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| The "Breaking-up" of the Seminary |
Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - from "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
January 21, 2023
Fors seullement contra ce - Johannes Ockeghem - Blue Heron, Scott Metcalfe
melody dance
with melody dance
with melody dance
with ear
mind
lines weave through
the dance of melodies
ear mind's
attention
dances with it all
G**** Round, Fvb 216 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Book]
to the extent that this written-down music
was a transcription
of
a not-written-down music
the accuracy of the transcription
is
subject to the limits of the extant technology
of writing music down
as well as to the concepts then capable of being transcribed
L'Euridice, Scene III - Giuilio Caccini - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Matteo Bellotto, Anna Simboli, Marco Scavazza, Monica Piccinini, Raffaele Giordani, Silvia Frigato, Mauro Borgioni
all action is within the language
character is within the voice
Sonata in A minor, Kk. 217 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
a thoughtful jumpy figure gives a tour
piquant dissonances pepper their
patter
everything is patiently explained
String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 50 #1 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Tatrai Quartet
1
a steady pulse figure
firm ground
reminder
comfort
script
2
quiet reflection and placidity :||: worry concerns plans :||: quiet
reflection and placidity :|| firm determination calm restored
3
one
playing hide and seek
behind syncopations
hemiolas
and pretenders of the one
4
a lively game of repartee
holding a straight face
Medea, Act III - Luigi Cherubini - Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas, Maria Luisa Nache, Fedora Barbieri, Gino Penno, Giuseppe Modesti, Angela Vercelli, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Vittore Veneziani
opening based on a single figure
each iteration transforms our hearing
of each preceding iteration
spiral curve within spiral curve
the beginning of the action
is mostly inaction
stuck
hovering
teetering
an interlude
a new single figure
a new twisted
spiral
knife edge
live recording
the prompter is clearly audible
great horn crescendo to oboe decrescendo
worthy of Berlioz
Sonata in D minor, Op. 31 #2 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Paul Badura-Skoda
1
the opening contrast of gestures spans the history of stringed sounds
from strummed lyre to fortepiano
the crescendo early in the
development
is frightening
the fortepiano being used
has a
wicked scowl in the bass clef range
2
expanding on the original contrast
this movement is
ostentatiously gracious
even portentous
but
3
is not even
explosive rather
battle among the registers
however old Chopin really was
when he composed this
it shows a
remarkably balanced sense of how a key might be established
in
and
as
a keyboard color
Impromptu in F minor, Op. 142 #4 - Franz Schubert - Alfred Brendel
although the major minor contrast
was a staple of Romantic expression
Schubert has his own way of moving from one to the other
it can
color the entirety of our environment
by the change of a single pitch
Called to the Foreign Field - Alfred G. Karnes [from Goodbye, Babylon]
romanticizing colonization
the sacrifice made
to go on mission
is structurally similar
to the popular American notion
of
what a jihad is
is there a unique
we
in use here
as might be like
the
Ziegfield-Follies-small-song-and-dance-ensemble's we
id est
the we
that is used by such an ensemble
when they reference their
ensemble's self
I'm Going to Lock Up My Heart (and Throw Away the Key) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
the joy at being able to be oneself
with others
on top of which
music
Billie sings about the freedom of isolation
Laura (solo) - Erroll Garner [from Erroll Garner on Dial]
out-Rachmaninoffing Rachmaninoff
out-Gershwinning Gershwin
a tour
of every sappy Hollywood dramatic moment ever
I Surrender Dear - Ray Charles [from The Great Ray Charles]
how many recordings of this song do I have?
awesome piano playing there
Mr. Charles
sweet as berry pie
To Know Her Is To Love Her - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings Volume 2]
we can do that
let's do that
we can make one like it
let's
make one like it
we can invent a new one
let's invent a new one
The Hills of Mexico - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
we're still stuck in older music over here in America
Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin [from Young, Gifted and Black]
nothing matters
but to keep the dance moving
Diego Rivera - Conlon Nancarrow, Charles Amirkhanian [from Conlon Nancarrow Speaks with Charles Amirkhanian]
wore overalls all the time
It Tango - Laurie Anderson [from Big Science]
industrial production doing intellectual
as best it can
which is
profoundly hampered by its own premise
Banned Telepath 13 San Diego - Anna K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 26, 1987]
can rattle
beat laid down
utensils for drumming
or cooking
there is a shriek
there's another one
oops
we
unplugged for a second there
thumping and shaking
tire of one
shake rhythm
change to another
an intermittency of jingly bells
like radio static
pulse clung to
holding pattern
to
fill the time
with doing doing
if there is a beat
it is
generally kept with
a guitar is plucked for its harmonics
keep at
a beat long enough
and one is likely to find a known music
and a
sudden song
I Hope I Get To Where I'm Goin'
Flight of the Tuba Bee - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov/Cable - The Canadian Brass [from The Essential Canadian Brass]
the tonguing makes the notes clear
but they beg speaking their pitch
Seven Years in Tibet (Mandarin Version) - David Bowie [from Earthling]
presuming
though I don't know
that Mr. Bowie did not actually
speak Mandarin
the question arises
of whether the words
still mean whatever they mean in Mandarin
if
the speaker
only knows
or has been informed
that the words mean X
then
they are speaking phonemes
for which they have been provided
a
correspondence
or translation
not the words themselves
Track 4 - The Humidiflyers [from Late Fall Unfinished Sketches]
43 seconds of instrumental
this was not that time
but there was a time
when Ben was visiting
and sat in on a session of Gradus
his comment or challenge
was to play the higher notes
as the partials or harmonics of the
lower
an inversion of acoustical fact
I have since then
if I
understood Ben correctly
been puzzled by that comment
like how?
theory:
an intentional mind warp
id est
if you play as
though acoustics behaved differently
would the result be different
they would be from the player's point of view
if the mind warp
could be accomplished
my piece
High and Inside
could
be seen as an attempt to compose that way
sort of
any pitch can be
considered to represent a partial
produced by a set of pitches
comprising fundamentals
that include the pitch within its set of
partials
but the question also points to the listener
id est
can the listener hear the higher pitch
as
the fundamental of
the lower
or:
a fundamental and a harmonic
are in a
functional relation
as well as in an acoustic one
can the ear
distinguish the two relations?
the fundamental is just one among the
many harmonics
comprising a note or tone or pitch
we conflate
"fundamental"
with the "index pitch" of a note
but they are not
the same thing
they belong in entirely different conceptual realms
Impae - $.99 Dreams [from Brood of Bau]
the glorious march of the people's data
battle of the breach
a
long film cue
January 24, 2023
Banned Rehearsal 938 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 3, 2017]
from Telepaths 57
mixing the tapes accomplishes a change to both inputs
Anchorage flute and Seattle slide whistle match their colors
Banned telepathy works outside of consciousness
(consciousless)
we touch the sphere of sound
at a tangent
or subtend a
shallow arc
a quiet evening
remains so
though
samples
are now available for later study
from a base we are lifted
or swivel through onrushing terrain
base
established
by cyclic verticalities
Fantasia, Fvb 217 - Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
you start
we will follow after
by our own way
begin again
while continuing
but go
by yet another way
all
keep all
in sight
Cold Penitentiary Blues - B. F. Shelton [from Allen Lowe's Really The Blues]
now I'm gone astray
oh boy
takes his time getting to how he got
there
we may never know
Sun Showers - Louis Armstrong [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
lifts everything he touches
Au-Leu-Cha - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]
bounces aloft with tricky feet
Tout Doucement - Blossom Dearie [from Blossom Dearie]
to doucement
or not to doucement
to do some more
toujour
Space Jazz Reverie - Sun Ra [from The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra]
conjoined solos
sax and piano
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) - Thelonious Monk [from Standards]
rhythmic chaconne
purifying iself
hella ride
Get It While You Can - Janis Joplin [from In Concert]
she's talking to you
right from the core
I Wish You Wouldn't Say That - Talking Heads [from Talking Heads: 77]
bright surface
words' meaning can't cut through
cowpoke tempo
camp with the stars
Pour a Little Water on the Flowers - Bonnie Guitar [from Dark Moon and Other Country Favorites]
hard not to like this
but there is a disconnect between the size of the
band
and the size of her voice
put the song on loop and fade
Any Time At All - T. Bone Burnett [from The Criminal Under My Own Hat]
best song on the album so far
no preaching nice
guitar playing
Gradus 28 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 24, 2002]
playing two notes as though they were the same
tying tightly
3rd
and 4th As up
the first harmonic of the lower A
matches the pitch
of the fundamental of the higher A
but quickly
that harmonic A
is no longer attached to its own fundamental
it floats
independently
Holding Out for Ein Helden - Christopher DeLaurenti [from Favorite Intermissions]
splashy effects wander the stage
the coming main attraction leaks in
I'm Just A Slave - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Blue Moon, October 4, 2012]
outline of an arrangement
for a virtual venue
Tanguska - Ephrata [from Ephrata]
upper end cranked up bright
Banned Rehearsal 1059 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt [September 12, 2022]
sounds as results of behavior
is the energy of the behavior
proportionate to the energy of the results
paths of attention
actual sequence
is a challenge
a lazy ear will categorize
and generalize
earthbound and airborne
Coranto, Fvb 218 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
pressing the expressive capacity of learned elegance into every corner
a
full statement
I'm Gonna Cross the River of Jordon - Some of These Days - Jaybird Coleman [from Goodbye, Babylon]
trope:
seeing loved ones in the afterlife
a form of ancestor
worship
this one seems to have a certain amount of revenge to it
I'm gonna tell her
(my Momma)
how you treat me
Back Room Romp - Duke Ellington - Rex Stewart and His Fifty-Second Street Singers [from Ken Burns Jazz]
gradual accumulation
break into the clear
bounce each other into
the spotlight
great trombone wowl
what I was missing in the used to be
I'm getting frequently
hints at what she is capable of
in the threefold final phrase
There'll Be (Peace in the Valley) - Elvis Presley [from Elvis' Christmas Album]
skyrocket pitches fade after bloom
shows off his lower pipes
Great Day - The Staple Singers [from Hammer and Nails]
focused on judgment
expert clapping
Goodbye, Mrs. Durkin - The Irish Rovers [from The Unicorn]
and the other house besides
rhyme play
as sure as my name is
Barney
I'm off to Califarney
If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody - Bonnie Raitt [from Give It Up]
unconditional devotion
with an accusation chaser
106 Beats That - Wire [from Pink Flag]
rise of the DIY
we'll make our own damn music
screw you
Automatic - Prince [from 1999]
staccato delivery
leaves time for the dance moves
sharp accents
lots of space around the sounds
lean into the artificial
13 Prompt Poems - Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 26, 1987]
(a shufflers work is never done) (it's in the cards):
I assert a problem a polished stone
death is not
Steve leaves
only three remain a few less than there were at once
a boulevard a road an ashcan a pail
or Iowa I owe a dollar
if we stop and see the things we flee we'll do not otherwise but going on to the new
unbespectacled I see the fuzz
a blank fired at a black hole I derive my way home
I don't know but I have heard
the bend I wend a trend my friend the end
now what am I to think of such a happenstance as this
the data we received was not I believe a transmission to be trusted
Mole In The Ground - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
an I-wish-I-was-a game
My Love - Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown [from Just Whitney]
fancy singing through a relatively straightforward accompaniment
Banned Rehearsal 719 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 30, 2007]
delicate shoots
rocky soil
winds close to the ground
roots
find establishment
uppers get frisky
watch for rattlers
guitar hangs in there throughout
light percussion and whistlers
and other sounds
provide the terrain
whither the zither
we have returned to familiar ground
but the plants have grown
we will quiet ourselves
and consider the journey we have just made
Pink Wine - St. Paul de Vence [from St. Paul de Vence]
autobiographical conceit
string band with accordion
Keith Eisenbrey at Seattle Composers Salon July 7, 2017 - Keith Eisenbrey and interlocutors
I perform my Ghosting Doubles (second sighting)
my
counterpoints look only at that tune's note
that they are simultaneous
with
neither to the left nor to the right
no regard to themselves
as tunes
they follow
only
each counterpoint
transforms
the others
how did that happen?
Holding Sand - Doug Kolmar [from So Said Life]
guitar plucking baritone minstrel
age of wisdom to proffer
Pavana "Clement Cotton", Fvb 219 - William Tisdall - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
tender and sweet
finding odd moments within the meter to speak her name
Sweet Sue - Dicky Wells [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
everybody's braggin' on a girl tonight
bass drums guitar never veer
trumpet trombone
Cyclops - Ray McKinley [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]
the intro (head?)
is rhythmically twisted
poky needling
beyond lively
Little Melonae - Miles Davis [from 'Round About Midnight]
what is deeply subtle
sounds simple
relies on an internalized
common pulse
Soldier Boy - The Shirelles [from Shirelles Anthology]
that these soldier boys were headed to Viet Nam
twists this song into an
ironic elsehorror
Intersteller Overdrive - Pink Floyd [from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn]
where it would typically settle into a song
it wanders
and is
pushed out
into pdoit! pdoit! space
floating free
fire the
engines up
we're headed on
breaking up again
we are pulled
apart
and apart we float
weightless
waiting
we
nearly remember
what we were
Growin' Up - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
demo version?
just guitar and voice
quite nice really
Your'e Gonna Kill that Girl - Ramones [from Leave Home]
going all Gesualdo
moral transgression as entertainment
so the old
folks will frown
How I (Learned My Lessons) - X [from Under The Big Black Sun]
for a physical contact dance
this music is about the moshing
little else matters
With or Without You - U2 [from The Joshua Tree]
lyrics vague enough to apply to nearly anything
crescendo
so his
insufferableness can emote up high
real sincere
soundtrack for a
cuttable montage
Pelleas et Melisande: Pastorale - Jean Sibelius - English Symphony Orchestra, William Boughton [from Meditations for a Quiet Night]
nice afternoon for a nap in the shade of a tree
Variation on Diabelli's Waltz (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
the balance is off
piano should come up
violin down
Exactly Like You - Back Burner [from Simmer On]
tied up neat
in string band garb
Chaotic Heart-Forest of Thorns - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Blue Moon, October 4, 2012]
doing all the things
that were always wanted to do
back to the
revival preacher
prepping up for the big altar call
crowd lust
the big group hug
surround sound mosh pit of the mind
Pianos and Bricks - Prom Queen [from Doom Wop]
bubble gum sound
with dark fangs and sharp objects
Banned Rehearsal 1060 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 26, 2022]
we have become a wind chime on a calm day
there's a bee
twigs
twitch
butterfly flight
big bee
humming bird
kazoo
bird floating air
a new sound sinks in on the ride of a cymbal
hey
guys watcha doin'?
an event twangs on a spring
some comedian is
piped in
jingle backwards
In Session at the Tintinabulary
January 21, 2022 - January 19, 2023
24 Preludes - Keith Eisenbrey
In 2021 I made some mostly minor revisions to 2011 set of Preludes. Number 12 in G-sharp minor needed the most work both compositionally and pianistically. For the vast majority of them the only changes I made were to remove the metronome markings and to replace my pedal marks with pedal ad libs. In general my new tempi are more subdued than those I used 12 years ago.
January 25, 2023
Driving Piles - Keith Eisenbrey
A new house will be going up nearby and this week they were driving 2 inch diameter metal piles into the ground with a backhoe-mounted pile driver.
January 26, 2023
Prelude in G minor - Ken Benshoof
This finishes up my project of recording Ken's set of 24 Preludes. The first 20 recordings were made at five separate recitals over the years, the last four I did at home over the last few months.
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
some listening journal doodles from 1992
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