"So spoke the wooers,
But wise Odysseus
had the great bow in his
hands
and, having examined it thoroughly
just as a man
skilled
in song and the lyre
easily stretches the string about a new lyre-peg,
fastening
the twisted sheep-gut at both ends,
so did Odysseus without effort
bend
the great bow.
Holding it in his right hand,
he tested the
string.
And the string sang sweetly
under his touch
like the
voice of a swallow.
Great anguish took hold of the wooers.
The
complexion of each changed hue.
Zeus thundered, manifesting a mighty
sign,
and divine Odysseus, who had endured so much,
was happy that
the Son of Kronos, crooked in counsel,
had sent him an omen,
and he
took a swift arrow
that lay unsheathed on a table -
the others were
stashed in a hollow quiver -
precisely those arrows of which
the
Achaians were soon
to have a direct experience."
Homer - from "The Odyssey", translated by Charles Stein
Texts
Recorded
February 10, 2024
Like a Sick Eagle - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
trying new gimmicks on for size
sempre portamentissimo
Confidential to Me - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
the piano could use some tuning
The Train is A-Coming - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
any mundane event can occasion a song
collect the words that come to
mind
string them together until the Gospel message sneaks in
The Shell of the Sky - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
the sense of parallax as a form of far-sightedness
what is close up
blurs at speed
what is far away stays more still
rushing through
now and past
the past toward a new now
within a differently angled
past
these rails are smooth
they have no clackety clack
I'll Not Complain - Charles Ives - J. J. Penna, Robert Gardner
a complaint in the the form of a resolution to not complain
Odds and Ends (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
the guitar has more to do on this one
The Little Black Train - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
train arrival
a little newspaper poem to tuck in the tails of columns
Midsummer - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
all of the recorded music listened to as part of this journal
is stored
as information on a hard drive that is not much larger than a pack of cards
December - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
stream of quick consciousness
Nothing Was Delivered (Take 3) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
thirty seconds of it
When The Train Comes Along - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
train to the afterlife
death done summoned me
Bully - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
lording the hallway
power walk
The World's Highway - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
we get all the noise of adventure
and peace of return to home and
garden
Odds and Ends (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
an accusation
get out of my face
John Henry - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the man who did what he said he would with a hammer in his hand
hammered
till he broke his heart
To The Waters and the Wild - Steve Layton [from Colors]
borne on billows
A Night Song - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
word painting as a practice
leads to choosing texts for their paintable
words
Get Your Rocks Off - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
a song is as long as the story he wants to tell
the squalor's life
Every Monday Morning - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the daily rural life
as it fell under John Henry's hammer
so as to
be connected to the commerce of the continent
Daughters of the Frost Moon - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
burst at intervals begin to release others from their long enchantment an unstable ground
From "The Swimmers" - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
I suppose it's a challenge to both paint the words effectively and make an
independently plausible music of it
but still
Clothesline Saga (Answer to Ode) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
backyard fences
Going Down to Town - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
two singers two strummers a balanced pair of pairs
Trabant Holiday - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a machine is doing its doohickey doings
fascinating and amusing
quite charming
Ilmenau - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Sumi Kittelberger
why would we think that moods and words (reference) are objects that music needs?
Apple Suckling Tree (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
chew the fat song
Sailing In The Boat - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
coastal
Juny - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
this is an urban way to move and walk and hold oneself
Cradle Song - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
but ought not the mood of music match the mood of the poem?
it is
certainly a possible conceit
but there are many approaches
Apple Suckling Tree (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
for instance
this text's mood
has few apparent doings
with
this stomp dance
Blow, Boys, Blow - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
song on the waterfront
Ecstasy in the Overload - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
a steady flow
with waves carried within its column
tap into it for
tool applications
or self maintenance
adjusting to the motions of the magnetosphere chamber
our home in
hostile space
Because of You - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
a courting song
you changed the world for me
were't not
All You Have To Do Is Dream (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
energy builds up to be released at the ends of groups of four
set up
set up
set up
punch line
Fire Down Below - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
fire is general over the ship
Pushers - Steve Layton [from Colors]
we observe from several stations
monitor activity and operation
factory floor
robust machinery
the ideal of it is mired in the mud
with everything else that comes down
this way
All You Have To Do Is Dream (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
not only does he not care particularly if we like him
he also doesn't
care over much to be understood
and so we bid adieu to Bob until the next cycle sometime
Sally Go Round the Sunshine - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
didn't even have time to sit down
trade lines
pom pom
The Seer of W 36th Street - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
cycles rely on charm
like cute robots
not-cycles rely on the
excitement of curiosity
Immortality - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Tamara Mumford
a moral observation
This Old Man - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
this song goes like I remember having learned it in elementary school
counting practice for forming minds
Hanging - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
we are a space probe
out in the lonely
greet the distant stars one
by one
In The Alley - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
how I intended to court Sally
Skip-a to My Lou - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
find a rhyme game for dancing to pull them in from anywhere
Òyeme como quien oye llover - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
eerie sighs
the image of cyborg consciousness
echo
the image
of dream consciousness
signal
without linguistically pertinent
articulation
we know it says
we know not what
a message
inscribed need not be translatable
to be clearly understood
as
being an inscribed message
Requiem - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
not much rest in this Requiem
short of absolute dissolution
uses
dissonance as an effect
When I Was a Young Maid - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
under what social circumstances did songs such as these spread to find themselves here?
Through The Eye of the Needle - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
now be a good camel
through you go
that-a-boy
morse rhythms
parallel motions
chromatic motions
Afterglow - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
observations of a man of infinite leisure
The Closet Key - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
lost and sought and found in that lady's garden
In The Fish Tank - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a village of sounds
curious and eager
interesting characters in
the more intricately hidden back alleys
General William Booth Enterest Into Heaven - William Sharp, Steven Blier
this one is magnificently theatrical
bizarre
washed in the blood of the lamb
in a fierce martial tempo
sound effects
style effects
Built My Lady a Fine Brick House - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
something to sing
to keep the time while dancing
Troubled Times - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
singing our songs in Babylon far away
tangled tongues
To Edith - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
piano acquired a role as default accompanying instrument
derived from
its ability to mimic other ensembles
Where Oh Where Is Pretty Little Susie - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
what's a paw paw patch
that so attracts Susie and Sarah?
Legos - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
busy bots
In April-tide - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Matthew Plenk
here's Mr. Educated Composer Person being proper
Jingle at the Windows - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
does not bother to word-paint
nor to make much sentiment
Steam Toys - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
if the wind-up Nairobi Trio were left to run on and on nonstop
it might
have mutated as it broke down
to this
From 'Perecelsus' - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
American music loved new techniques
for what they mean
still
word/mood painting
so what's my beef?
are we doing it in
service of the poem or to gild it?
is the poem primarily about its
surface sentiment?
Adam Had Seven Sons - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
fatherhood and authority
Locomotive - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
a name might be a placeholder
within language
for what might not
be a possible thing
within word world
language
music
mathematics
evaporate
if their
confluence is contrived away
Romanzo di Central Park - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
sequence by half-step increment
loosens scale degree functionality
order-determination's toe-in-the-door
Here Sits a Monkey - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
mixer game from another time
|
| The Long Embrace |
My Lou Jennine - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
to amuse ourselves
we decorate poetry in song
something for the
visitors' notebook when
we go out in the evenings to make our calls
Go To Sleepy - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
mama and papa are going to the mail boat
Nordland - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
a showcase of sounds
curated sets
clues to what lies within
tales
potions
fertilizers
Religion - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
ambiguities tamed in Concord Sweet
Monday Morning Go To School - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
sings Monday Evening
Squall Line - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
the church bells ring out
news
alarum
in jocund rhythm
special effects spectacular
Hush 'N' Bye - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
promising ponies after slumber
and sweet cake
Weave of Rings - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
stepping out of mundane time
into sempiternal cyclings
a
manufactured timelessness
Down East - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
so I ask myself:
Ives, Seegers, Layton
- New England, Americana
Museum, The Great Northwest?
- Closet Royalists, Cataloguists, Citizen
Putterer
Turtle Dove - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the past had its regional musics
as do we
though the present's way
of being
is clearly not like the past's
Widow of the Pines - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a list is ordered language
or
a list is language objects ordered
a sentence is a list of words
a list of letters
a list of
shapes
a list of sounds
is language the list of sounds
or is it our parsing of it?
is
music the sounds we hear
or our parsing of it?
yes
one hopes
without one the whole vanishes
without the
whole there is naught to parse
The Things Our Fathers Loved - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
whiskers from kittens
formed into mittens
Mary Had a Baby - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
catechism in a nonsense song
the people keep a coming and the train done
gone
definitely an autoharp
Shine On Beast - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
this music arises in a world in which the isolated sounds go wandering out
to tax our powers of making discretions of particulars
that is
it isn't meant to blend
because 'meant' is not it its
make-up
motor impulse music
quasi-autonomic
In Flanders Fields - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
sucked (back){?} into Europe's mirefields
nothing so patriotic as
fighting for auld England
war-mongering mutters
Jesus Born in Bethelea - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
simple chords to strum
for learning strumming
Conversations With Moonlight - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
phenomena in dance
converse across languages
lists can be subjected to functions
output recycles input
input
coopts recycling
to distribute itself
controlling output of input
cooption
choose the process
craft the process
troubled
its a whole little film
here's this
here's that
too much
detail jumped all over by the music
O Boy let's paint some words!
The Cherry Tree Carol - Seeger Family [from American Folk Songs for Children]
indigenous midrash
Gospel according to the least of these
The White Wind - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a caldron of spaces
those that come as parts of sounds
the melody
is slow
sensitive to the length of time each note needs
to speak
its "this is me"
They Are There - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
here's the Ra Ra Hip Hip Hoo Ray
a rouser speech spouting applause lines
Little Birdie - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
picking rhythms and tempo
time poetry
the old proportional meters
where they got it from
Two Point Five Minute War - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a profoundly obscured text
ink on permanently scrolled scroll
clutching secrets
mundanities
dust and dust
In Autumn - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Michael Cavalieri
suitable for any polite company
The Sea Fowl - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
melody traces the movements of beasts
an admission of awe
shockin'
to me
a strange song altogether
A Voice Came - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
alchemy of music into words
words into music
words within music
therefore
music within words?
In Flanders Fields - Charles Ives - J. J. Penna, Patrick Carfizzi
there are the marching drums
row on row
stuck
Old Bangum - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
the song that stuck in my head
until I'd composed it out
here
as a kind of adventure lullaby
dream hero myth
Stomped Box - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
deeply disgruntled worker beasts
making Orcs and Orcs
always with
the Orcs
why are we making Orcs?!
let's scour our brain pans
In My Beloved's Eyes - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Michael Cavalieri
talking oneself into an exalted state
The Swapping Song - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
climb back up by nonsense rhyme games
Morning Ferry - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
gathering the scattered folk
to catch their drifts into a funnel
for statistical analysis
Disclosure - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
a song full of discrete stylistic episodes
Great Big Dog - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
wagged his tail and shook the meadow
Soar Somore - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
figures in a cyclic groove
displaying a seperate larger pattern on its
surface
leave what is constant
to play out at the end
Because Thou Art - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
a very proper attitude toward one's lord and husband
Saw a Sow - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
tell a tall tale
t'amuse tots
Hymn of The Lost - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
the boom of the drum
activates the motes into images
from which
they settle through the layers
to the bottom
to be re-activated
William Will - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steve Blier
hoorah for Will McKinley and his bill!
newsreel stump speech
Turkey In The Straw - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
whoopin' up a tune called Turkey in the Straw
Stop - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
permeated
inundated
engulfed
absorbed
acculturated
important that the harmony be understood in groups of four
a modest
tinge of Brahmsian polyrhythm
a quite modest tinge
Once I Had an Old Gray Mare - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
sings 'once'd I had'
a conversation with a turkey buzzard
found
her in a mudhole flat on her back
the whole skinning story
frosted
toes
Humming Bumper Cupcombs - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
shuttle travel
warp and woof across city streets
In The Alley - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Robert Gardner
here's that Sally of the alley again
it will end in tears for sure
Little Rooster - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
animal sounds game
with a green bay tree
to fill the answering
phrase
old Mcdonald type
The Nighthawks - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
our aperture is narrow and unchanging
it sees what it can see
we
make of it what we are capable of making of it
is there a reason to
think
that our conceptions are not limited
by our conceptual
apparatus?
In The Mornin' - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Tamara Mumford
The repetition of clauses is an underscoring
instructions on how the
line is to be emphasized
Who Killed Poor Robin? - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
sparrow with the arrow
beetle with little thread and needle
those
sound like gut strings on that guitar
Wandelwonderland - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
at night they launch the invasion force into the interstellar void
The Incantation - Charles Ives - J. J. Penna, Patrick Carlizzi
when the shooting stars are hooting
Lost Gander - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
banjo time
alternating straight pluck tune and harmonic pluck tune
The Rose Window - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
so what's the difference between a recorded acoustic sound
and a
recorded synthetic sound
less noise in the latter
or just a
simpler signal
a signal designed as such
not simply recorded as
such
it lacks the chamber
that included both microphone and sound
The Indians - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Robert Gardner
a premature funeral oration
they're still very much here
The Leatherwing Bat - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
internal rhyme play
to swing the melody into a long lined metrical
pattern
Hermit Crabs - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
subaqueous buoyance and inertial resistance
The Innate - Charles Ives - J. J. Penna, Robert Gardner
these notes are curled up into a tight wad
resisting disentanglement
a sermon from a stern pulpit
Jane, Jane - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
a song upon a rhythm groove
socially organized cooperation
At Play in a Crooked House - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
card sharks spying out tells
Maple Leaves - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
no firm foundation found
Old Bell Cow - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
trash talk the livestock
Unsteady in Moonlight - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
adding spices and herbs to an instrument's sounds
the object with the
strings and soundbox is the main course
the various filters and effects
are embellishments
do they enhance or alter or obscure the instruments
naked virtues
I Know and Loved a Maid - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steve Blier
parlor-ready
Animal Song - Seeger Family [from Animal Folk Songs for Children]
and so we leave the Seeger Family Museum for the nonce
I'll skip the
gift shop
they probably have instruments for sale
Not Your World Anymore - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
these are patient to nibble away at the last increments
From 'Amphio' - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
from bourgeois heaven family dream life
Ending To Begin - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
what if the filters talk back
a living resonance chamber
Karen - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Kenneth Tarver
the scene changes with each line
Blowhard - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
Hosehorn Caverns National Sound Monument:
Hall of the Bellows of Beasts
The Last Reader - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Michael Cavalieri
prolongs a tone that might have passed away
escapist fantasy sentiment
The Angle of Afternoon Light - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
figures echoed in altered states
The Light That Is Felt - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Tamara Mumford
the age of bourgeois sentiment
the trash romances of the era
Stresses - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
a style is a doing in multiple iterations
languages within a community
of styles
languages of languages
Like a Sick Eagle - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Robert Gardner
a woe's me drama
Centering - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
a photograph
again with menace
but happy birds
or angry
amid the menace
the presence of a musical idea
is not subject to search or seizure
nor to the presence or absence of any element
Lincoln The Great Commoner - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Robert Gardner
trying on the emancipator's hat and coat
the very type of manly heroism
mighty as a continent
|
| Orison |
Die Lotosblume - Charles Ives - Eric Trudel, Kenneth Tarver
a school exercise
Schreiben Sie ein Lied auf Deutsch
27 Voices - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
I'm not counting
but I'll take his word for it
cubes of cubes
The Love Song of Har Dyal - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Jennifer Casey
embedded voices
sticky matrix
High Plains - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
in an early light
proto dawn
Luck and Work - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Janna Baty
adventure and industry
I Remember To Forget - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
add it in
stir it constantly
add cream periodically
show the
base
La Fède - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steve Blier
we are stern
we are tender
we are the patriarch in our own minds
The Sky a Blanket of Fire - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
Summer in the brush and forest
sci-fi mag cover art
it has
the flavor of a distant world
distance and alienation suffuse the
tongue
The Indians - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
the past was
in the past
reduced to a misty recollection
Motel Rooms - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
anonymous places
anywhere America
In Session at The Tintinabulary
February 11, 2024
Park Street - Keith Eisenbrey
shape-note tunes are shapely patterns of notes
February 12, 2024
Banned Telepath 101 South - Steve Kennedy
Banned Telepath 101 Tintinabulary - Hayley, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer
Banend Rehearsal 1094 - Hayley, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer
February 15, 2024
Sinfonia 11 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
I think I like it now
February 16, 2024
Aus tiefer Not Lasst uns zu Gott - Aaron Keyt
these are deceptively tricky
Sinfonia 11 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey
Serial Diatonicism - Carson "Carsonics" Farley
I'll need to listen to this in the coming week to confirm that I've got something interesting to send to Carson
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 13: Music as Film (part 2) 2008 - 2009
Volume 13 completes my Music as Film project, in which I built up textures from snippets of sound. "Zither Film" is just that process and nothing else. "Improvising a Framework for Composition so as to Compose My Thoughts about Improvisation" uses layers from the earlier "Lids Film" in conjunction with texts both original and found. "Torch Song" is all about its found texts. It may not properly belong in the project's remit but it tagged along anyway. It certainly doesn't belong anywhere else.
Volumes 1 through 12 are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2020
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