of the powers
and so
surmise them
our desire
is to constellate
connections will be made
if this is considered
as a music
that I am relieved
from
making sense of
then
how is it
an it?
what is it
before we know
what
it is supposed
to be?
what
is
it
as
we
puzzle
it?
Oh Christ Who Art The Light of Day - Cambridge Singers [from Brother Sun, Sister Moon]
in choral music
for cathedral space
a tonality
also reads
as a configuration
of the physical volume
wherein the
various harmonies
take up locations
Around The Horn - Milton Babbitt - The Group for Contemporary Music [from Solo e Duettini]
the activity
of negotiating
any set of notes
on an
instrument
is part of the fun
Themes from Harry Potter - Eckstein Middle School Students [from Mach 6]
for near beginner band
an intonation challenge
Last Kiss - Mariah Carey [from E=Mc2]
dance conversation
a fictional couple
projected onto the floor
Colossal - Chaotic Noise Marching Corps [from Smashed at Smash Putt]
some of the members of this crew
may have played those Themes from Harry
Potter
a mere ten or so years before
Birthday Cake - Slothrust [from The Pact]
spirited
spat out
languidissimo
Orange Juice Blues - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
square
and square
to the end
Joy to the World - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy to the World]
well that's done
I think this was work swag
überpomp
Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]
who sings a lullaby
to piano pounding?
Like My Style (feat. Tony Yayo) - 50 Cent [from Get Rich Or Die Tryin']
strut
disintegrative coda
Save The Hero - Beyoncé [from I Am...Sasha Fierce]
lament for the unthanked
Nip Slip - Chastity Belt [from No Regerts]
pulled to the floor
Ancestors - Nat Evans [from Flyover Country]
points of the pitch compass
across the chordal plain
there are
quite a few
it takes time
as each one
must be given
its due acknowledgement
There's a Song In the Air - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005]
my sweet Christmas carol
McAbee cousins in mind
Nurse's Song (Experience) - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]
basso resonance
The Skin - Girl Trouble [from Hit It Or Quit It]
this strut
is dude
to dude
loser commiseration singalong song
goes on too long with no new payoff
Justify My Thug - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]
one's internal code of conduct
The January Man - SeaStar [from Sinners and Angels]
bells!
production value!
a song about the year
through its months
Before your ruddy necromancy I am a blank balladeer - Christian Asplund [from Viola]
this is quite a nice sound
like an inward facing guitar
listening with the bridge
as supplemental tympanic membrane
Everything's Gotta Go - Acapulco Lips [from Acapulco Lips]
shedding stuff into the streets
constant water pressure
All Souls - PJ Harvey [from I Inside the Old Year Dying]
opens with a careful two-voice counterpoint
it flavors the ensuing throb
Goldstaub (beginning) - Karlheinz Stockhausen
distant sounds
only at last
we exhale
with deliberation
we gesture large
for the stage
we are constructed of sound elements
and their interrelations
formal dialogs only
socializing not permitted
outside of the
required utterance
of chant
a desire
for priestly doings
and arcane powers
inscrutability is its whole thing
Dve Tourlaski Pesen - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares 2]
these sonorities tune themselves
into quasi-homogenous structures
Mes pas semez (1555) - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'n'Roll]
it sounds like a story is being told
Soundscape - Cyrene [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
I wonder where the recordings used came from?
was there a library from
which the participants could draw?
Wait - Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
allow time to pass
let the Dogs howl their guitars
Thee Intimidator - Antique Scream [from Two Bad Dudes]
struts and postures and brags
are armor
carapace
and crab
claws
keep your distance
Plucked - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
ear right up to the bridge
we are in a quiet space
with sharp
sounds
being loud in it
Chaconne - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 9: 2002-2005]
to get places
while remaining grounded
the distance
between
places
is the travel part
of traveling
earn your
arrival
I'm quite pleased
with how well this piece turned out
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and the Beat]
backstory as riddle
Oh My Golly! - Pixies [from Surfer Rosa]
sounds live
small venue
or rehearsal space
Pineapple Rag - Scott Joplin - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
happy going lucky
about one's pleasantries
Colors: Salmon - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
reverse synesthesic
You're Gonna Miss Me - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
dervish
or whipped
like a top
La Noche Negra - B'Shnorkestra [from Go to Orange]
rhythm used
to extend itself
across a period of metrical cycles
making a stanza of them
Most of All - Brandi Carlile [from By The Way, I Forgive You]
life advice testimony
Chamber Music X: Airforms - Steve Peters [from Chamber Music]
the substance
through which sound travels
as a thought
about
the signal
passing through it
sensation and concept
the image of appropriation
of one music
by another
gobbles
it right up
burp
wiggles some in the tumtum
but gobbled all
the same
The Jackson Song - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]
piano is recorded from a distance
another piano lullaby
less
poundy
keep the keys in the next room
Soon One Mornin' - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]
showcase number
The Eleventh Hour - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
spooky
compressed organ
and wolfish howl
Hudba Pre Mesto Trnava - Trnavsky Komorny Orchester [from Music from Trnava]
a dance for strings
sticks fiercely to its chosen material
the
brass are there
to greet at the gate
which opens wide
to
sunny arrival pomp
Let Me Be The One - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]
fantasizing a scenario
for a hook up
Through The Surface of Still Waters [from WRCMS 2018 Participants]
identity
is precision
the vastness
of small
Mendon - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [December 31, 2023]
hiding the melody
in a crowd of moving lines
In Session at The Tintinabulary
June 7, 2026
Nazareth - Keith Eisenbrey
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Barkin and Others
another collection of musics that have found their way into my fingers over the years
1-4 Elaine Barkin - Brandeis: 4 Short Pieces for Piano
5 Anne
Gorrick - Ginkgo in Turquoise Ink
6 Neal Kosály-Meyer -
Oracle from Dark Wood
7 Carson Farley - Serial Diatonicism
8 Doug Palmer - Attitude
9-11 Kam Morrill -
Puppet Pieces
13 Leanna Keith - Pressure
14-19
Richard Johnson - Keyboard Shortcuts
20-24 - Emily Doolittle -
Minute Etudes
Keith Eisenbrey, piano and clavichord
Neal Kosály-Meyer, voice
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
