Preface
"So where do discourses about music as expressive language locate themselves relative to music as music? Insofar as what they are is writing, done by musicians or by other people with serious relationships to their own musical experience, their relationship to music as music is less like the relation of theories to objects or phenomena than like the relation of poetry to love, or - indeed - of poetry to objects, phenomena, ideologies, ideas - to, even, theories. Namely, - by the nature of a music as a non-verbal utterance, as a phenomenon ontologized purely as experiential - such discourses are creative expressions, compositions, perforce creating verbal spaces resonating against the non-verbal spaces of music."
- Benjamin Boretz "Text: (for the Graduate Music forum at UCSD, 1/28/2003) Is Music Necessary?" from "Being About Music Textworks 1960-2003 J. K. Randall Benjamin Boretz Volume 2: 1978-2003"
Texts
Streaming
April 10, 2021
Choral Tapas - Seattle Pro Musica, Karen P. Thomas, director
music by
Johannes Brahms - Wie Lieblich from the German Requiem
Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate - We are the Storm
and Serge Rachmininov - #6 from the Vespers
along with talk, snacks, and drinks
Wayward in Limbo
With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series now moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is curating and commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of exclusive material. Many of these will be essentially “live” performances recorded at home for this occasion. Others may create a mix of pre-recorded material that has not been previously released elsewhere.
- from the Wayward Music Series website at https://www.waywardmusic.org/.
April 10, 2021
Raica (Chloe Harris)
1
why am I reading
this opening cyclic metrical pattern
as
first part second
part
it isn't really the particulars of the pitches
or their patterns
is it that there is
||: 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/4 :||
that doesn't let go
it isn't
until deep in
that I'm no longer sure I have been consistent
in assigning
their ordinal functions
but the functioning assignment
continues unabated
even
if erroneous
2
in this one I count to four
to organize a descending sequence
but it does
not continue as cyclically countable
or usefully so
3
here the cyclic is a gently throbbing trochee
possibly groupable in 3s
but
that is not an urgent inescapability
4
less need to group
but easy enough to do
behind and beneath these beats
are
slower tones
catching
passing
in the distance
holed up
further in
5
the beats have fled
we enter the congress of slower tones
in their temples
6
here is where they keep the drumi-tones
articulate as two hands are
7
where the wind blows us
into the threes
Marcus Price
stepwise
it is a sound
that changes pitch
first
not a set of pitches
that
share a sound
or
that share an emitting body
sliders
and dials
readouts in
graphic form
linear chatterers flit past
don't mind the mess
we're doing some
work
is it getting warm
or is it the sunshow coming on
enjoy the pretty
kick back
Recorded
April 11, 2021
Hallelujah - Cotton Belt Quartet [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
vaudeville gospel
Duo Concertante - Igor Stravinsky - Itzhak Perlman, Bruno Canino
I think this was the first middle period Stravinsky that I ever heard
back in
High School
so pretty
so jaunty
this music was a stylish mix
a little song
recital for violin and piano
Partita for Flute, Violin, and Strings - Paul Creston - Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, Scott Goff, Ilkka Talvi
dredging up the baroque as an antidote
to the modern
(times were bad, for
sure)
back then we knew our place
we were servants
entertainers amusing our
betters
in an orderly society
graceful tunes in stepwise descending sequence
harmless
Lincoln Portrait - Aaron Copland - London Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland, Henry Fonda
he really really really really wanted to be The American Composer
we are the
hokum folk
whitewashed our past
some of this contrapuntal stuff is just
holding a space open
prolonging the waiting
a portrait in a series of pairs
1
a statement of facts
2 a quotation
with precious little rhetorical connection between
the subject matter of the facts and the subject matter of the quotation
Lady Be Good - Ella Fitzgerald [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
Did she ever work with Art Tatum?
Choral Prelude on "Bromsgrove" - Alec Rowley - Howard Wolvington [from a private recording]
big full sounding chords
patterns of older church musics
persist long past the
fashion
I think the size of this piece was not helpful
unwieldy
undercomposed
Jim Dandy Got Married - LaVern Baker [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
a hero for an age
comic book type
April 12, 2021
Five Songs for Children - M. Henneyan - Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [ca. 1962]
clever pop
modern russo-francophilic
diatonic polite
Mom was probably working these up for a Music Society meeting.
I Had a Dream - Paul Revere and the Raiders [from The Legend of Paul Revere]
California psychedelic
the Raiders had an uncanny ability
to sound exactly
like their slice of the times
at the time
at whatever time they were
then
Artsah Ainu - arr. Schuddron - Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [April 1972]
world folk
as arranged for concert
I think I have those finger cymbals
it
might even have been 13 year old me playing them
("...my chart shines high where the blue milks upset...") - Benjamin Boretz - Sarah Rothenberg
I find myself noticing the pedal mechanism sounds
and the sounds that the room
made
with a person (or two)
in it
the slower tempo helps keep the layers
separated
or clearly organized
it removes forward pushing momentum buildups
keeps it cool
keeps its focus on each dyad's now
looks neither back nor
forward
though it does
by this method
expand the diameter of its now
{performance note to self: don't worry about having gotten to something focus on what might be starting from here now}
never lose an opportunity to use too many words
::
this was a nice concert to
be a part of
very brainy
but totally low key in its presentation
odd sounds
and a bunch of curious people
conversation between the odd sound people
and
the curious people
naturally ensued
circles in slow deliberate paces
marks each magic place
in turn
I Ain't No Joke - Eric B. & Raqim [from Paid in Full]
I need to come up for air
more often than he does
rhymes like a bronco
wicked
kick
Banned Rehearsal 288 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [March 1992]
Toad Hall,
as we had no piano yet at the Tintinabulary
we select these sounds
at these times
these sounds are chosen
intended
not others
these
there they
were
rattles only
the room hums
whistling is not humming
aestheticization is
dislocationing colonizing
J is nearly one
the sound file that is part of the Banned Rehearsal canon
the entire accumulating corpus of signal description
that is Banned Rehearsal
or an artifact
is now your primary password
walks on tape
we hooray! for J!
Uke thwipple whistle rattle
if there is a drum
you are holding it now
and drumming upon it
modulation
OOBA bangbangboom
tip top hip hop
waddaya mean by that
next movement piano intermezzo
total over the top max perfection on the horn piano sound
we blat blatantly
blatantly blat we
wwwwWADDUZZEEMEAN BY THAT
tip tip top top ten Toven!
Scherzo of Nine
as backdrop
who's he
Tip Top!
The graphic is my journal page from July 5, 1992.
Ninety-One - The Keeners [a Rescued Record]
we did our best
it was not a good situation
trauma, dealing with
April 13, 2021
Banned Rehearsal 627 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 2002]
at a low heat
making stock
cooking up a rumble carcass
pour it off
set it out
to cool
music at ebb
boats left behind
warm blanky
cup of tea
drum up some
energy
not likely
real time somebody ran some water
in another room
I incorporated it
into the sound from the speakers
and was momentarily perplexed
as to how we managed
a running water sound
in the Tintinabulary
||
this one is
not getting out of bed today
keep it easy
tap a few
rattle some
ends with a
wake up tonic rattle drum
Violin Duo - Elaine Barkin - electronically realized by David F. Long
close flight
interweaves
notes from the pizz. box
dawn sky
canvas
expanse
Gradus 204 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 2012]
lots of As
first lot
second lot
us to the lots
there are differences
but the
differences
aren't a lot
until the issue is
if it will be forced
or otherwise
composed
lot one
single tones peacefully pressed
perhaps a modest increase in
notes per minute
not a lot
less than a lot
more insistency perhaps
but single
tones still
Go Pagal - Raftaar, Nindy Kaur, Majn Jusik, Nilesh Patel [from Bollygood Volume 1]
anything might go anywhere
Pavana, Fvb 16 - Traditional - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
though clearly gussied up for appropriate home use
among the gentry
one
presumes another
more common music
from which it must have sprung
Mass for Five Voices - William Byrd - Oxford Camerata - Jeremy Summers
this music cries for its architecture
it doesn't
it can't
properly exist
without a cathedral
makes painfully plain
the inadequacies of recorded sound
and
one presumes
it needs its proper Propers
this is not a concert work
but part and
only a part
of a liturgy
April 14, 2021
Symphony sacrae II "Meine Seele erhebt den Herren", Op. 10 #4 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
each stanza is in turmoil
triple echo on "leer" (empty)
Aria "More Palatino" in C, BuxWV 247 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
it don't mean a thing
if it isn't repletely embellished
and varied
its meaning
becomes clear
through its embellishments
and variations
varying by means of
shipping
with new consorts
Fantasia super Jesu Meine Freude, BWV 713 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Michael Chapuis
constructs a music within which a tune can be hidden
then shows it
what was
within
has come out
Lamentationes pro die Veneris Sancto 2, in F Major - Jan Dismas Zelenka - Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Rene Jacobs, Guy D Mey, Kurt Widmer
early appearance of clarinet (1722)
Sonata in B-flat Major, Wq. 65.9 - Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi
moves with the smallest steps possible
I am holding very still
but I am not
comfortable
single movement
Sonata in C Major, Kk. 117 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
goes
then observes
finds a new angle
goes there
then observes
better leave a
few breadcrumbs
Trio Sonata in C Major - George Phillip Telemann - Opus 4
each movement has a name
perhaps for a tableaux
everybody dresses as an
historical figure
and gives a report
Sonata in D Major, K. 311 (#9) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Lili Kraus
starting to sneak some formal hijinks in
such as the tagline measure at the
end of the first movement's exposition
and then basing the development's
opening
largely on that tagline measure's figuration
composed to attract
attention
please hire me
April 15, 2021
from back when symphonies were
for Haydn at least
mass market money making
ventures
composed to be popular
royal favor no longer being enough
one wonders
were his operas as full of fine music as the 2nd movement of this
I presume
there are some
I may be wrong
[yes there are quite a few and also some
Marionette operas and musical comedies (music lost alas)]
no matter where he
gets to
he has always brought us
right there with him
Sonatina in G Major, Op. 36 #5 - Muzio Clementi- Howard Shelley
good left hand practice
and also for flipping the tune between the hands
keep
it light
Symphony in D Major, Op. 36 (#2) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
I forgot to edit out the needle drop
the pressure is never released
there is
no going back
each move to the next tonal area
goes both up and down
sometimes
out
sometimes in
secret revenge
of the throwaway figuration
melody consisting
of how figurations answer
each other
joinery
this is not Haydnesque
(just
saying)
Sturm und Drang
fully integrated
tres Romantic
the
weather changes
no bottle will hold this
Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 90 #3 - Franz Schubert - Murray Perahia
not among the standard key choices
indication that a bend toward the
subdominant
would take us into realms heretofore unsearched
travel by way of
the relative minor
Etude in E Major, Op. 10 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad
another Romantic key - Bach's influence?had equal temperament finally caught on
or had composer types just begun to stretch their wings
but also and more crucially
a new concept of how keys are expressed
and hence a completely new notion
of what a key might be
::Consult the Oracle
the always seemed so suited to the flock
friend brick factory had a stained a grimy
was copper in back the tin minister's
Reality Check::
monologue in the world
the ground wind sees
emphatically the sound of creaking house
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