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| Mt. Rainier National Park |
"'One of the immortals
who guards and watches over you
will send a
breeze behind you.
When first you come to the promontory of Ithaka,
send
all your companions to the city with your ship,
but go yourself to the
swineherd,
who keeps your hogs
and is well-disposed toward you.
Spend
the night there.
Then send him to the city
with a message for wise
Penelope
to the effect that you are safe
and have come back from
Pylos.'
So saying, she departed for lofty Mount Olympos,
but Têlemachos aroused
the son of Nestor from sweet slumber
with a kick of his foot and said to
him:
'Get up! O Peisistratos, son of Nestor,
lead out the horses with uncloven
hooves
and yoke them to the chariot
so that we might hit the road.'"
Homer - from "The Odyssey" translated by Charles Stein
Texts
Recorded
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| Ohanapecosh River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Prelude and Fugue in C Major, K. 394 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout
differentiating the realms
dramatic sweeps
a Fantasia of a Prelude
fugue subject has an irregularity
as
though it needs to hold its britches up with one hand
hesitating on
brinks of misbalance
Caprice en forme de Valse in C Major, Op. 2 #6 - Clara Schumann - Susanne Grützmann
scurries capriciously off the dance floor
Mazurka in C minor, Op. 30 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
one door opens to many rooms
Amiable Conversation (second encore to Dynamic Motion) - Henry Cowell - Henry Cowell
left hand is a drum
right hand melody
trips over itself
crashes into the drums
Canon - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
clever, playful writing
Linger Awhile - Sarah Vaughan [from Swingin' Easy]
over before we have a chance to come to grips with it
I Can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles [from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music]
let the choir sing the title
late verse
the choir sings the song
and Ray sings the responses
sing the song children
Function at the Junction - Little Richard [from The Explosive Little Richard]
invitation to the dance
with guest list advertisement
You're The One Who Knows - Carole King [from Simple Things]
chords organize time points in larger units
keyboard used as a chord
drum
it must play one dynamic only (forte)
or it will be lost
among the amplifieds
as it is
most of its color is gone anyway
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| Ballard Locks |
extraordinary playful composition
with a telegraphical line marker
"stop" in upspeak
Walk Like a Man - Bruce Springsteen [from Tunnel of Love]
propaganda for the propogation of patriarchal continuity
The Old Sow - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from Animal Folk Songs For Children]
lamellophone
tin whistle
Adiós Hermanos - Paul Simon [from Songs from The Capeman]
composes with his voice and others' voices
not insecure enough
to
not let others get a spotlight
rumors of contract disputes
notwithstanding
Polka Dots - Dubious Duo [from Children of Siberia]
introduction to something
but it sounds like it's heading in more of a
tango direction than a polka
never does get to either
having too
much fun introducing competitively
Around The Summit I See Only Pines - Jarrad Powell - Jessika Kenney [from Stonehouse Songs]
a poem instructs us how to sing itself
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| Mt. Rainier National Park |
Save Part Of Yourself - Brandi Carlile [from Bear Creek]
the voice of beleaguered micro-urban America
Emergency - Dead Bars [from Dream Gig]
life in the trenches of anxious urbanists
Totem 50 - Sascia Pellegrini [from Totem V]
sine tones microadjusting their intonational relationship
to get those
throbs
music can think about music
by working with the fundamental acoustical
facts of sounds
or by re-imagining the possibilities of higher order
concepts
such as melody
figuration
pitch functionality
rhythmic structures
et cetera
or by exploring the ground
between the orders
Intermezzo in E minor, Op. 4 #2 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
a crowd of voices tells their story
conjointly finishing each others
statements
voice leading swept off its feet in whirlwind figurations
Rockin' With Red (She Knows How To Rock Me) - Jerry Lee Lewis [from Rare and Rockin']
dance with throw-away rhymes
One Man's Loss - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
weary of being socially important
retreat into porch song
Sweet Forgiveness - Bonnie Raitt [from Sweet Forgiveness]
a singer's relation to the songs they sing
varies from song to song and
from singer to singer
irony
sincerity
show business
other factors
Him and Her - Ornette Coleman [from Of Human Feelings]
a melody that descends on two planes
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| Ballard Locks |
a commercial music might be characterizable
by the image of its
provenance
(macro-urban (down-scale))
and its presumed native
environment
(dive-bar small club)
The Lady who Lost Her Soul - Johnny Moses [from When The Humans Thought They Were People]
it takes more words to tell the story in English than are used in Samish
a soul stored in a basket
a medicine woman left alive
tears
stored in the soul
In The Deep - The Hope [from In The Deep]
big embrace voice
Figure In The Carpet - Triptet [from Figure In The Carpet]
below the hull where monsters dwell
massive whales and gargantuan squid
battle commands blasted loud
peril passed
in the wake
behind
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| Ohanapecosh River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Distracted Driver - St. Rage [assembled at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, November 14, 2017]
in which
Neal impersonates
briefly
a yippy dog
Kommst du - Steve Layton [from Colors]
an apparancy approacheth
fiercely harbingered
our vessel creaks
in for a blow
seven league foot clomps
Sie sprechen auf Deutsch
tempting destruction
Symphony in G minor "1905", op. 103 (#11) - Dmitri Shostakovich - Moscow Philharmonic, Kiril Kondrashin
tempo is almost sprightly compared to Schwarz
{NB:
The SSO
recording with Schwarz is 108 minutes long,
this one is 52+
- oh
what a difference it makes!
from ponderously flaccid to
terrifying}
suddenly
what was atmospheric
is in focus
and has momentum
inexorable events portended
the song is the password
out
there
lurking in the alleys
no time for pitiful wallowing
lines all taut
shivered timbers
urgent
determined
explosive
shimmering strings form a voice
over and above
their color
orders have been barked
vigorous preparations at the
barricades
soldiers in the streets
whiffs of grapeshot
de-sentimentalized
Dmitri had no time for pretty poetry
or maudlin
picturesquery
massive potency
all presaged
here at the end
a pity they had to compress the dynamics for vinyl
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| Ballard Locks |
bouncing off all the walls
all the bouncing balls bounce
true to
their wall bouncing ball dance
When The Girls Get Here - The Young Fresh Fellows [from The Men Who Loved Music]
posturing theatrically
pathetic pep rally song
Superfly - The Humidiflyers [from Humidiflyers 2002]
something odd happened in this dub
as though a muffle were applied
cyclically
in a slow flange
meanwhile downtown
perhaps the
tape was running over the heads inconsistently
Goin' Down - Head For The Hills [from Robber's Roost]
easy goodtime music
how great was the past as a place to be
Silent Night - Smokestack and the Foothill fury [from Smokey's Stocking Stuffer Christmas]
makes his own melody for it
a new setting of the poem
rather than
a performance of the hymn-book version
Staring At The Sun - The Maldives [from Mad Lives]
very much like let's sniff glue
an activity fraught with risk
late
stage post-psychedelic groovy
Foggy Dew - Denise Glover [from Dreams of the Butterfly]
we do love old sad love songs
a mythic tale
tragedy accomplished
at inception
Hark The Herald Angels Sing - The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble [from Festival of Carols in Brass]
social function of this music
aural tinsel
who decorates with
tinsel at any other time
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| Ballard Locks |
boy soprano
so old-fashioned
all the rage
lots of slow
verses
boy soprano sings as an innocent
the unwitting irony of the
voice
I Would Be Your Slave - David Bowie [from Heathen]
a sound thread inhabits this sound
at an independence from the
ostensible beat
a heartbeat with its own job to do
sub rosa
Farther Along - Rachel Harrington [from The Bootlegger's Daughter]
this guitar speaks
in rural
this singer speaks
in long
beleaguered
in heavily burdened
Journey in Satchidananda - Ask The Ages [from Live at The Chapel]
we will tell our tale slowly
particularizing each moment fairly
progeny of progress
erogony of egress
egregiancy of egrets
regency of regrets
beligerency of baguettes
bastardy of
baskets
there now
see what happens
when music disappears
into itself
guitar's turn
pay attention
on your way out folks
trippy
hazards
musical scores
etiquette books for cooperative thinking
spaciness
a blood sport
not my game
I could never take
myself seriously
as a spaciness fan
there's something very guy about this
my spacy voice
is more spacy
than your spacy voice
an obsession of brags
Banned Rehearsal 947 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 4, 2017]
St. Barbara's Day is the closest we get to St. Rage Day
some fine brass
stylings there
along with xylophone rubbings
musical consistency
is not as important to believability
as is clear intent change
choose your intent at every moment
do not abandon your choosing
free from music
a difficult freedom
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| Ballard Locks |
this is pretty spacy
I must admit
difference?
we're lost
the other folks know where they are
etiquette-wise
we play without musical etiquette
drums are chaperones
whence it comes
whither it goes
love dares to know
an announcement from the large iron triangle
that hangs from the ceiling
shaker blessing
a bit of timbre clowning sneaks in
we have rung the little bells
the bus should stop for us
Infrathin Condition 9 - Doug Haire [from Infrathin Conditions]
rather than pry it apart acoustically
accept it experientially
Seattle: City of the Spacy Age
Jaguar - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]
trying to keep up with their generation
they attempt to do Pink Floyd
Dance of the Hours - Amilcare Ponchielli [from 100 Greatest Classics]
a novelty piece
dance for clowning characterizations
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| Ohanapecosh River, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Going Underground - The Jam [from The Sound of The Jam]
this song
in its appearance on The Nancy Tape
was how I came by
The Jam
danceable
and certainly has "sound of the 80s"
but
otherwise forgettable
Johnny Get Gone - The Tripwires [from Makes You Look Around]
descending in a straight line
enforces the rhetoric of inevitability
Paper Bird - Robin Jackson and The Caravan [from Dust Diaries]
non-threating
DIY self healing
wine bar
coffee shop minstrel
for a maturing audience
Track 4 - Marjorie Palmer [from Make a Joyful Noise]
recorded in a noisy room
on an inadequate device
much closer to
the noisy audience
than to the music
re: importing a music designed for social situation A
into social
situation B
friction guaranteed
Elucidating - Amy Denio [from Chapel Sessions]
vocalizing at the front of the mouth cavity
linguodentals and labials
bubbling rhythms
Interstellar Overdrive - Pink Floyd [from The Piper at The Gates of Dawn (digital)]
groove that follows its own path
free of the strictures of song form
or any other clear reliance
on quasi-poetic harmonic rhyme schemes
it wanders here and there
slosh the sound left to right
In a Monastery Garden - Albert Ketèlbey [from 100 Greatest Classics]
with birds on cue
where's Snow White
Cruz - Christina Aguilera [from Stripped]
personal victory anthem
Canaan's Land - Back Burner [from Simmer On]
for men's voices acapella
with key changes by chordal slide
I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift [from Red]
vituperative vulnerability
of as many minds about it all
as needed
to avoid culpability
Track 4 - Strange Like Us [recorded live at The Sunset Tavern, April 14, 2017]
outing life-strife
so the audience knows they're not alone
in
having some
Lightning River - Daniel Husser [from 1 Month Challenge]
a full memory marked
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| Ballard Locks |
working draft
with counting
on echo
to 22 or so
and no
big chord to mark an ending
just chatter
Dope Beat - Boogie Down Productions [from Criminal Minded]
bragging for cred
Sympathy - Sleater-Kinney [from One Beat]
does the sound of a band such as this
echo something within their
audience?
what?
familiarity to situations of incoming aggressions
and responses?
Badger vs. Cougar - Goat [from Live at Sonarchy]
carried along
propulsed
no turning back
check memory at the
door
if self expression
is expressly allowed
is it still self
expression
or is it compromised
Justify My Love (Madonna) - Prom Queen [from Covers]
trope
expression of sexual desire
Tweety Bird - Keith Eisenbrey [December 9, 2017]
three tweets and a cough
in thirteen seconds
at Green Lake
Dim Shapes - Kaley Lane Eaton [from Cedar]
shines loudly
shapely
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| Ballard Locks |
24 Preludes - Lockrem Johnson - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at recitals in 2002 and 2003]
I first heard some of these Preludes at Lockrem's 1977 memorial concert at Cornish, performed by Bern Herbolsheimer. Shortly after that I contacted Doug Rice, Lockrem's executor, who kindly put me in possession of a score (a blue-print of the inked fair-copy). I have been working on them off and on ever since, and have played the whole set nearly twice-through (nearly) at various recitals. This March, on the 16th, I'll be performing the entire cycle along with several other of his works in celebration of his Centennial.
These are definitely young-person tempos
exacerbated by an only partly
tamed propensity
to start too fast in public
there are several of
them
that have no tempos or dynamics marked in the score
and
require complete re-thinking each time out
especially that last one in D
minor
needs more room to breathe
than I allowed it in 2003.
White Tornado - REM [from Dead Letter Office]
REM is another band that appeared in my life via The Nancy Tape
an instrumental to be listened to by dancing
Violin Concerto #2, Op. 7, 3rd Movement "La Campanella" - Nicolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo [from 100 Greatest Classics]
this CD was one of my mom's
she was a violinist among other things
but I already had Accardo's recording of this from long before
Here We Come A-Waffling - the Capital Steps [from O Christmas Bush]
Homesick - Lovesick Empire [from Four Songs]
I would have tried to mix this differently
vocal more up-front
although this does sound like they are all playing together at the same
time
not an overdubbed assemblage
M.O.M.B. - Mud On My Bra [from Demo #1]
lots of cowbell
bless their hearts
Love Me - Emily Stranger [from Labor of Love]
a dance with a shifting floor
What Is Love - The Shirelles [from The Shirelles Anthology]
six feet of teen troubles
a rather muddy sounding dub alas
Where You Are - Whitney Houston [from Whitney]
production value and professionalism
the sheen of aspiration
it is
important to this music
that the poem not be overtly poetic
going
for all the Any Person's feeling words
so as not to alienate fans
R.A.K.I.M. - Rakim [from 8 Mile]
to keep in mind:
pop phenomena occur in a foreign universe to mine
always have
still do
so here I am
a Martian
Hollywood plot is always
the Martian is cool
like us
and gets
down with it
and we all know
that Hollywood
is culturally
always on target
but see above
under keep in mind
so:
I hear a music with revolving layers
making use of vocals of
revolving layers
Skating With Wilma - Peter Fedofsky [from The City of Good Neighbors]
dance
feet on ground
small leaps and graceful slides
a
gentle waltz
American Weekend - Waxahatchee [from American Weekend]
so here's me
the Martian
allowed access
via music
to
a young adult
in their privacy
public intimacy
weary
hopelessness
Sink - Keith Eisenbrey [December 10, 2017]
as in kitchen
filling with water
then draining
a subtle
pitch is present
an E-natural
at first
system reverberance
little sloshes
like a water xylophone
there goes the plug
Frequency Bombardment - Entropic Advance [from Chaos Out Of Order]
frequency as a pitch thing
is not an experiential quality
we hear
its effects
but not its fact
one can demonstrate
that they
(frequency and pitch)
are on a continuum
see Kontakte et al
but that doesn't eliminate the experiential threshold
between
pulse and pitch
a limn is crossed
this comes
then goes
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 10, 2023
Ellenthorpe - Keith Eisenbrey
more fun arranging shape-note melodies for keyboard
one each Sunday
a discipline
September 11, 2023
Assembly Rechoired 62 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey
it was getting pretty dark
even when we started at eight
but the
late gloaming was lovely
so we made some noise for the quiet critters
September 12, 2023
Invention in E minor (#21) - Gavin Borchert
September 14, 2023
Invention in E minor (#22) - Gavin Borchert
September 15, 2023
Invention in F Major (#23) - Gavin Borchert
Invention in F Major (#25) - Gavin Borchert
#24 will require a bit more work, then five more and I'll be done
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 2: 1982-1983
I have started sharing collections of my compositions in albums on Bandcamp. AKU was composed in 1982 for the Synclavier in the Department of Systematic Musicology at the University of Wahington, and Book of Windows occupied my time between graduation and launching myself at the East coast in 1983.
Keith Eisenbrey 1: 1979-1981
These are the keyboard works I composed while an undergrad at the UW.
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2009
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