"{March} 31st. - Two days' rain, without ceasing; planning with Isaac on the
large kitchen table covered an inch thick with mould - laid down gravel walks
of red garter, and stuck up skewers for fruit trees.
April 1. - Rain
falling, river rising, cellars filling.
2nd. - Ducks swimming into the
parlour - moved to the first floor for safety - Musical Tom (my youngest)
splashing about bare-legged in the kitchen, and shouting 'four feet water in
the hold.' A leak sprung in the next onion field - all my land under water.
Dick, perched on window-sill, angling for roach in the garden. Isaac says we
shall get used to it, and the waters always go off again. Daughter Julia tells
me the people of Egypt would think it quite a blessing - beg to differ."
from
The Comic Almanack
an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry
Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843
Texts
Recorded
O Tu Suavissima Virga, Ave - Hildegard Von Bingen - Sequentia [from Canticles of Ecstasy]
the words emerge from the page
or from speech
lifted into the
architecture
or lifted directly
into architecture
Geistliche Chor-Music, Op. 11, SWV 369-397 1648), Volume 1: XVI. Ein Kind ist uns geboren - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
spreading the word
polyphonic model
of community interaction
Fuga in B-flat Major, BuxWV 176 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
playful fantasia in the middle
Cinquieme Ordre (la): La Bandoline. Rondeau. Legerement, sans vitesse - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
the bass line has its own pattern of figures
Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Concentus Musicus Wien, Bachchor Stockholm, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
this chorale lesson
is first presented plain
homophonic
interpreted for gestural clarity
then
we start to think
about it all
it is discussed at length
Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Kk. 243 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
what went up
goes down
an interrupted balance
is an emphatic
balance
Sonata in F Major, Wq. 55/2 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi
suspended balances
elided cadence points
mid-air
no break
between 1 and 2
2 becomes a strange side adventure
an outgrowth
a private garden
a reverie
Sinfonia in B-flat Major, Op. 9 #1 - Johann Christian Bach - Camerata Budapest, Hans Gmür
an introduction to the evening's musical entertainment
and an interlude
between other numbers
its only necessary movement to movement
relation
is
to be broadly plausible
and
not disruptive
of the main show
and
to bring it
to a satisfying
finish
Symphony in G Major, Hob. I.54 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
1
a slow introductory segment
so we know the environs
the
eventual key
will be in
and
toward which
it may
veer
2
I wonder
if the composers of the time
thought of slow
songish second movements
as opera scenes
of intimate domesticity
id est
the lead's love interest
this one has a fine violin duet in it
3
a menuet
is an arena
for all sorts of balancing acts
4
--
Symphonie in D Major, 1st Version, K300a(297) (#31) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Academy of Ancient Music, Jaap Schroder, Christopher Hogwood
1
this music has a plot
things happen
the stage is filled
with action
2
a discussion at table
a stern character
and a gracious
character
hash it out politely
3
finish with the excitement
fleet and vigorous
make the
orchestra sound good
so there will be enthusiastic plaudits
Symphony in C minor, Op. 67 (#5) - Ludwig van Beethoven - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
for many radio listeners
this was Beethoven's Fifth
AT
is not directing for defnitivity
he is aware of the limitations
of any performance
and of recording and broadcast limitations
he puts it across
as best he can
in tune
with a
forward thrust
even in the slow bits
gets on with it
no
dramatic moment milking here
oboe honking
no use being subtle
about it
sophisticated orchestration
in the old (pre-Berlioz)
practice
chamber ensembles
and structured doubling
composed-in
virtual
stringendo
(it
seems
to
but
it
doesn't)
Caprice in D Major, Op. 1 #20 - Niccolo Paganini - Salvatore Accardo
the solo violin's superpower
is
its open strings
they open a
door
1
open with a hymn
stately and proper
strong bones
a
sturdy foundation
(we dig deeper)
forth from the abyss
spirit of nationhood
nothing that can't be cured
with some
ceremonial celebration
(a celebration of ceremony)
deeds of
ancestors
annals of lore
(I'd turn back
if I were you)
triumph is certain
2
just not here
oboe?
uncertain
fond memories?
uncertain
and yet
we trudge along with the rest
excitement in the front lines
sing a pretty song
3
society and its perils
society is
occasions of human
intercourse
the more ceremonial
the more fraught
4
the cheerful routine
of daily village life
everybody puts
their back into it
modulations
habitually wander dark paths
Romance variée in C Major, Op. 3 - Clara Schumann - Dorothea Grützmann
distinct protagonists
singing the same tune
in their own way
now someone's all aflutter
Fantasiestück, Op. 12 #9 (1958 version) - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
brief
ardent
when within any span
does this begin
and
how
are we
so far in
wherever it is
we have been
now
for
how long
has it been
Via Crucis: Station IV - Jesus begegnet seiner heiligen Mutter - Franz Liszt - Reinbert de Leeuw
something besides a key center is at work
or in lieu of
a moment
of unimaginable intimacy
Er ist's - Hugo Wolf - Dieterich Fischer-Dieskau, Daniel Barenboim
doth protest too much
Das Orgel-Büchlein, BV B 27: No. 7, Durch Adams Fall (After J. S. Bach's BWV 637) - Ferrucio Busoni - Wolf Harden
a piano arrangement
of a piece for organ
it invites us
into
its space
Poeme in D-flat Major, Op. 41 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
these chords are unstable
they seem clear
from a few steps back
Canto Seriosa - Carl Nielsen - Athena Ensemble
piano and horn
the title is plausible
A kekszakallu hercog vara - Béla Bartók - London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti, Mihaly Szekely, Olga Szonyi
four groups
of
four low notes
produced by
bows
drawn
across four taut strings
curtain opens
on the
last note
image
and logics
of the new exotic realm:
the
unconscious
partitioning regularity
with variegated key structures
there's that sound effect
but not amplified
praise the Lord
patterns of reappearance
across co-determinate spans of times
the
numbers
reduce themselves
irretrievably
the Duke's castle
how many doors?
(eight, counting the front
door)
scalar/arpeggiated figures:
gestures of convenience
(and
convention)
they can be registered
as singularities
on a
path
from note
to melody
also:
ornamentations
cadential formulae
pretty impressive first tenor
stretchy tempo
Don't Get One Woman On Your Mind - Willard Hodgin [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
banjo ukulele?
a pocketful of stock complaints and prayers
Hambone Am Sweet - Southern Singers [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
"Am"
but they sing
"Is"
cultural coloration
(so that
we will know
they're black?)
My Man (with Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra) - Billie Holiday - from Lady Day, The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
what the words say
as she sings them
spills
over the chord
changes
like
they live there
Symphony #2 - Bohuslav Jan Martinů - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Václav Neumann
composing with count
as patterns break up
to signal
that
something
is happening
signification of reference
a means
of enwrapping a span
into a moment
or
enwrapping
moments
from spans
is a function
within signification
and thus
within reference
within their processes
reference is a process
there are steps
also sprach Henry
Ford
does music
partake of rhetoric
by metaphor only
or
does rhetoric
make use of music
as a carpenter might a
hammer?
add to scalar/arpeggio:
crescendo builds to big
the rock solid blues meter
seems to have more than one location
of
the downbeat
within the same moment
Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage - Michal Tippett - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchdestra, George Hurst
are we going to sacrifice another virgin?
that seems a strange thing to
do
in post-war Britain
perhaps a ritual rescue?
this ritual
has a raft of plot points
what manner of theatrical production
might this be a plausible part of?
or
is this its own ballet
a system
can be passé
and still work
just fine
collect index store
read retrieve listen
record transcribe
broadcast
this is a strange enough animal
a virgin sacrifice
would not
surprise
Black Pearls - John Coltrane [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
lookitim go!
So Much In Love - The Tymes [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
are those maracas
on two and four?
the soprano in the back row
is no slouch
Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey) - The Beatles [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and The Beat]
just five years after the Tymes
goodness!
If You've Got The Time - Red Steagall [a Rescued Record]
you too
can be a throwback
to the time of the Tymes
III
we wallow without working
the music has no intention of
leaving
no thing like a reason
for things to happen for
IV
now we're on the other bank
of the same river
seeing the
same things
as before
but
with nervousness
on edge
dream:
the systems of awareness
impinging
on the state
of unawareness
October (Love Song) - Chris & Cosey
this song
was distributed
on a 12 inch
45 rpm
vinyl
disk
containing four different mixes
of the same song
as
it
how 80s is that?
September 26, 2024
Banned Rehearsal 132 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [January 6, 1988]
in the Greenwood Big House
we had our sessions
in the main living
room
where the big piano was
in a chordal mood
someone is playing the blue toy accordion
which
I believe
I
was playing
in session
just this last Monday
{NB: Karen says it was the red toy accordion
which renders the grouping of words above
incorrect}
Karen must have been undecorating
and dismantling the Christmas Tree
I cop
to not helping much
Anarchy under the tree
sticks with it
through stretches
to
try
to get something going
probably
trying too hard
Aaron and I
conspire
with dijeridu
and horn of some kind
make a droney din
squeaky accords to begin
now dulcimer
soft piano chords
warm
sleep chord
sappy chordchords
piano stops
accordion
and dulcimer
a tape
struggling
Aaron sings}
J'ai vû le loup - Anonymous - The Baltimore Concert [from La Rocque'n'Roll]
I could believe the melody
and the words
not convinced by the
arrangements
Banned Rehearsal 485 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 21, 1998]
we
are the captains
of a jettisoned polyphony
adrift
in the pitch dark sea
distortion issues
unfortunate artifacts
lacunae in the
signal
some sessions
are sketchpads
crammed within notes
what is missing
from finished
polished
presented work
is
the glory
of the mishmash
from whence it
sprang
overscribblings
palimpsestuations
upon
palimpsestuations
the pitch dark sea
goes all the way down
this
is the sound
of five earminds
thinking stuff up
vigorous crosshatching
erasures
that must be me on the Kingsbury
I recognize my chord voicings and
rhythm
Romantic opening
has more of a balance problem
than a playing
problem
some issues possibly
with the transfer
keep ear open
for that
does
perhaps
get a bit silly
a problem
with loud sounds
if they are featureless
obscuring
and of no endearing timbre
how close can we be to this music?
and what is it
we are trying to
get close to?
a collection of agenda complexes
agendas
or simply
how the
personalities behave
in their environment
at first this collective
seems only variously geared
toward each other
many an autonomy
they seem unconcerned
with us
and only now and again
with
each other
muttering into our beards
dissipating blats
how close can we be
to a collective
that is partly sulking
partly seething
and partly attempting to ignore it
into
something else
excuse me
your dysfunction is showing}
Seven Light in a Stone Box - Tom Baker - Tom Baker [from Sounding The Curve]
a set of figurations
that might be variants of each other
for some
set of tactics
in terms of the architectural space
that music can occupy
much
electronically enabled music
has replaced
or seeks to replace
actual spaces
with virtual
controlled
spaces
free from pollution
and other obscurations
a pure space
Track 8 - Aaron Keyt [from 7(7)]
we'll put our pure spaces
with their impure sounds in them
in a
null space
securely sequestered
a menagerie
of leitmotifs
for the discerning ear
The Duality of Nostalgia - Jared Miller - Latitude 49
a strand of modernity
to duplicate
tape-spliced
or
digitally-filtered music
with real
('scuse me,
with
acoustic)
instruments
or
exploiting the potentials
unearthed
by constructing a virtual space
within a solid
space
the piece
is a constructed
(organized)
sound
a common definition
of what music is
shows its colors
dab of this
dab of that
abstract depictionism
this
music
is what it is
if
it does
as it is told
to
do
Banned Telepath 59 Lake City - Aaron Keyt [January 30, 2018]
a massacre of crows caw in Lake City
Sinkhole - Dead Bars [from Sinkhole]
the trappings of the punkpop genre
are the proper bindings
for
some poetics
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 22, 2024
Tilden - Keith Eisenbrey
For real this time, just one more Long Meter melody to arrange then it will be on to the Common Meter tunes.
September 23, 2024
Banned Rehearsal 1109 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
back in the studio for the season
Postscripts
Drops
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
