Preface
"And soon the world rattled by its modern catastrophes and complexities was grasping at the imagery of scientific thought, the sensibility of transcendently counterintuitive phenomena and concepts, of reality cognizable only by way of mathematical modeling, of scientific and transcendental and psychologistic philosophy infiltrating into the mainstream culture; and was disgorging an array of expressive reactions to all of this in aggressive forms of overt detachment: the detachment of absolute control by maximal rational regimentation of every aspect of composed text, or complementary detachment of control maximally relinquished by a discipline of submission to an arbitrary externality or the determination of structure by a process of random correlation. And it was significant that these were not only the methods of composition, but its sensibility as well.
. . .
The aesthetic was authenticated by its totalism, its obliviousness to the need to yield at any point to a listener's need for access, for a point of contact with common experience or concept. The terms of the discourse were reinvented, cognative with discursive territories previously remote from music, from 'art'-talk. The hardass languages of physics, logical philosophy, I Ching, Zen. . . made the vocabularies of Futurism, Busoni, Scriabin, even Schoenberg and Webern look almost Pre-Raphaelite gauzy - certainly made their music sound all warm and fuzzy suddenly."
- Benjamin Boretz - "A Quasi-Personal Reflection on Milton Babbitt's Centenary and its Celebrations" from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
September 25, 2021
Encore - Anthony Braxton Quartet [from Anthony Braxton Quartet Birmingham 1985]
Bursts assert
together apart together
September 26, 2021
Tell All The World About You - Ray Charles [from What'd I Say]
ninety nine parts gospel
Love is 4 Me - Rina Sawayama [from Sawayama]
first blush
the voice has a similar pitch and ping to Madonna
the
volume of the projection is armor
Don't Leave Me This Way - Tina Turner [from Twenty Four Seven]
prayer anthem
Things You Say - Whitney Houston [from Just Whitney]
vocal cadenzas applied liberally
Recorded
September 25, 2021
Soft Winds - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [April 10, 1962]
Hollywood heaven sheen lushness
The Unicorn - The Irish Rovers [from The Unicorn]
This song really took my 8 year-old fancy. Though I didn't know it for years, it was my first introduction to the work of Shel Silverstein. I remember singing it to myself in the empty lots below our house, before they built houses down there, leaping across ditches from dirt mound to dirt mound, and being surprised and mortally embarrassed to be discovered at it by a neighbor girl.
This Is Your Life Betty Eisenbrey [Bellevue First United Methodist Church, June 4, 1972]
My Mom was feted at about the time she was moved out of her 15 years of
employment directing the choirs at BFUMC, helped along by injuries from an
automobile accident that made it difficult to conduct, but also pushed by the
new pastor, who was not happy with women in leadership positions in the
church. But this was quite a nice gesture - an hourlong program at the front
of an ice-cream social, after the pattern of the old television show.
Back in the time when choir robes were made by the church members by
hand.
By the end there were 5 choirs: Cherub (for the littlest ones),
Carol (for the girls) and Wesley Boys (for the boys) Chapel (I don't recall
this one precisely) and Chancel (for the adults). The show finished with the
assembled masses singing Jacob's Ladder and Kum Ba Ya.
Clash City Rockers - The Clash [from The Clash]
invasion of the British Urban attitude
resentful of the image of
suburban Penny Lane quaintness
Intermezzo I - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 22, 2010]
taking a leisurely amble throughout it
(but not as slow as originally
conceived,
nor as fast as for the recital I gave of all six of them in
1984.
Slow enough to be plenty spacious
giving time for each step
to sink in.
It has been a long road from here to the fingerbook.
a shapely piece, on to something
September 26, 2021
Overture to The Barber of Seville - Gioachino Rossini [from 100 Greatest Classics, Vol. 7]
in the slow intro
the passage starting with the long oboe note
on
an harmonically ambiguous pitch
gradually adding notes
until the
goal is clear
very much like how some rock/pop/jazz songs
as
commercially arranged
work a similar play
with ambiguous parts of
the meter
interesting to think
that for Rossini
Spain was an
exotic locale
(though one with which Beaumarchais was familiar).
Banned Rehearsal 296 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [July 10, 1992]
drum
ocarina as spring corps
sedentary division
we stop
regroup various things
roll sticks and Funmaker drums
each
toot
there are many
has a unique pitch contour
as does each
triangle strike
the big
come in for dinner
triangle
not the little
shiny
one
 |
| my journal entry of January 10, 1995 |
and we have Aaronsbundler on the Funmaker
scratching the radio
an episodic feel to it
though they move into and out of each other without trouble
snare drum
radio noise
duet
some egregiously harsh sounds in there
listen at your own risk
piercing
if this doesn't scour your ears out clean
nothing will
the guy on the radio mentioned
the given culture wars
where does this fit
Amazing Grace
awesome
take me out to the ballgame
our portrait of America
root root root
for the toot toot tooter man
you do not have green eggs and ham
a quest is made
September 27, 2021
Notorious Thugs (Amended/Remastered) - The Notorious B.I.G.[from Life After Death]
defining articulate on his own terms
verbal and musical
Work / Architecture / Unity / And / The (Demo) 020112B - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [January 12, 2002]
playing a recorded version of the piano back into the space
for live
percussion to interact with
balance is a problem
but I was going
for test of concept
not public consumption
September 28, 2021
Watching You Go - Jennifer O'Connor and Choo Choo La Rouge [a Rescued Record]
this could be a St. Rage song (by Carol Anne?)
perfectly suited to
acoustic guitar and woman's voice
exactly the size the song demands
a significant portion of the value of the Gradus project has been, for me, the sheer time it takes, time I have used to think about music, how we put it together in our earbrains.
listening to the piano
making sounds that don't put themselves together
as music
often
exactly
hearing what those sounds sound like
a focused
long term
meditational cogitation project
from our discussions
it is clear to me
that there is no
intent
that this be any sort of music
other than what it ends up
being
that is
simply the music
that arises
out of the
procedure
Exercices - Dara Haxo - Splinter Reeds [from Hypothetical Islands]
1
still moments moving into and through
2
organized functions to the figuration
the chords are one thing
and the oboe tune is another
they are in the same room
looking at each other
the bassoon may be an ally for either
what is constant seems so likely at first
the company pulls it along
figurational peer pressure
such a nice garden
Symphoniae Sacrae II, Op. 10 #22 "Von Aufgang der Sonnen" - Heinrich Schütz - Academy Augustana
more basso and basso profundo
the two voice parts have some canonic
stuff going on between them
but I suspect much more besides
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major (Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1) - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jaccottet
sweeping exhilaration
whoosh
catch your breath
ready
here we go
Sonata in E Major, Kk. 134 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
jumps right in
elbows and all
Sonata in G Major, Wq. 62.19 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi
1
these items don't balance
they elaborate
without balancing
quite
2
the bass line supports
but also comments to the side
who
me?
3
where were we going again?
textile art
two recorders and continuo
woofing and warping away
social music for the musicians' social enjoyment
Symphony in B-flat Major (#35) - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austo-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
dynamic punches
something else he can use to pattern with
a bit of
the old Sturm und Drang in the B section
a nice series of sequences may
get it straightened back out
Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 412 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Seattle Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, John Cerminaro
horn posing as lyric baritone
comes across as smarter than Papageno does
Sonata in D Major, Op. 28 "Pastorale" - Ludwig van Beethoven - Wilhelm Kempff
we follow the course of a brook through fields and forest pools and rocks
it is always the same thread of water
certain of its flow
things look different at night
and here a happy window
not
for me though
woe and curses and woe
prodded awake in the haystack
hey it's morning
a pleasant view stroll
just stay away from
the geese
and city thoughts
September 29, 2021
Etude in E-flat minor, op. 10 #6 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot [1933]
a vocal study
breath support is everything
thinking the whole
phrase to the end
even when it might take a turn
Selection 14 from Selections from The Nutcracker - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
such a twirling of silk skirts
Trinidad Paseo - Lovey's Trinidad String Band [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
twisty tune head hangs in a tight corner of the tonality
Kitchen Mechanic Blues - Excelsior Quartette [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]
a black pride sketch
switch rhymes kitchen and chicken
I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now - Jean Goldkette [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
tin pan alley harmonies
ready for Broadway or the screen
Hollywood
finessed ending composed
with the engineer's red light in mind
Moten Swing - Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra [from The Smithosonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
big band arrangement
with wiggle room
one must keep the dancers
happy
Love Me - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]
relatively subdued for Art
until suddenly it goes crazy for a stretch
I thought for a moment he could play it straight
but I guess not
Symphony 1 - Bohuslav Martinů - Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Peter Flor
the struggle to remember
the curtains rise unwillingly
when we
lift
we all have to lift together
big tune is a corporate endeavor
information can be difficult to access
quite the times we live in
the chord voicing verges on too much too much of the time
but it's
kind of fun
a bit like Art Tatum actually
if an orchestral sweep can be slotted in
then do it
and he does
seem to be mostly immune
to the tunebird virus
keeps it away with
muscle dance
musical material includes its harmonic density as a proper
part
must have been unconscious
are all dead
counting
snare drum
Achtung
as if prearranged
Spiel - Karlheinz Stockhausen - Sinfonie-Orchester des Sudwestfunks, Karlheinz Stockhausen
follow instruction precisely
leave music to the experts
if the
instructions are precise enough
they'll presume it's smart and cool and
modern
and yet behind it all
lurks the Romantic Symphony
fastloud/slowsoft affective movement
No Huhu (Don't Be Mad) - Rusty Draper [a Rescued Record]
no huggy huggy by the cherry tree
if you don't make it with the rice and
shoe
no hu hu
sex strike threat?
Hully Gully Callin' Time - The Jive Five [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
another dance call
do the Frank Sinatra
do the Hula Hoop
(registered trademark r mark here)
no mashed potato though
If I Could Build My Whole World Around You - Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
they're starting to build these around separately recorded tracks
corporate engineering
Natural High - Bloodstone [a Rescued Record]
slow dance devotional time
one presumes it's about another human
September 30, 2021
Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]
old dude stepping into the shoes of someone's idea of someone's fantasy
simply tries too hard
I'm your bad boy dream boat
Adoration - Keith Johnston
hard surfaces
all sides
inside long tubes
metallic shouts
and drum strikes
a beast down there
bellowing
spatial
placement
nonliteral on this end
by being literal space to start
with
an announcer discusses a large number of Canadian businessmen
another sound with non-literal spatial placement
here produced by octave
differentiation
register and dynamic contrast
malleable space
1st and 3rd A-nats up
101 as it were
another take on
counting
each pitch class is separate from the others
the a-nats
count
and the E-nats count etc.
so that each rung could be
expressed as a matrix or an array
12 rows 8(7) columns
add 4 or 5
columns as necessary
to make a 12x12 grid
and one could make a
rung by reading vertically
if the keyboard had 12 full octaves
OR
one could use a different smaller modulus
so that the quantity of pitch
classes in play
equaled the quantity of modulus cycles contained within
the keyboard
OR adjust the tuning
9x9:81
closest fit
the extra 7 notes could be part of a separate grid
perhaps a
transposition factor
or some other function altogether
clumsy but
perhaps useful in another context
I note that Neal is currently
here in 2021
moving up and down the registers like a land surveyor
charting sections in a township
back and forth
left to right
down a section
right to left
down a section
left to
right
the fist pitch was a low one
so the last will also be a low
one
F-sharp??
This Is Always - Morgana King [from This Is Always]
nightclub combo
brush drums
piano
guitar
a string
synth (I think?)
some horns
could also be synth
or smoothly
recorded live studio performers
distinctive vowels to finesse the
chromatic appoggiaturas
slipping in just so
Banned Rehearsal 452 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
the path begins in thorns
tools will be required
progress will be
slow
we have time
it can be a delicate business
such low
lusciousness accumulant
where it goes
nor if we know
not a
new space
we will pause
clarinet and infant wail
internal
duet
piano and electric guitar
another
we are reduced
perhaps it is night
when we sleep
we strum
when we
drum
we dream
the guitar persists throughout
hoping to
provide a cover
for any else that might ring
shaker evening
scrape and sing
on the downhill slope
done
{{from my journal entry of January 2, 2005}}:
immediate fiddly noise, settling down to find its slower rhythm - but explosive, or suppressed, restless - adolescent. then dim to just guitar and room fiddling, tickly bangmetal deep low dij in drainpipe support guitar solo - morphing background sounds - organ 16' stops in du and chimney. The Creation of the Mondo. the Giant BIG FAT sound. The 500 lb gorilla of our mutual antagonisms. Isaac sings a yeah yeah yeah. we sing back. well in we fall apart - become, to Anna giggle, just piano & guitar & Isaac - (then drums) and we've all back. fussy. And then some really nice stuff - guitar, piano - fluty throaty, clarinet-y, clacks. ocarina-y. DIM --> to tiny sounds (and big CLACK. I wish the clarinet were not so melodic, so stepwise breath lengthy - better when he flips into the overblow. dim again ugly morning-after music. then, except for the woodbang - could be the soundtrack to some nature-show. complete with bell-tree and harmonics - continuing into some fabulous percussion sounds. if anything, it suffers from a kind of easy music-y persona - after the great bells the guitar gets too empty-big. like a balloon - fat and unavoidable, but void. over-use of room resonance. this focus on one aspect of our acoustic space has a similar function in the pitch-timbre reality, as steady beats and ostinati have in the ongoingness. We devolve profoundly into conversational though members attempt to keep it going. We practice some close pitch singing - with rattles- which actually ends up getting pretty fun -
Tilt - Jarrad Powell [from Natural Selection]
monument melodic
articulate synthetic embouchure
sputter and pop
and tongue and cavern
damn fine cup of skald this music is
Consider the Birds Mix with pine forest - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
species of sounds
in an environment of species of pulsing
the
sound of this mix
is nicely transparent
made with a preset called
pine forest
In Session at the Tintinabulary
Banned Rehearsal 1035 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer
We gather as we have been, Neal calling in from Outpost Lake City
September 27, 2021
Postscripts
::Consult the Oracle
all the of this belong to has more it
enters into we can say that there are
possible deeper than the many kinds
Reality Check::
the wizard
inverts
his desert
No comments:
Post a Comment