"Expecting the mind to perform like a trained seal is counterpoetic.
A
curved spine self-obsesses.
Sequence is not, not really."
George Quasha - from "Not Even Rabbits Go Down This Hole"
Texts
Recorded
April 29, 2023
The Blue Danube - Johann Strauss [from 100 Greatest Classics]
multi-part introduction before the dance proper
means and ends perfectly
suited
perhaps it goes on longer than it needs to for concert purposes
but for a ball room dance number about right
In This Life - Madonna [from Erotica]
keyboard figures
lifted from one of Gershwin's Preludes
goes all
moral
Pallas Athena - David Bowie [from Earthling]
over the beat machine
a sequence of other machines
getting in line
falling in
reporting for duty
8 Miles and Runnin' - Jay-Z & Freeway [from 8 Mile]
keep the beat
full of words saying fluidly
Gradus 122 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 2, 2007]
if two A-natural keys are pressed with sufficient synchronized onsets and
releases
and absent any context from which they could be conceived of as
separate
then
they are a single object
analyzable as two
but perceived as a singularity
waiting for the next note to occur
in its meteor shower sparsity and
scatter
For Our Future - Tyrannosauras Grace [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
what counts as rock and roll
in relation to what counts as country
can seem
to those growing up in rural and rural adajacent America
to signify rebellion and independence
a musical move toward the
urban
this band was from Ellensburg
a small city in central Washington farm
country
that also harbors a state university
Dirtmombs (Hey Myla) - Mud On My Bra [from Demo #1]
this crew was easy to like
nothing fancy
nothing pretentious
good feelings through and through
Town Stoner - Doug Haire [from Western Stoner]
street sounds
some screaming
engine roars
fade toward frogs
or crickets
highway constant
humans are the noisiest of critters
A Toye, Fvb, 270 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
modes of rocking gently
with pipe
and a nice warm fire
Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9 #2 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
the harmony may have a tendency to subside
so tread softly
keyboard singing a poignant dance
something more than decorative
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 38 #1 - Felix Mendelssohn - Edmund Battersby
so prim and correct
the pirouette
to obfuscate the muddle
we
were headed for
back to the garden path
the famous repeated last phrases
thrice
more quietly each time
also adjust the voice leading
each time
We're Sitting In The Opera House - Charles Ives - Kia Sams, Russ Warner
Gilbert and Sullivan meets an upstart
Light In The Valley - Mrs. L. Reed and Mrs. T. A. Duncans [from Goodbye, Babylon]
but before the song we have to sit through the lesson
strident
forthright projection
not about decoration at all
Play Piano Play - Erroll Garner [from Erroll Garner on Dial]
over a rock steady boom chick bass
a music that plays with all shapes of
beats
even square ones
but not much
Joy Ride - Ray Charles [from The Great Ray Charles]
cookin'
the mode of syncopation doesn't come across exactly as though
the accents were ahead or behind of anything
but
they bend our
sense of the beat
activate it
swing is a way of rocking a beat
get up and dance
Cross Breeding - Ornette Coleman [from Ornette on Tenor]
no nonsense
this is radically other than business as usual
it is
what they need it to be
and only that
Within You Without You - The Beatles [from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]
the wordplay in the title/hook
is right out of Irving Berlin's playbook
enlightenment through cleverisms
enlightenment as a career
enhancer
First Snow in Kokomo - Aretha Franklin [from Young, Gifted and Black]
a poem made of stray memories associated with a moment
so that we can
all partake of remembering vicariously
Listen To My Heart (live at The Roxy) - Ramones [from Leave Home]
one stanza works with a few notes
another with fewer
Alone Again Naturally - Nina Simone [from Fodder On My Wings]
the little chinoiserie lick that opens is odd
but the whole thing is
even less convinced by the big produced sound that underlines some
moments
All My Exes Live In Texas - George Straight [a Rescued Record]
why do we buy records
to keep touch with a moment
this song will
remind me of now
or
this is an object worth considering at length
or
this is us and we had best mind ourselves
lest we get up
to something
or lie to ourselves about ourselves
a breath control challenge
the melody goes back and tries again
then floats into dreamy gauze land
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 - Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns - Itzhak Perlman [from Masters Of the Bow]
from the alternate virtuosic culture
stemming from Paganini
the
rondo layout persisted as a form
that was not reputed to require as much
intellectual consideration
as a sonata-allegro binary derived form
Couperin would be apalled
in practice it didn't inflate as
gracefully into the Romantic space as the binaries did
Innocent Love - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from Kitchen Recordings]
music designed to stand out while busking
one-man band contraption
energetic guitar
committed vocal
form a recognizable street
style
Hey Yesterday (unnamed) - Your Mother Should Know [December 2, 2012]
as though an orchestra were crammed into the Tintinabulary
Crossing The River In an Elk - Nat Evans [from Coyoteways]
wide horizon
presence
expanse permeates awareness
the river
sings with its frogs
Improbable Ensemble 2 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Improbable Ensembles]
instances of notes in profusion
certain pitches hang in the mix across
instruments for a time
others for other times
piano xylophone
struck vibraphone
some brass
and bowed vibraphone (I think)
The Primerose, Fvb. 271 - Martin Peerson - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
polychoral answerings across like figurations
Hide Away - Oscar Ford [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
now there's a regional accent that we don't hear much around here
he's
telling a story full of words
many of which are lost to me
tag
ending
It Is No Secret (What God Can Do) - Elvis Presley [from Elvis' Christmas Album]
oozy sincerity
Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea - Thelonious Monk [from Standards]
a demonstration
with illustrations
of what this song consists of
I had not heard this when I wrote my Sonata 1980
but
there
are aspects of the hesitations in that piece
that are fully formed here
after the demonstration of the workshop
a song is an instrument or
vehicle
a standard song
is an opportunity to dig deep into an
instrument
Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
an older guy
in celebration of the sexualization of young women
advice across generations
a whole list of them
adding up to very
little
Thresholds - Ann McLellan
patient by dead reckoning
a probe pulse
venturing out
checking back
its quiet life
Tuba Tiger Rag - Traditional - The Canadian Brass [from The Essential Canadian Brass]
in the business of imitating other ensembles
in multiple styles
a
stage act
Banned Rehearsal 723 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 9, 2007]
scurrying and digging critters
light on their feet
gentle evening
song
out of doors
it takes us longer to listen to our doing
it doesn't come back to us so immediately
strangely
the
sounds we make
sound more private
more contained within themselves
Tower of Song - Andrew James Robison [recorded live at The Rat and Raven, Seattle, August 9, 2012]
reasons someone might sing someone else's song
to pretend to be them
to treat the song as a vehicle or conduit
with which to sing one's
own song
both mostly
always
Remlinger Farms Steam Train Ride - Keith Eisenbrey [July 23, 2017]
at a company picnic
on a narrow gauge steam train ride
the rattle
and rumble of the train
and the conversation of the riders
and the
sounds of the aural environments through which it passes
Pluto Woodpecker - Tom Varner [from Sound Vespers]
these sounds work on their affinities and dispersal patterns
the party
has entered a stiller space and peers around
bells are better than
incense
The Fall of the Leafe, Fvb. 272 - Martin Peerson - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
square and plain of outline
bold figures
My Mammy's Blues - Reb Spikes [from That Devilin' Tune]
old timey sounds in a brand new package
I Hear Music - Blossom Dearie [from Blossom Dearie]
music gets made to satisfy itches both personal and social
music finds
us on the receiving end
as a result of needs and influences both
personal and social
music forms itself as it does
as both a
personal and a social act at once
as social needs change the forms of
music change
and the forms of its propagation change also
::(freefloating conjecture)
The Commandments of Love - Little Richard [from The Explosive Little Richard]
the ultrasmooth regularity of the band's sound
gives room for the star
to go all over the place
one imagines that these songs went on longer
when they were staged
the album ends up sounding like an incipit
catalogue
Seven Strays - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 10 and 11, 2010]
these were piano studies I made after graduation from the University of
Washington
and before I headed off to Bard
part of the itch was to
reassure myself that
after all that education
I knew how to write
music straight
the first three or four fall comfortably into the
neo-Romantic
almost neo-Mendelssohnian camp
I played some of them
for Ken at the time
who expressed some bemused astonishment that I could
be so poetic
the fifth and sixth are barely finished
the seventh
is a transcription of an improvisation
hip hop as insurrectionary procedure
attempting a revolution upon the
recording industry
using its own tools and product against it
without that industry
it would be nearly pointless
or at
least defanged
::(proposition for further scrutiny)
Oh, Blue - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
preservation and propagation of a music long since vanished as a living force
Track 6 - The Humidiflyers [from Late Fall Unfinished Sketches]
vocal ensemble figure
Futurebright - Peter Fedofsky [from The City of Good Neighbors]
suburban pop
good vibes only
Banned Rehearsal 826 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 3, 2012]
a crowd is gathered around the radio
which summarily dismisses itself
to reemerge before fading out
percussion
piano
and
brass of some ilk
a cluttered march in tough terrain
our viewpoint
moves to a distance
Song 3 - Sarah Pasillas [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, April 27, 2017]
singing to herself and whoever happens to be listening
comfortable with
being background
coffee shop vibe
Hölluþula - Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir - Halla Lovísa Loftsdóttir [from Strengur]
our ears are right up to everything
allows or demands detailed listening
but leaves little space for reflection
Farnabye's Conceit, Fvb. 273 - Giles Farnaaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]
take a step
stop to consider the consequences of the achievement
very short
but could be an interesting close study
of what
might be meant by thematic development
Ommie Wise - G. B. Grayson [from The Anthology of American Folk Music]
a tale to warn young women
about the wiles of attractively palavering
scoundrels
'Round Midnight (live) - Miles Davis [from 'Round About Midnight]
the harmonies slip sideways
peek through doors
feint at twists
Don't You Try Me Now - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
workshop document
aiming at familiarity with each other
rather
than projection of anything in particular about a song
No Thugs In Our House - XTC [from Fossilfuel]
1980s camp irony
industry goes to college
Dreamed of a City Called Heaven - Total Experience Gospel Choir, Pat Wright [from Bits and Pieces]
di-archic music
soloist (preacher)
::
choir (response/support/congregation)
Whiskey Trail - Los Lobos [from Kiko]
bands play in bars
bars sell booze
The Way We Were - Glenn Tate [from Some of My Favorite Love Songs]
lounge pianists play in piano lounges
piano lounges sell nostalgia with
their booze
get situated
apply force to each
brush them lightly
the
seventh A in this recording travels to the left as it is struck more strongly
check in
still here
this music doesn't go like music
this music doesn't go at all
Variations on "La Folio" for violin duet - Matthew Weiss
not far removed from galant style
if at all
until this one
which nevertheless sticks pretty close to the phraseology of the source
wandering Paganini-ward
then a set for violins set at different
distances
one near one far
and echo-ey-er
or
is it the
same set
but offset
curious
3rd set
with the other
violin away
and the far away one near
yep
there's the
weirdish one
Remlinger Farms Steam Train Ride - Karen Eisenbrey
Karen recorded a bit of this also
got the toot toot on it
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 1, 2023
Gradus 380 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
filtration after assertion
it is as though each assertion posits a
different part of what that note potentiates
striking its acoustic at a
new angle and velocity
in the 1850s
when the United States Government sent surveyors out west
to lay the township grid across the western states
they would number the
36 Sections
each a square mile
within a Township
starting in
the Northwest corner with Section 1
then proceed east to Section 6
they would then drop south one mile and proceed west from 7 to 12
then east from 13 to 18 etc.
until they had platted all 36
Neal began counting A-naturals from the bottom of the keyboard
then the
E-naturals from the top
C-sharps from the bottom
G-naturals from
the top
B-naturals from the bottom
and finally D-naturals from the
top
today we have the last and lowest D-natural
(in the second rung of the
evening even just now beginning
it is paired with the highest A-natural)
marking
in some sense
the half-way point
all instances
of the first six pitch classes are now in play
the high note carries an
aural whisper with it
especially if the dampers have been lifted
but there regardless
this sound is where the harmonics would be
if you cold perceive them as such
Postscripts
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
some listening journal doodles from 1993
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