"If you're trying to assert authority what musical purpose are you pursuing -- and if you could succeed in asserting authority what musical purpose would that accomplish? Do I get any musical payoff for you being right - as against what I get from your offering an imaginative listening model based on an imaginative idea which might have an interesting transformative effect on my experience of some music - even if the particular transformative effect it has is beyond your control?"
Benjamin Boretz - "inside in, outside out" from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020
Texts
Streaming
February 22, 2022
Tarantino Études - Nicole Lizée - Leanna Keith
rhythm track derived from film sound
followed by flute
as though
it were our attention
though the command structure is not clear
from the sound alone
the flute may be
may as well be
controlling the film sound
certainly transforming it by commentary
From Recent Arrivals
What Have They Done To My Song, Ma - Nina Simone [from Here Comes the Sun]
tied it up in a plastic bag
not produced from the beat up
but from the song in
Tears Inside - Ornette Coleman [from Tomorrow is the Question!]
holes in the beat
the ride cymbal's sixteenth note touch
is
sometimes missing
in fact
but never in the ear
Chaconde - Peggy Lee [from Sea Shells]
a little harp solo
vaguely Celtic
this track is notably lacking in
evidence
of Peggy Lee
I'm Yours - Prince [from For You]
a quick body dancing
one could read this as a come-on
from a girl
to a boy
just as
if not
more easily
it's
like that sort of come-on
in its image of surrendering
i.e.
it is not masculine to give up
as I understand pop masculinity
Recorded
Le Rossignuol, Fvb 86 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
if a figure replicates
too far from its source
it mutates
within a stylistically circumscribed field of possibilities
of
which the boundaries aren't certain
Ich habe genug, BWV 82 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmut Rilling, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Bach is generous with time
to contemplate the text
we proceed in
long periods
space around every statement
no word
hurried
through
the solid worth
of the text
and the solid worth
of the Church
are both made quite clear
nothing frivolous
here
the bindings of societal pressure are strong in this one
I
rejoice on my death
yikes
loves to add that little extra
at
figures' ends
opens all the doors
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 169 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
a canon in the first phrase
then together
establishes a time
between which
things might happen
for an index
Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [Royal Festival Hall, 1963]
1
motivic figurations expand in crescendi
then shrink into the
accompaniment
of the next big thing
to come along
carrying
with it
its demonstrated potential
tempo
hang time as
though airborne
sprung into
weightlessness
2
let's talk about time
shall we
come we'll use a scalpel
we'll lay the parts out
here on this
table
so that
we can compare sizes
3
we'll relax
with some dancing in the ballroom
4
furious races
and wrestling on the lawn
some counterpoints
fell apart here
but their outlines
can still be seen
solemn
measurements are made
deliberations in authoritative tones
general
acclamation
Chant polonaise #12 "Moja piesczotta" - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot
time floats in this space
Steamboat Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers - Chicago Days]
high spirits
for stomping good times
dancers wanted
quick
change
surprise
to break up the moves
Cross Road Blues (SA 2624-2) - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]
his lines are thrown with effort
especially in their middles
singing is an ordeal
the tune as presented at the start
is arranged within a regular sequence
of 3 + 1 iterations
but it doesn't sit in them square
it fidgets
Street of Dreams - Peggy Lee [from Dream Street]
{NB I think these were the words of an advertising blurb for a real estate
brokerage my Mom may have worked for}
careful who you follow
out
there
at midnight
and where
they're
taking you
Unchained Melody - Charlie Rich [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]
that much covered song
that has nothing to do
with chains
as
such
a popular
slow dance
one presumes
1
these scenes go by quickly
oh it's quieter here
if all of this
were happening to a character
on a screen
you
would feel sorry for them
moves operatically
a pantomime
without mimes
or pants
perhaps
or
just the pants
2
at night
far out in the flown-over lands
the queasy soul
of the Union
little comfort is possible
3
factory functions
pushed along
against pressure
up
the line
expressionist recomposition
of Modern Times
lovely ending
Betcha By Golly Wow - The Stylistics [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
string together
the most overthetop
bubblegum
sentiments
then sell it
nails pop so effectively
it transforms it
and itself
another
slow dance
the intro outlines the entire breadth of the verse
a play with time and
its sizes
Blood Brother - Walt Wagner [from The Evening Muse]
Seattle's quintessentially tasteful lounge pianist
he seems more
comfortable in his skin here
than in other recordings of his I have
heard
Whirled Series - Milton Babbitt - Marshall Taylor, Charles Abramovic
two quick squirrels
trying to catch each other
at making an incorrect
move
they've gotten quite good
at this little game
we call them gestures rightly
more pantomime
face hands and body
in motion
February 21, 2022
Banned Rehearsal 311 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 13, 1992]
bang bang bang bang
John gets a bang
out of the word bang
playing with toy noisemakers
rattles
pin the VU meters
funmaker
so here
at the Tintinabulary
toddler attention
trims the focus
not that it loses focus at
all
guitar ukulele dij
occasional bell balloon squeak
don't pop
it
 |
| My journal entry of June 6, 1996 |
Aaron holds down the fort
with a bell and a kalimba
drum announces the passing parade
which promptly collapses in a heap
picks it up
collapses again
noisier and longer
humpty with sibilance and
rattles
and variations
unlearning rhythm band
the wheel rings unperturbed
Messe de Saint Marcel - Ensemble Organum [from Portrait]
explicit index pitch
(drone)
moves
in response to the
melody's advice
Toccata - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, October 25, 2002]
an exploration
by feel
in which I wondered
what would it
sound like
if two different arithmetics
danced together
very much a toccata
despite the general lack of finger display
nicely played past me!
Advice From A Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland - Unsuk Chin - Alicia Lee
graceful pomposity
and spitting spite
stretches out
shrinks
back
Banned Rehearsal 813 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 7, 2012]
speech
is self
contained
it
occupies the mind
wholly
allowing
of no fellows
scratch and scrabble
how they might
Canyons of the Escalante - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Further Journey]
guitars and geology
with us always
en la noche
February 22, 2022
Meadowbrook Park 220209 - Keith Eisenbrey
chains of bird calls
answering into the distance
traffic a jet
some passersby
song birds
crows gulls
ducks
another
jet
rushing water in the distance
a truck backing up
beep
beep
ducks quack
in two tempos
did choral imitation of entrances
derive from bird calls
answering
each other?
reset
remind
the smallest moves
Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Howard Wolvington [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, May 6, 2018]
question
were Preludes and Fugues
or Toccatas and Fugues
commonly used
as part of 18th Century Lutheran liturgy?
Do
they arise in any other milieu?
Sonata in C Major, Kk. 170 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
spilling over
cadence after cadence
balance after balance
Sonata in C minor, Op. 132 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Artur Schnabel
1
the first stable key center
is none too stable
the key
is the entire tortioned matrix
of crossbraced
figures
you're right Ludwig
a fugue won't help much
2
within the ordered sequence
of time-point accumulations
in
the progress of these variations
occurs
a terrifying quantity
of twisted voice leadings
these things can't be told to a crowd
imitate or impersonate a dance orchestra
tell the whole story of a dance
from the person of the orchestra
February 23, 2022
Singin' The Blues - Bix Biederbecke [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]
dancing
to singin'
the blues
showing moves
politely
but with imagination
I'm a Livin' on the Mountain - The Log Cabin Boys [from Evans 78s]
in a time of increasing urbanization
effusions of nostalgia
or
advertisement
or propaganda
for the idylls of rural life
Rock Island Line - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Lead Belly Legacy, Volume 1]
the rhythm of his
"road to ride"
doesn't conform
to
notational ratios
After Haydn - Benjamin Boretz
trying on old shoes
one can practically see the stirring video presentation
full of flags
and battle
(convenience bags will be found
under your seats)
not sure
what the slap stick
does for it
it does Lincoln's text
no favors to sing it
will there by fireworks?
those
who neglect to give
a standing ovation
will be shot
in the lobby
Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
gender inverted
Frankie and Johnnie
Don't Do It - The Band [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and the Beat]
advice for Joe?
nope
more jealous guy
don't make me
hm
fuzzed guitar entrance
echoes the pig grunts
of course
this
is mean to hogkind
whom we eat
|| an attempt to unspool a symphonic expanse
using tools designed for
two minutes thirty
drones
moving at calculated increments
Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]
Meaningful™
BJ is like one of those actors
who thinks they have a
good side
and only allows himself
to be shown therefrom
it's
in his contract
Banned Telepath 9 San Diego - Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 20, 1987]
this appears as darkness
Aaron was visiting San Diego
from
Berkeley
in California
one must be spacy
and timey
is it possible
to understand
our own brain
potato
an incursion
of amplification threatens feedback
with friends
collapses on the sofa
in a rumbly lump
begins to snore softly
and somberly
wakes
a sudden trouble
with eyelids
a position he held
for twelve years
killed by the plague
the slow of sound
compulsive
handwashing
a rare glimpse
into the private world
of the woman at 10 Downing
Street
in the grooooves
of this record
is the sound
of John Cage
in the groooooves
why am I doing this
we'll never know
the end of Kathleen
who cleaned
Tear This Building Down - T-Bone Burnett [from The Criminal Under My Own Hat]
Bo Diddley opening
steady thing
for a count of beats
steady
things
for counts of beats
steps 2.7 millimeters to the side
for shorter counts of beats
in increasing frequency
to the
end
or to the guitar solo
answers
then fade
as it
shreds
Banned Rehearsal 465 side A - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 11, 1997]
beats form and halt
are tested
setting adjusted
let's try
violin
somebody brought their synth over
to play with the
Wurlitzers
synthscribble toypiano and angklung
join in
the
scribbling piano and chimney and drums
give the synth room
it
wants to sing
we are full of noise this evening
honks and hoots
must be Aaron's synth,
there's his Bundler
Elegy No. 2 - Tom Baker - Ryan Hare [from Intrada]
fabulous multiphonic
low blats
a music made of distinct sounds
distinct motions
characteristic complexes
in sequence
as though
a sense might be made of them
but if so
that
sense
is yours
not its
necessarily
Consider the Birds 8 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]
another busy 3 seconds of sound
they speak for 30 seconds
at the end of such a sunny day
Ghosting Doubles (second sighting) (after Amy Denio) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at the Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, on March 24, 2018]
this is the pretty one
I was interested in writing a music
that
could be put together variously
a music
in which
any set of
the parts
would fit together
and transform themselves
differently
in each configuration
Amy's piece
which forms the thread
is sufficiently strong
as
to withstand that punishment
intact and inviolate
and devious
enough
to be able
to blend in
with my chromatic shenanigans
Flow - Michael Bisio, Matthew Shipp [from Flow of Everything]
bass
(upright)
and piano
(outflat
one presumes)
a common sense of a pulse
emerges but not importunely
moves
forward
ever forward
quickly liquid
an unstoppable flood
February 24, 2022
Fantasia, Fvb 88 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
state the basis clearly
elucidate clearly
don't be shy about
ramifications
let it all hang out
Goldberg Variations - Johann Sebastian Bach - Trevor Pinnock
spokes
or a journey
or in a spiral
i.e. both
perhaps
an ellipse
or perhaps
a browse
through stacks
the theme comes apart
in the variations
recognizable bits
come loose
dismantles itself
definitely has spoke nature
but without the by-the-book set
of figuration shifts
as in a
typical Mozartean set
it wanders
and returns
to proximity
or
each variation
is differently proximate
Ouverture in C Major, Op. 134 "The Consecration of the House" - Ludwig van Beethoven - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
introduction
is in a rock solid
unknown tempo
those bassoons are just weird
it may
consecrate
but
it
doesn't settle
every cadence is abuzz
is it in C?
well
sort of
it
doesn't really
want
to say
probably
maybe
Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 64 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Peter Katin
fluid change
from segment to segment
tour guide tune
follow
me
and I'll show you secrets
[from my journal entry of February 26, 2004:
delight in the peculiarities of angles that tunes can turn.}
In Session at the Tintinabulary
February 21, 2022
Rungs for Neal (page 1) take 1 - Keith Eisenbrey
February 22, 2022
Rungs for Neal (page 1) take 2- Keith Eisenbrey
February 24, 2022
Rungs for Neal (page 2) take 1 - Keith Eisenbrey
Rungs for Neal (page 2) take 2 - Keith Eisenbrey
The last part of my Études d'exécution imminent consists of 4 pages of score, each of which contains a peculiarly ordered list of notes. Each of the above takes 1 has an error, in that I played a note that wasn't in the list. Oops. It doesn't matter all that much, but I did another just to have a correct version. All the takes are quite gratifying to me.
In my mind at the time of the score, and while performing, is, of course, Neal Kosály-Meyer's decades long project Gradus for Fux, Tesla, and Milo the Wrestler. His lists of notes are derived differently than mine (though mine exist within that universe, and could (howsoever unlikely) theoretically appear in some future session) but I was (I fancy to myself) essentially doing what he does - improvising within the set of notes.
What I found interesting in listening back is that it is the notes as they come along that form the perceived set, not the score (which is otherwise non-existent to the listener) that determines the notes played. Although I am not playing in the same style as Neal (I can't) I believe I am, in my head, doing exactly what Neal is, in his head, doing.
February 25, 2022
Anybody's Fingerbook 3x3 (augmentational) B C D - Keith Eisenbrey
The 14th part of Études d'exécution imminent is a bunch of finger exercises. Here is one of them.
Joshua Tree Prelude 5 - Aaron Keyt
I think I'm going to try this one again next week. A bobble-oops snuck in that I missed at the time I recorded.
Prelude in E minor - Keith Eisenbrey
At first, upon listening, I thought my tempo was too slow. Upon reflection I think it is just right in a just wrong sort of way.
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
more doodles from 1987
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