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| Karen at the Barrytown Post Office, October 1987 |
"Chug Chug (Mailman Duck): Moomph
Montgomery Q. Frogbottom (Congersman
Frog, Jumphrey): Just the man we want to see!
Fenster Moop: Hey!
Mailman!
CC: What's up?
MQF: We want you to deliver a letter to the
bats . . .
CC: Okay, that'll require you to purchase the use of a stamp .
. . gotta fill out form P.O. Tooty-Frooty Sugar Foot . . . Who's this from?
MQF:
The Eternal Revenue Service
CC: The Eternal Revenue Service? Ain't that a
slip of the tongue?
MQF: Oh . . . not as much as you might think . . .
CC:
Well, you want to send this letter, you gotta get up five cents. . .
MQF: Five cents!? You think us congersmen is made of money?
FM:
Ain't made without it, boss
CC: Want me to read the new regulations? 'If,
in the course of human events, it becomes . . .'
MQF: Nevermine! Whoo!
Five cents!
CC: You mean to tell me that neither rain nor slog nor
monstrous dark, neither sleet nor doom nor nightmare is gonna stop me . . .
but you're too cheap to get up a nickel for the trip?
MQF: Hah!
CC:
The goin' price is a jitney . . . get it up!
MQF: What dolt-knob voted in
this new rate?
FM: You did"
Walt Kelley - from "Hijinks from the Horn of Plenty, The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 8"
Texts
Recorded
February 18, 2023
Floating Butterfly/Wings on Fire - Ghidra [from The Sound of Speed]
blowing life into increasing pressure
lock it tight
Banned Rehearsal 823 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 22, 2012]
each working on a different part
colony of doing doers
never whole
delicate work
microlayers
low brass lip flutter
ball
rolling in a drum head texture
 |
| Cemetery at Barrytown, New York - October 1987 |
sounds exist as states of rotation
center anywhere
circumference subject to transformation
observed from within
even the smallest sound is presumed to exist
within the whole of its audibility space
we say
the sound is over there
meaning
the object creating the sound is over there
but the sound we hear
travels with us
music capitalizes on ear-mind's ability
to construct an aural image
of our environment
not just ability
essential propensity
or
that's what ear-mind is
that is
our apparatus of audible-world construction
imagination
composition
and?
number-mind?
and?
word-mind?
Lullablaze - Antonioni [from Lullablaze]
felt everywhere
enveloping
swaddlesome
world as the
condition of being within
Banned Rehearsal 1063 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 7, 2022]
space transpires in time
breathes across just in time
the singular
point in time
that now is
is inconceivable
conceiving
is a process
moments in time
can't be observed
for the
same reason
approaching limits by calculus
snare drum
prepared drum
spring pulled taut against a drumhead
to be audible in battle
the nick of time
kairos or chronos
avoiding event collisions
can two events within kairos exist simultaneously
or is the nick
of time
the necessary gap
chronos the time keeper
kairos the time being
Loth to Depart, Fvb. 230 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
short phrases of like length
but of unlike size and shape
poetic
lines
music as an image of a poem
Sonata in A Major, Kk. 221 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
hops on steps
the figuration is more devious than you are
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 50 #5 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Tatrai Quartet
the first cello note is a problem
constructing music as an experience
of music constructing its house
room by room
it is important
that each subsequent moment
be immediately perceived
as flowing
from something prior to it
a repeated figure as accompaniment will serve
nicely
especially if one is as playful with it as Papa Haydn
Sonata in C minor, Op. 111 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Paul Badura-Skoda
this is not a house I would want to spend the night in
the effect of performance on forte-piano
it is no longer a sonata played
on a piano
but
becomes this instrument
through which
this crazy shit
is performed
this instrument
makes
this music conceivable
one is caught in each variation
for a kind of forever
Variations in B-flat, on ‘Là ci darem la mano’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni - Frédéric Chopin - Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazimierz Kord, Garrick Ohlsson
ravishing
don't let the filigree fool you
this kid is really
getting somewhere
deep into that theme
and we finally have the
theme entire
whew!
he transforms that happy little tune
into a funeral march
among
other things
with who knows what end in mind
my new all-time favorite piano concerto
grand-sire to the Busoni
Dew Drop Alley - Sugar Underwood [from That Devilin' Tune]
silent movie chase scene
cranked up fast
this guy is the whole carnival
all the acts
all the time
those two high pitches and how they figure in the next figure
orchestra
does a collective
WwooooowW
across the stage
February 20, 2023
This Is Always - Erroll Garner [from Erroll Garner on Dial]
that voice
and this
song and the microphone
a match made
in heaven
Oh, Why? - Little Richard [from Here's Little Richard]
grim situation hiding in danceable blues
Shimmy Shake - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings Volume 2]
if the band on stage is having a blast
everyone else in the bar must be
also
I Can See For Miles - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]
presumably what he sees is a girl cheating on him
jealous guy trope
tiresome
using his mesmer gaze
incessant stare
the
mock commercials are sophomoric
A Brand New Me - Aretha Franklin [from Young, Gifted, and Black]
stage arrangement
backup singers
strings
horns
keys
guitar(s?)
bass and drums
nice ivory tickling
Weeping Wall - David Bowie [from Low]
one of his tone poems
in minimalist lite
explicitly
a connection
because minimalism is both a comment upon
industrial production
and a champion of it
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) - Prince [from 1999]
the stage for this act
is the attention of Mr. Prince
you are
immersed
submerged
lost in another head
quite a number he pulls on you
Assembly Rechoired 39 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Gary Mosca [October 16, 1987]
fact:
we listen habitually
for instance
it is my habit
to listen to music while seated on a meditation cushion or a chair
in the middle of the room
equidistant from the speakers
while holding this journal on my knees or lap
and writing in it
with a pen
a chosen habit
is still a habit
my habit
in the case at hand
was chosen
to optimize a certain set of desires I have
vis-à-vis music
if I can get a clear enough image of what might be
there to be heard down on paper
then the experience is made to some extent
retrievable
from having been journaled
I find it personally useful
to copy the journal up to my blog
as it affords me a retrieval of
my experience
to the extent the journaling affords or hints at
it
also provides me with an opportunity to think about my thoughts
tease
out my obsessions
argue with myself
and occasionally say something
worth saying
this is why it is useful to me
whether any one else finds it useful to them
and if so how?
it would necessarily be in an altogether different way than mine
this is quite a lovely session
which is a way of asking
what the use of my habitual listening might be
for anyone but me?
hm.
possibilities:
provides access to another person's thinking
to the
extent afforded by the process
not that it's being mine specifically
that makes it interesting
but
that any access to the thoughts of
any other
is surely the essence of communication?
any composition serves a similar set of purposes
the composer's purposes
(generative)
and the listener's purposes
and a group improvisation such as this one
serves the internal purposes
of its participants
well or ill
and the listener is allowed access
to a synthetic mind's thoughts
synthetic thoughts
created
virtually by the listener
in order to take the sound in
as a
cohering whole
which we do
as listeners
habitually
perhaps
even
reflexively
as part of the ear-mind's
process of constructing auditory reality
hard-wired or part of the
machine code
retrievable states
thoughts in public
hoot hoot hoot
there is some really pretty playing back there, Gary!
am liking it
after Prince's suffocating persona
it is quite refreshing to have this
sound with me
just sitting down like folks
Zarathustra Fanfare - Richard Strauss - The Canadian Brass [from The Essential Canadian Brass]
they used a timpani for the timpani part
Track 9 [from Eisenbrey 2002]
a private recording of groups at a chamber music camp my Mom participated in back in 2002. Schumann I think one of those scribbly muscular piano quart or quintets
Gradus 121 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 11, 2007]
triple A
what does it mean to know what to expect?
or to be
told what to expect?
what is the intent of the teller of what to expect?
what is the intent of knowing what to expect?
why do that?
because adolescence is hard enough without going it alone
the
conscious activity of teaching
is education
the conscious activity
of responding critically
is learning
just waiting here for some
new piece of brilliance to pop into my head
waiting for the stars to
align
I know what I expect I will hear
will I hear what I know I
expected to hear?
perforce?
knowledge and expectation operate in
separate states
but in intersecting geometries
Easy Money - Bruce Springsteen [from Wrecking Ball]
shooting at a Cecelia vibe
and aiming too big
Huge Guy In The Mosh Pit - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 15, 2017]
another St. Rage cover
that is
one of Karen's songs from her novel
"The Gospel According to St. Rage"
We Meet Ourselves In Every Moment - Steve Layton and Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
how best to sit in this chair?
Fantasia, Fvb. 231 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
the instructive opening
simple presentation of the matter and the method
is its tonal world invisible to it
or was there other music
not learned
not written down
that all the trappings were
needed
to distance this
from that unwashed?
Standing On The Promises - Tennessee Mountaineers [from Goodbye, Babylon]
perfect blend of voices
each remaining distinct
especially that
soprano
cutting through the sound
without shyness or refinement
a discovered blend
Golden Gate Gospel Train - Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet [from Goodbye, Babylon]
these guys are deep into the train sounds
also doing a pretty nice vocal
imitation of a mouth harp imitating a train whistle
the rhythm of a
train in 19th and 20th Century America
served as a unifying force
everybody understood it viscerally
Marmaduke - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]
chart:
the chord-cycles and a plan of who when
Lament - Miles Davis [from Miles Ahead]
in a small place
downright Dickensian setup
dig my grave with a silver spade
Dylan
recording this song under another name in the same year
Turn Me On - Nina Simone [from Silk & Soul]
cultural trope
the singular person (uncoupled) is incomplete
especially if they are a woman
Lesson in Survival - Joni Mitchell [from For The Roses]
a chatty letter
Fragile - Wire [from Pink Flag]
count of feet
length of line
The Have Nots - X [from Under the Big Black Sun]
text with a fashion component
dressed up to be part of the bar denizenry
Beer Money - The Young Fresh Fellows [from Refreshments]
to their eternal credit
the Fellows never took themselves all that
seriously
I Can Explain Everything - T. Bone Burnett [from The Criminal Under My Own Hat]
the performances of all concerned
are exactly good enough
certainly no better than they were allowed
Work / Architecture / Unity / And / The (take 2) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Productions December 2, 2002]
a false start
then the whole
one of the lessons this piece gave me
is to stop at each moment in the process
and ask whether its
current state is better or stranger than the original idea
is there a
reason to persist toward a goal
which
if reached
may not
work as well as what you've got
in this case
I had composed these
short music bits
with the idea that they would be like crags come upon
in a fog
and then spent a lot of energy and time trying to get the fog
to work
in the end the fog
as such
is inherent or latent in
how the bits relate to each other
any literalist realization would be
necessarily weaker
than the latent image
Fallen So Hard - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Kitchen Recordings]
ornery blues
Rocks and Glass / Love Blackmail - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Sound Effects Café, October 26, 2012]
adjustments are made to the sound
rumor has it that Your Mother Should
Know was the last band ever to play at the Sound Effects
not long later
the building was demolished
Lady Lazarus - Greg Sinibaldi [from Ariel]
the complex sound of the EWI doesn't obscure the clarity of the melodic thinking
Sinfonia 1 (2022 midi version) - Keith Eisenbrey
the first version stems from 2021
this is the second
and I have
been hard at work
continuing to revise
trying to make all of its
parts
parts of the same piece
and zapping anomalies
I should
have a new version to share shortly
Fantasia, Fvb. 232 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
a fixed set of moves as in Tai Chi?
for graceful liberation and thorough
elaboration
Bamalong Blues - Andrew Baxter, Jim Baxter [from Really The Blues]
ain't gonna be in the Second 'Bama long
a story is told
but its
burden is obscure
fiddle and guitar in mule cart tempo
recompose the song and recompose the essential commentary
Words Can't Describe - Sarah Vaughan [from Swingin' Easy]
the melody starts with some stuff up high and a dip down twice
then some
serious work
to set up the even higher register lift later
by the
end every cranny of her vocal range
has a multitude of histories
crisscrossed
I Looked At You - The Doors [from The Doors]
preliminaries accomplished
plays with the rhetoric of anticipation to
add an unexpected coda
You Got To Know - Bonnie Raitt [from Give It Up]
Wife of Bath sass
Babysitter - Ramones [from Leave Home]
the fantasy of playing house while the borrowed kids are asleep
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band [from Before The Flood]
fond remeniscence of the confederacy
yup
and everybody cheers
Assembly Rechoired 40 - Tildy Bayar, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Gary Mosca, Markus Olin-Fahle [October 16, 1987]
a room with instruments in it
a piano
a violin
an upright
bass
a flute or ocarina
a thumb piano
more
boats at moorage having a nighttime séance
boats of different sizes and
provenance
floating together
at dock
beneath their keels
barnacles
crabs
mussels
bullhead
flounder
perhaps a dogfish or an octopus
the keels know
what the
masts do not
spin a yarn of ebb and flow
mountainous seas and viscious blow
quiet
now so tell it slow
the birds all sleep
the rats
creep
Little Dog Named Right - Mike Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
a guitar figure and a tight wad of melody in verses
harmony vocal to
mark the chorus
and add the melody to the guitar figure for variety
all wrapped up tight like a nursery rhyme
it isn't that it can't
be unpacked
but that unpacking would vanish it
Love That Man - Whitney Houston [from Just Whitney]
distinctions:
the various manners:
of vocal delivery
of song
structure arrangement (verse chorus bridge)
of rhythm (grooves)
of
orchestration
of relations between vocal and instrumental
or solo
and others (call response / blues commentary)
of cyclic harmonies (chord
content and order)
Lids Film Raw Footage - Keith Eisenbrey [June 16, 2007]
first step:
collect some sounds
12+ minute sampling of bells in
the studio for later manipulation
ring each one until silent then move
to the next
bells because they have pitch but also a complex timbral
envelope
Song One - Curtains For You [recorded live at The High Dive, Seattle, April 6, 2012]
attractive at any moment
but wanders after awhile
uncertain what
it might do next
or how to wind it up
Regular - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 15, 2017]
analysis may be instructive
as to what
(in this)
exactly?
not pitch structure
which is narrow, constrained
not rhythmic
structure
which is merely repetitive
what part of this
if any
transforms any other part
or
is it designed to fit into a ready-made slot?
Tsuki - Gamelan Pacifica, Jessica Kenney [from Vessel]
the bed of gong's bongs
bend the vocal's timbre's tunings
still image of flickering liquid light
each new beginning a door
Fantasia "Ay Me, Poore Heart", Fvb. 233 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
we love to hear our favorite songs in new guise
G Rag - Georgia Yellow Hammers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
functional music for social dancing
with calls and all
strum and
scrape
the music is not the show the occasion is
Hornful Soul - Ray Charles [from The Great Ray Charles]
that any of the manners listed above
is capable of great sophistication
is beyond question
but
how often are they treated that way
imaginatively?
here
the entire focus is on the bankable star
the interaction among the players is there
but downplayed
I'm Dying Mother - Bert Hare [from The Art of Field Recording Volume 1]
porch music
its function is the enjoyment of the players and neighbors
I Hadn't Anyone 'Til You - Thelonious Monk [from Standards]
gets going and doesn't
then we find we have been got going
when
we're long along
Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal - Lawrence Eller, Vaughn Eller [from The Art of Field Recording Volume 1]
vocal and jaw harp
a bit of foot tapping
Why Did I Fall For That - The Who [from It's Hard]
a tired song
trying hard
trapped by the past
befuddled by
the future
Reyzele - Itzhak Perlman [from Tradition]
orchestra musicians are trained to disappear behind exact competence
so
that a soloist can personalitize
which Perlman certainly knows how to do
Corral Nocturne (Rodeo) - Aaron Copland - English Symphony Orchestra, William Boughton [from Meditations for a Quiet Night]
the horses and herd may safely sleep
under the watchful eye of Boulanger
approved voice leading
Work / Architecture / Unity / And / The (retakes) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Productions, December 2, 2002]
a bunch of retries of one of the bits
called the second crag
listening back
many are just fine
not sure why I kept at it
usually it's because a note or two didn't speak
ppp staccato fast
is tricky for me
She Married the Earth - Peter Fedofsky [from The City of Good Neighbors]
song setting
choosing the paper
font
line length
stanza format
the weight of how songs go
drags upon
invention
Mannin' the Lab - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Sound Effects Café, October 26, 2012]
short
but could be even more pointed
WWI - Shallow Lenses [from War Poems]
produced to stage amplitude
dynamic size
spotlight acoustic
to light show tutti
4 Pieces - Gavin Borchert [from Seattle Composer Pianists, recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, November 17, 2022]
Prelude in F-sharp Major (2002)
descent on a long thin wire
Two-Part Invention in F minor (2020)
tether
weightless unspooling
capsule receding
Text-piece (1996)
as the meadow reappears in light
near is here
then gone
then
again
or another
nearer music
shoves in front
Two-Part Invention in C Major (2020)
a rhyming epigram without words
In Session at the Tintinabulary
Gradus 377 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
a multitude
pitch-class transgenders pitch-space categorically
if
we tilt the gender field
will all the pieces slide off onto the
floor?
the question regarding determinacy
is about our intent
in making
use of it
to think about music
indeterminacy is just another flavor of determinacy
more correct as to praxis:
indirect determinacy
Gradus
as a present sample of experience
to think about thinking
about with
prep the new keyboard into the mind
a retrievable field of memory
with this many notes
Neal plays in voices chords arpeggiations tunes and counterpoints
I do
the same thing
music as such
has crept in
rhetoric has
been strewn about in grisly abandon
all the rhetoric
with which it
has been historically promulgated
that is
subject matter
is
music
as it has been observed
February 24, 2024
The Virtuoso Pianist, #20 - Charles-Louis Hanon
Jazz Hanon #11 - Lockrem Johnson
As part of a soon to be revealed Lockrem Johnson project I was asked to record his contribution to Jerome Gray's "Jazz Hanon" - a book of teaching pieces, as well as the finger exercise upon which it was based.
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
some listening journal doodles from 1993
