"You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day, for aught I know; - square-toed luggers; mountainous Japanese junks; butter-box galliots, and what not; but take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this same rare old Pequod. She was a ship of the old school, rather small if anything; with an old fashioned claw-footed look about her. Long seasoned and weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old hull's complexion was darkened like a French grenadier's, who has alike fought in Egypt and Siberia. Her venerable bows looked bearded. Her masts - cut somewhere on the coast of Japan, where her original ones were lost overboard in a gale - her masts stood stiffly up like the spines of the three old kings of Cologne. Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, like the pilgrim-worshipped flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where Becket bled. But to all these her old antiquities, were added new and marvelous features, pertaining to the wild business that for more than half a century she has followed. Old Captain Peleg, many years her chief-mate, before he commanded another vessel of his own, and now a retired seaman, and one of the principal owners of Pequod, - this old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her original grotesqueness, and inlaid it, all over, with a quaintness both of material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake's carved buckler or bedstead. She was apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory. She was a thing of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her enemies. All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons to. Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly travelled over sheaves of sea-ivory. Scorning a turnstile wheel at her reverend helm, she sported there a tiller; and that tiller was in one mass, curiously carved from the long narrow lower jaw of her hereditary foe. The helmsman who steered by that tiller in a tempest, felt like the Tartar, when he holds back his fiery steed by clutching its jaw. A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that."
Herman Melville, from "Moby-Dick; or, the Whale."
Texts
Live
Kin of the Moon and Tom Baker Quartet
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Kin of the Moon (Heather Bentley, Kaley Lane Eaton, Leanna
Keith)
an invocation
to bless space
with friendly vibe
spirits
with their attendant nastiness
long distance keening
the irretrievability of the actual
Tom Baker Quartet (Tom Baker, Greg Campbell, Jesse Canterbury,
Brian Cobb)
the bands
do
the do si do
with
little bells
hold the tone
it is wide enough
for all
to ride
finding quiet
in which
to listen
nice pedaling on the vibraphone
makes a light show
reflection
behind
on the screen
a visual rep
of the action
of
pedaling
simulcast
with its sound
Kin of the Moon and Tom Baker Quartet
regroup
restage
join
to ride
the held tone
the strings
take their moment
then
reconfigure
as the terrain
passes by
disappear
through
the tiny
forest
bird
Recorded
Symphony in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathetique" (#6) - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
1
agogic metrical scansion
is demonstrated
to not rely
on regularity of pulse rate
at the time of this recording
(1951)
this old chestnut
was not as old as I am now
and the time
between this
recording
and now
is significantly greater
than the time
between its composition
and this recording
erupts with a yelp
existential panic ensues
2
a dance
places a music
within another music
end to
end
the between music's
interiority of expression
thus
structurally signified
3
the space fills with uniforms
marching grandly
in review
drums roar
cannons roar
company roars
4
resigning in anguish
to fate
all lines
descend heavily
in the end
strive
though
they might
Sea Pieces, Op. 55 #8: "In Mid-Ocean" - Edward MacDowell - Fred Karpoff
two-fisted tedium
Sonata in F-sharp, Op. 30 (#4) - Alexander Scriabin - Vladimir Ashkenazy
1
floats upon ætheric swells
2
bursts of energy pulse through
Rapsodie Espagnole - Maurice Ravel - Orchestre de Paris, Jean Martinon
a four note figure
in the strings
orbits elliptically
at
certain moments
it stops
so that
we can experience
its
experience
we pause
to wonder
and see sights
novel and
exotic
and whirly
we've got to hop the four note figure
back
to reality
soon
Embryons desseches - Eric Satie - Frank Glazer
the many kinds of persistence
the bombast
provides a platform
from which
the bulks of the musics
are distinguished
and not just from each other
but
from an explicit outside as
well
Sussex Mummer's Christmas Carol - Percy Grainger - Percy Grainger [from Percy Grainger plays Percy Grainger]
arrangement without transformation
Dance Suite - Béla Bartók - Philharmonia Hungarica, Antal Dorati
for a not necessarily narrative ballet?
could be used for that
even if it weren't its original purpose
certainly after a
Debussian model of picturesquery
of course
being full of events
and colorful motions
a narrative could be constructed for it
Blue Coat Blues - T.C. Johnson and Tom Nelson [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
long loud vowel
for the first syllable
of each second line
Concerto in D Major (after Munn) - Arnold Schoenberg - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Yo-Yo Ma
creatively refurnished
but faithful to its spirit
its ghastly
nature
Suite for Violin and Piano - Henry Cowell - Cheryl Seltzer, Joel Sachs
within a clear
old-school
tonal motion
the big blocky chords
effortlessly resolve themselves
into that motion
we do it
for them
extra note modernism
just like regular music
but more of it
all at once
Tall Skinny Poppa - Sister Rosetta Tharpe [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
"tawulll"
Sister owns her diphthongs
braggin' on our trains
trainspotter theme song
rocket train
too fast to see
as it rockets by
Klavierstück 3 - Karlheinz Stockhausen - Aloys Kontarsky
dramatically anti-tonal
Try Me (I Need You) - James Brown [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
moonlit dance tempo
Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
job title
poet
for backing vocal syllables
what are those ladies saying?
bo bo bo dim bo dee ay?
All By Myself - Irving Berlin - The Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
as though
a real person were singing
with real instrumentals
in real time
in a real place
Bennie and The Jets - Elton John
one of his best moments
Momenti - Vivian Fine - Lionel Nowak
full of treacherous crosscurrents
these are loads of fun
I may be misremembering
but I believe Ms Fine visited the University of
Washington School of Music
while I was there
and gave a
presentation
for those interested
my takeaway
amazement
at just how dull
an institutional
setting
can render
someone
as automatically interesting
as Vivian Fine
clearly was
Untitled - Lee Perry [from Bard Sampler 82 & 83]
but this is My Girl Named Bimbo
and I think
that this is a
song The Trolls did too
or
this is
in fact
The Trolls
I may have mislabeled the track
Clara With the Feet of Snow - Aaron Keyt [from Purple Stripe]
Clara
Clara with the feet of snow
where'd the grass on your ankles
go
and why do the rain clouds love you so
Clara with the feet of snow
where'd the grass on your ankles go
why why why do the rainclouds love you so
Clara
Clara
doo dee doot doo doo dee doo doot doo
Clara with
the feet of snow
with the feet feet feet feet feet of snow
where'd
the grass on your ankles go
and why
Clara
do the rainclouds
love you so
Clara
with the feet of snow
where'd the grass on
your ankles go
why do the rainclouds love you so
why do the
rainclouds love you so
Contraption 1 - Conlan Nancarrow
The Honorary Society of Mid-20th-Century American Crackpot Composers
Ives Cowell Ruggles Nancarrow Partch (Cage?)
the impulse
to remake from scratch
to purge of taint
of the
courts and churches
of Europe
a similar impulse
to the notational technologies
of shape-note
music
and its kin
Banned Rehearsal 481 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 1, 1998]
we haven't been
but now we are
here
the drums occupy front and center
but there are more at the peripheries
watching
drawn in closer
but I'm not entirely convinced
that everybody was
all in during this session
that sense
seems to fluctuate
change in instruments
and it's a whole new session
just took its
time getting there
collective itch scratching
sounds coming to life
in a dark empty room
transparently pristine
in spite of a complete lack
of any one sound
being actually
present
without some other
equally unmixed sound
roundrobin session
begin part two
by turning on the snare
drum
the room here
is populated
early morning light
complainer of hangover
in the light
the sounds begin to fuse
joining
into proto-complexes of sounds
still transparent
but we can see more deeply
into the
music
where identity
is more problematic
as the big Wurlitzer gets into the action
as full daylight bathes all
individual instrumentness
is glittered away
in warm vibrato
loudspeaker sustenance
organ and guitar
have a tendency to merge
we are
at a remove
not a great remove
but
a more
of
a remove
darkness settles again
sounds thin out
become single entities
individuating}
Bye Bye Blackbird - Ray Henderson, Mort Dixon - Tom Baker [from Sounding the Curve]
so much lovely string hang resonance! nice playing Tom!
Theme and Three Variations - Sean Osborne - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded June 17, 2010]
the theme is wandering
sing muse
of the wandering theme
I like both this
and the live one I did
they are quite
different
these are really pretty
the bass interrupts
from the basement
not so much variations
as four pieces
with the same notes
in
the same order
a conversation among musics
sharing shirts
and listening patiently
nicely released sonorities guys!
Gradus at Cornish (continued) - Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 20, 2018]
I am listening through a tin ear
can one hear an interval
is there such a thing out there
in the
audible world
if it is a relation
between pitches
it is not a pitch
and
therefore
not
atomic
to music
since
pitches
were stipulated
to be so
we can analyze
and name an interval
but
is there anything
there
to hear?
if so
where?
are intervals completely imaginary?
yes
because music is
the residual consciousness of communication
of having been in
communication
of touch
the frisson of intimacy
might it not
actually
be actual?
but unsayably actual?
a moment of silence
for John Cage
nothing doing
as a blood sport
a new rung begins
Too High - Bad Hug (with Bree O.C.) [from Dead Bars: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
guitar and vocal
sounds like a sound lab recording
not
unattractive
do we believe in our lines
enough
to spin them out
in
lengths
such as these
own your syllables
a melodic interval
is how the next note sounds
because of its predecessor
and
a harmonic interval
is
how their interaction sounds
as it affects each of them
Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 (1648), Volume 1: IX. Herr, auf dich traue ich - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
this music
is personal
addressed to individuals
catechistic
Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott, BuxWV 184 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
the solid security
of a Lutheran Chorale
even a peasant could get
it
we point to its well-builtedness with pride
Premiere Ordre (sol): Gavotte - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
yntrycacyes
of twysts
of tyme
yn
yts
ynnards
Invention in A Major, BWV 783 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Edith Picht-Axenfeld
a spinning top
whipped occasionally
when momentum might fade
Sonata in D Major, Kk. 236 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
articulated figures
push around
our metrical sense
of where
they sit
therein
Keyboard Sonata in B minor, Wq. 62/22 H. 132 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
a tonality
is a quandary
to be puzzled apart
Symphony in E-flat Major, Hob. I:55 "Der Schulmeister" - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
strict instruction
on the correct way
of doing these things
an interval
is the combined spins
that notes give each other
experientially
we experience them
by experiencing
their mutual effects
on each other
9 Variations on "Lison dormait" in C Major, K. 264 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout
a display
of wit
and polish
and ability
it's not about the theme
its about the musician
at the keys
and their many poetic gifts
Symphony in C minor, Op. 67 (#5) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
1
a good sounding recording
it sounds like hearing it
in a
really fine concert hall
Walter doesn't hurry through
though
I wouldn't say he dawdles
either
2
so that it has room to breathe
and enjoy the sunshine
3
not a courtly polite dance
far too earthy
well this
portends something new:
4
and there it is
in festive regalia
sneak a peek
back
on the old doings
then
back
to feasting
and
heroic toasts
in order
to finish this up properly
there will
be a few more toasts
then
we'll wind up the finale machine
and get some C Major on
Caprice in E-flat Major, Op. 1 #14 - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo
we'll announce the VIP's entrance
with fanfare ad nauseum
set in far off France
before the late troubles
this must be the famous Ghost Music
from the Overture
legendary in
the synopsis
by reference
therein
the orchestra
upon the lifting of the curtain
shows us the pretty
scenery
and the lovely gowns
of the chorus
which
then
sings for us
so charmed!
here come the dudes
all those Frenchmen
singing such elegant
German
they must be dancing
no one is singing
before the curtain
after the curtain
before the curtain
behind the curtain
ok
let's have some plot shall we
an interesting melodic sensibility
for the tenor aria
proto-Wagnerian
not a blatant melisma in sight
why were guys
all making wagers
on women's chastities?
that's just weird
it's the chorus
of dueling sibilants
not mentioned in the
Overture
all kidding aside
this is great stuff
the characters are all
cartoons
but the voices are well cast
and they are all in
ok
surely it's time for a scene with female voices
and I'll bet we
get them too
it's that old slow movement vibe
this must be
her eponymous self herself
a lovely song
time for some more plot
a dialog
of two women's voices
to match
that
of the
two men's voices
in the previous scene
structural
libretticism
betrayed by trickery
how mean
instant remorse
a new motion
trouble brews
that's where all the melismas in the act went
time for clowns
or at least
the chorus
Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 - Franz Schubert - Artur Rubinstein
an uncertain condition of existence
persists
even if we whistle
gaily at it
melody
divided
into the stable rational part
and the
fanciful passionate part
lives
on the edge between them
passes through the veil
both
ways
with equal ease
this music doesn't move toward conclusions
it wavers across thresholds
In Session at The Tintinabulary
June 19, 2024
Sinfonia 14 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey
August 4, 2024
Bridgewater - Keith Eisenbrey
August 5, 2024
Gradus 398 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
how swiftly need we move
to explore
completely
in the
allotted time
not just
to touch
on each
completely
but
to touch
each
particularly
along each path
traveled
registrational stylistic threshold
or interval set threshold
climbing the ladder
hand over hand
foot over foot
pay mind
how you move
finding the centers of tonalities
within the rung's pitch field
chorales in homophonic simplicity
the desire
to articulate
against all odds
solid blocks of notes
undisguised
August 7, 2024
Sinfonia 14 (clavichord) - Keith Eisenbrey
Invention - Benjamin Boretz
I plan to record all the pieces I did on my recent recital without the errors I generally make live
Postscripts
Drops
A large selection of recordings of my compositions can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
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