Playlist

Preface

"There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. However, nothing dispirits, and nothing seems worth while disputing. He bolts down all events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions, all hard things visible and invisible, never mind how knobby; as an ostrich of potent digestion gobbles down bullets and gun flints. And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb; all these, and death itself, seem to him only sly, good-natured hits, and jolly punches in the side bestowed by the unseen and unaccountable old joker. That odd sort of wayward mood I am speaking of, comes over a man only in some time of extreme tribulation; it comes in the very midst of his earnestness, so that what just before might have seemed to him a thing most momentous, now seems but a part of the general joke."

Herman Melville, from "Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale."

Texts

Recorded

February 8, 2025

JB KE SJ DS (side 1) - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Sarah Johnson, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, June 1, 1983]

a proposal of a subject for discussion
take time
to fully formulate response
lightly brush across its possible body
to understand its shape
before we look at it
centimeter by centimeter
groove by groove
scar by scar 

the too obvious pretense
of clever minimalism
easy pentanoodlings
an attractive nuisance 

I can listen to this
through my memory
of how it feels
for me
to be playing piano
in sessions such as this
how
that particular concentration
of attention
feels 

but
not
from any post-consciousnesses
of any
of my companions'
except
by hearing
what they do
move the furniture around
float zennily about
reflexively pulling
vast spans of time in its wake 

eerie harmony chamber

relapse
into music box
music takes over

February 9, 2025

Three Chinese Love Songs - Bright Sheng - Lisa Saffer, Paul Neubauer, Bright Sheng

architectural in the small
of established points
in pitchspace 

such figures as are used
pose
at angles among them

Banned Rehearsal 338 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [August 20, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 338 930820

his head came off
a lass 

toddler wants
brook
no nuance 

I'm a doggy
I crunch the bone
I want to go for a walk 

I own an internal combustion engine

it burns gas

I put gas in it

so that

it can burn it

it goes in it

to burn

I own

an internal combustion engine

it's mine

I own it

I put gas in it

and buy tabs

for its carrying case 

millions of people

around the world

own internal combustion engines

that burn gas in them 

I am not alone

in my ownership

of an internal combustion engine 

internal combustion engines

make lots of noise

when they are going fast

it is difficult

in the United States

to find a place

where you can be

in which

you cannot hear

the sound

of an internal combustion engine

burning gas 

internal combustion engines

are often found

whipping down the highways

and byways

of these United States

where they can be heard

by all of us 

internal combustion engines

also smell

they exude a stench

ubiquitous 

I own

an internal combustion engine

I own one

it makes a big noise

and it stinks

it is mine

I am its registered owner

I buy its tabs

and put gas in it

I move it around

from place to place

making its noise

and stink 

I do not know the facts and figures

but

I imagine

there are nearly as many internal combustion engines

in the United States

as people

in the United States 

an internal combustion engine

for each one of us 

we move them around

from place to place

we hardly go anywhere

without our internal combustion engine 

internal combustion engines

cost a lot of money

and there are millions of them

rocketing down the highways and byways 

there are whole societies

communities of people

who have spent

their entire lives

making

internal combustion engines

designing

internal combustion engines 

internal combustion engines

we think

were designed

and invented

to replace the horse

and the ox

as engines

to replace

us

as engines

horses

stank

but

they didn't make much noise

in comparison

to the noise

made

by internal combustion engines 

internal combustion engine 

wooden snake

and fossil clams

an apt metaphor

for a society

in the clutches

of the internal combustion engine 

our economy

depends

upon the internal combustion engine 

we all ping

{journal entry of September 17, 1998:

the ownership of internal combustion engines}

February 10, 2025

Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]

rope twisting
textile object

Work/Architecture/Unity/And/The (take 2) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Productions April 29, 2003]

what continuity is required
among events
for us to identify
a musically coherent episode?
is adjacency sufficient?
or
do we distinguish musical utterance
from the sounds of things happening in general
based on
an apprehension
of an utterer? 

continuity
of temporal spacing texture
is heavy-handed 

a troublesome score 

thought disparities
between 

the modes of thought
of the piano
vis à vis the percussion

Intermezzo in midi 4 - J. K. Randall [from Open Space 22]

pointedly repeated pitch bunches
we'll take our time to hear these fully

Love Blackmail - Your Mother Should Know [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, March 21, 2013]

back when I was playing
at recording them
in multiple takes

A Good Impresario - Wally Shoup, Bill Horist, Dennis Rea, Greg Campbell [from Wally Shoup 2X4tet]

a monster emerges in mid outrage

Sinfonia 1 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [March 29, 2023]

recklessly spewing figurations right and left

February 11, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: Anima mia, perdona: No. 2, Che se tu se ’l cor mio - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rossana Bertini, Claudio Cavina, Giuseppe Maletto, Marcello Vargetto, Cristina Miatello

music shaped like reading a beautifully printed poem

Herr, auf dich traue ich, SWV 377 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

music shaped like meditating upon a sacred text

In dulci Jubilo, BuxWV 197 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

vernacularly popular texts
became associated with particular melodies
which took on
the odor of the sacred
by association

Premier Ordre (sol), Les Silvains, Rondeau - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

well ordered living
each course
follows upon its fellows

Du Wahrer Gott Und Davids Sohn, BWV 23 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman

this music is a humble frame of mind
a right and humble spirit
its supporting social structures
and architectures

Keyboard Sonata in B Major, Kk. 261 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

delighted in new duds
can't get enough of the mirror 

let's try an action pose
or three
to impress the damosels

Sonata in A Major, K. 331 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout

a cooking lesson
variations upon a dish
and seasonings proper to them 

una corda

on this fortepiano

changes the reverberance of the architecture of its space

its chamber

is expanded

to allow for a distance

from the music 

after the extensive set of variations
that are the first movement
the ensuing two movements
form themselves
into further variations
that have left home

Quartet in D Major, Wq. 94 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Nicholas McGegan, Catherine Mackinstosh, Anthony Pleeth, Christopher Hogwood

one is never entirely certain |
of where one sits
in relation to this music 

this music bewilders us
we
are disregarded 

better things to do
than explain its actions

String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 71 #1 - Franz Joseph Haydn - London Haydn Quartet

this music clarifies
where we stand
with it 

it instructs 

the full stop cadence
is under-rated 

but then
were there any articulatory shenanigans
that Haydn didn't use? 

voices passing through each other
tenderly and lovingly 

the old fellow is wheeled out
to impart gray wisdom 

that's right
that's where we were
before the tale took us elsewhere

Die Stadt, D. 957 #11  - Franz Schubert - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

fully forboded
fearful bodings 

music gets personal

6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op. 10: No. 4 in C Minor, Maestoso - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig

ruminations dark and dire
the pulse wanders
into Schumann's metrical figurations
and is caught
fatally 

heroic efforts not to modulate
or did we?

Prelude in E minor, Op. 24 #4 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

this music is alone with us

Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 22 #2 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

a fleeting glimpse of loveliness

Preludes Book 2 #5 "Bruyeres" - Claude Debussy - Walter Gieseking

a pleasant napping spot

Crê a Espera - Ernesto Nazareth - Marcelo Bratke

representing a refined version
of national identity

Lonely Melody - Paul Whiteman [from That Devilin' Tune]

sounds expensive
and well attired 

celesta? or vibraphone?

Yellow Fire - Reuben Reeves [from That Devilin' Tune]

hands and feet in fluid animation
Olive Oyl's shoes and Popeye's pipe

Back In Your Own Backyard (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

being a social animal
family and tribe
are not discardable

Study No. 11 (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

growling away in his office

Sonatas and Interludes, Sonata II - John Cage - Boris Berman

placing doohickeys
in a device's works

Who Knows - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

high energy sparking punches

What Am I Living For? - Chuck Willis [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

unmistakable togetherness of a band
all playing together
a different flavor of togetherness
than dubbed in later

Little Latin Lupe Lu - The Righteous Brothers [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

music to be seen with

Tell Me The Truth - Billy Stewart [from The Best of Billy Stewart]

sings in drumbreak bursts

I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the word rain
leans
against the percussion line
unstably

like the window
you got nothin' to say

I Don't Want You - Ramones [from Road to Ruin]

music from the gritty urban streets

February 12, 2025

Mouret-Randeau - The Canadian Brass [from High, Bright, Light and Clear]

hit them over the head with a tune they know
that is associated
for no particular reason
with the notion of masterpiece

Sonata in 2 Movements - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at The Tintinabulary, Seattle, March 17, 2011]

five
is a means
for breaking
foursquare habits
while
still relying
on those habits
for its impact 

high-contrast dynamics
push a listener back into their seat 

on the defensive

All About Soul - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]

generic piano pounding song
over-produced at the service of a message
anthemized diction
pound pound pound

Stuart Dempster Retirement Jam (Beginning) - University of Washington Contemporary Group Improvisation Ensemble Alumni [recorded at The University of Washington, June 19, 1998]

revisiting the scene at Meany
in an upstairs rehearsal space

Back Up - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]

bus travel
stop to stop
rondo 

city
through the viewing window

Gradus 135 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 10, 2008]

uninhabited space
infrequent travelers
meet no one
not trackless
endless

The Dirty Angels - The Blue Ribbon Boys

desperate pretense
avant garde:
and the fashion of the cutting whim

Banned Rehearsal 953 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt [February 26, 2018]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 953 180225-26

all the bells aboardship
rattling in the Bering Sea swells 

a shivery feel around the edges 

crabboat cold 

the sound of the space one is in
swallows
the sound of the space
we are in 

after a while
the peril can seem almost friendly 

the wind is endless
it rattles
over chimney
and clangs
in the iron pans
moans
across the wide North

as a boat
we are all one
together 

cozy in the galley

it will end
when we get there
no sooner 

we shiver ritualistically
with tambourines and bells
capture the ice
in aesthetic bands 

Northwest Passage
*denied*

Violent Soundscapes - S. Eric Scribner [from Soundscrolls: Lost Landscapes]

menace
we can hear them
scraping shovels

Finnegans Wake Chapter 2 - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at Gallery 1412, November 19, 2016]

a loud crash reverberates
to clear the stage
Neal
in the rear garden
of hog house
our sailor king
words that spin about themselves
in speech
heave we aside
the fallacy
an imposing everybody
the summit of its climax
conspicuously emergent
we can't do without them
mirthday suit
purest of fabrications
the long awaited
Messiah of Roaratorios
all sections
and cross sections
the whole populace
passes by
the tonsure question
the ballad
is on the mantelpiece
and must be sung
his majesty
the flute
companions
of the chalice
Messrs. Billing and Coo

February 13, 2025

Jubilee - Bix Biederbecke, Frankie Trombauer [from That Devilin' Tune]

the art of orchestration
with the instrunents available

Mollie Married a Travelin' Man - J. H. Howell [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

mule wagon tempo

There Is Another Mule in Your Stall - Nellie Latcher [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

and . . . 

you've been replaced

Lonesome Old Jail - D. H. Hurt [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

text proceeds
on two presentational levels
sung and muttered

There Is Someone in This World for Me - Little Willie John [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

slow shuffle dance

Days of Wine and Roses - Art Farmer Quartet [from Interaction]

guitar gradually reenters
touching on the sly

To Kingdom Come - The Band [from Music From Big Pink]

not just for dancing anymore
sanctification has been unremoved

Group Variations II for computer - Benjamin Boretz [realized at Princeton University Computer Center]

populations of figurations
self-generate through time 

when I was at the UW

I started listening through the music library's indexed tracks

of electronic music

(a fairly small collection at the time)

this came up early on

and seemed

to my ears

to be doing things

like music does

but

in a way

I had never before

heard music do 

flocks of birds
passing through the yard
juncos
bush tits
chickadees
sparrows
robins
crows
the occasional flicker
or finch
or wren
the neighborhood gull
and our resident hummingbird 

at night
the prowlers
coyote
possum
raccoon

These Are The Days When Birds Come Back - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee, Morey Ritt

I'm loving the delicacy of the keyboard writing (and playing!) 

it takes its text seriously

JB KE DS 830524 - Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, May 24, 1983]

what is it
exactly
that we make of each other
when we really care to find out? 

what is it
completely? 

let's take a walk
down to the river
we'll watch the water go by 

why must musical conversation
be livelier
than it needs to be? 

who
are we trying to entertain?
connect with? 

language and music
each say precise things
but they are different kinds of things
they say 

sonically amplified
hand talk 

do deceptive cadences
truly deceive
(an oxymoron?)
or do they surprise?
delight?
why not call them
delightful cadences?  

the way this finds tonalities to be in 

it is a strange thought
that my fellows
in this activity
were not
absolutely privileged
with
being able to tune in
to my
every thought
yet
they were not
any more
than I was so
to them 

the conscious format
of a thought
may not be
the whole
nor even the principals
of the thought 

nearly inaudible whistling
as we play awfully pretty chords 

that music box
now fall'n asunder 
back in its heyday
pre-banned 

Jill says
down way down
so down we go 

alarmed
we shout
collapse in a heap 

out

Raw - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]

from a subgenre
the content of which's lyrics
are brags
toward its fellows 

a trash talk contest

Banned Rehearsal 339 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [August 27, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 339 930827

back to family life in progress
the tuning peg
says a
as in as
or
e as in peg
bay-éd 

a warm day
names and nouns
fun words
to say into an amplifier 

in the dawn of consciousness
when words were new 

elephant wants the elephant guiro 

wheels on the bus
make the trees fall
make the trees happy 

language learning
within a ritual noise making session 

ice cream truck
combines two toddler favorites
ice cream and trucks 

a plastic
stick

the bass drum
is nearly filled up with old socks

{journal entry of September 18, 1998:

that's the two nig pag}

In Session at The Tintinabulary

February 9, 2025

Mear - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 84 Mear 250209 [250209]

February 10, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 1119 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1119 250210

Postscripts

Drops

My 16 Sinfonias were composed, in part, in order to discover ways in which they might sing themselves differently on different keyboard instruments. I offer them here as performed on piano. The recordings were made at my home in 2023 and 2024.

recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream

Playlist

graffiti

Preface

"The wine which had exerted its somniferous influence over Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle, had stolen upon the senses of Mr. Pickwick. That gentleman had gradually passed through the various stages which precede the lethargy produced by dinner, and its consequences. He had undergone the ordinary transitions from the height of conviviality to the depth of misery, and from the depth of misery to the height of conviviality. Like a gas lamp in the street, with the wind in the pipe, he had exhibited for a moment an unnatural brilliancy: then sunk so low as to be scarcely discernible: after a short interval, he had burst out again, to enlighten for a moment, then flickered with an uncertain, staggering sort of light, and then gone out altogether. His head was sunk upon his bosom; and perpetual snoring, with a partial choke, occasionally, were the only audible indications of the great man's presence."

Charles Dickens - "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club" 

Texts

From Recent Arrivals

June 10, 2022

Heaven -  Beyoncé [from Beyoncé]

a song is a whole product anymore
very little is allowed to have personality
outside of the star's vocal
no competition allowed 

do pop pianists have to practice
to avoid
voicing their chords 

I trust they got paid

Romaine - Bill Evans & Jim Hall [from Undercurrent]

like that
and polyvalent pulse senses to boot

bury a friend - Billie Eilish [from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?]

music follows the lyric closely
nothing wasted
understated and strong

How Am I to Know - Billie Holiday [from The Complete Commodore Recordings]

or that
for that
matter

I'm Old Fashioned - Blossom Dearie [from May I Come In?]

or that

Recorded

on the yellow line at Green Lake Park

June 4, 2022

Christe Redemptor, Fvb 125 - John Bull - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

a figuration fence hiding a progression in its slats
a distinctly keyboardian or lutish move
this is about fingers as much as voices

Surgens Jesus Dominus - Peter Philips - The Tudor Consort, Peter Walls, [from  Cantiones Sacrae Quinis Vocubus]

the stones sing out

Sonata in F minor, Kk. 184 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

a renewed iteration sneaks in the first answer
so that's where you thought this was headed eh? 

ha!

Waltz in E minor, Op. posth. - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot (1943)

not a waltz to be danced to
not so functional as that
rather
a fully
cinematically choreographed
performance 

Chopin could waltz the waltz
he didn't write them
he danced them compositionally

Don Carlos, Act III - Giuseppe Verdi - Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado, Placido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Lucia Valentini Terani, Leo Nucci, Ruggero Raimondo, Nicolai Giaurov

a lesson in minute modulations
tremolo
pp
on the e strings 

not only in love with his dad's wife
but also
makes a pass
in error
at his dad's mistress
thinking she was his mother-in-law 

Don Carlos has problems 

conceptual question
in opera the voice is the character's presence
by which they exist at all
but the actors on stage mistake each other
if they happen to have a mask on their face
but
there is no mask on their voice
how could the characters possibly mistake each other?
("That voice! Where have I heard that voice?") 

a voice and a body on stage
a double puppet 

great tumbril drums 

this must be the king with all the pomp and fanfare
company rejoices
as the monks light up the heretics

rootless

June 5, 2022

Alligator Blues - Johnny Hyman's Bayou Stompers [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

these stompers
open with a stomp
on one and half past two
stomp motto
but it stays at the beginning
making no particular impact on the remainder

Malted Milk - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]

inscrutable in this head

They Can't Take That Away From Me - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day, the Complete Recordings on Columbia]

recompose the song to suit
but keep it clearly recognizable
without trouble 

recorded live
there was an announcer
announcing
over the end of it

Cheers - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]

jazz small combo
as adventuring party  

the ease with which
each member characterizes
their self
is a crucial aspect

I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good) - Bill Evans [from New Jazz Conceptions]

some of what Monk does
with his quasi acciaccaturas
Evans does
with full chords voiced to the nth

the big G

Fat Boy - Billy Stewart [from The Best of Billy Stewart]

the guitar licks are the animated cartoon of the girl in the song

Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella - The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble [from Festival of Carols in Brass]

it is odd how we name an instrumental only arrangement of a song
by the same title that the song uses
as though the text is still back there somewhere

Wats . . Uh the Deal - Pink Floyd [from Obscured by Clouds]

there are hints of songs from The Wall
stone after stone :: just another brick in the
outside looking in :: anybody in there

Sound and Vision - David Bowie [from Low]

when he's on target with his collaborators
the composition involved
in when each new element enters
is top notch
case in point

don't you wonder sometimes?
{NB: I am as clueless as you are}

Endless Drive - Orbaneja [from Orbaneja]

composition here has similarities to Scarlatti
that is
they each concern themselves with short repeatable segments
that can be intercut on command
more a similarity of topic
than of sound
or vision

Assembly Rechoired 20 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [April 4, 1987]

Keith Eisenbrey · Assembly Rechoired 20 870404

we are out of doors and there are kids
I don't remember this session at all
where are we
who are we with
Bickleton perhaps
not sure why we'd go there in April necessarily
we must be at the zoo
was my Walkman cassette deck new then
perhaps
must have been
I don't remember this
it must have been in a different version of my past
the sound is remarkably good
there was a peacock
we probably went to the zoo that day
because it was almost the anniversary of our engagement
which event went down
at the zoo
yes
now we're talking about that sleeping monkey

I do remember the sound in that old primate house
I'm glad I have it documented

we were humming amongst ourselves
how disgustingly cute is that 

Karen is humming the Aaronsbundler
we visit the farm animals
the very large pig
where's the bear
over there
consult a map
just to the left of the giraffe
Karen recites 

Oh Hippopatami!
Me belly limn she touch the sky
That be that
that I be fat.
Oh Hippopatami! 

mysterious sounds indeed
Giraffe crossing
a surprising lack of you are here signs

We sing the Aaronsbundler
along with a bird
who keeps a fine beat going

waiting for fish to bite

June 6, 2022

Bye Bye Baby - Madonna [from Erotica]

kiss off on a printed card
cutesy bleeped out F bomb at end

Got 'Til It's Gone - Janet Jackson [from The Velvet Rope]

turning her interlocutor inarticulate
reduced to uh uh what
on various loops
fractured conversation
folded into a music
using industrial technique
to evoke loose play

Track 2 - The Humidiflyers [from The Humidiflyers Fall 2002]

cycles of figures building a song part
verse chorus bridge etc.
parts of standard size
go anywhere

Consider the Birds 32 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]

finding a way to extract a sequence of pulses
from an independently
and indifferently
pulsed
signal

June 7, 2022

For Awhile - The Swearengens [from Devil Gets Her Way]

social* music serves multiple functions
décor lubricant conversation starter enclosure
*appropriate for playing in nonconcert settings
where the audience can
theoretically
converse
or otherwise mix

Banned Rehearsal 932 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy [April 10, 2017]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 932 170410

make a mark
there it is
fuss with it
or not
grouping of sounds happens subconsciously or preconsciously
earmind distinguishes objects from within the raw signal
and in distinguishing them
creates them
distinguishing bird from brook
is no different
than distinguishing viola from guitar
or even one amp from another
we don't seek them out
they appear
spontaneously
fully formed
in the midst of forming
higher level complex objects
can be discovered
but
as experiences they are no different
what we can't do
is experience a class of distinguished objects
we can only experience particular instances
and consciously classify them
as "a" B-natural
or as "a" melody
or as "an" example of Klangfarbenmelodie
this is one of language's entry points

judgment is the act of inquiring
into the activity of making one's own distinctions
testing them 

our earminds
are notoriously
promiscuous

Cruise Control - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]

episodes of beats with little tails
that tail was not so little
this is a large space and things are flying around in it
getting crowded

the Guidonian Hand

The Mayden's Song, Fvb 126 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

the pitch system in use
was
among other things
a way to cross-reference functions across registers
which registers
were not necessarily defined by octave equivalence
an F is any other F
but also
a Fa is any other Fa
along the hand

Down South Blues - Doc Boggs [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

Where the weather suits my clothes
a common song sentiment
I think Guthrie used that somewhere
but I may be mistaken
banjo guitar and vocal

Roving Gambler - Vernon Dalhart [from Evans 78s]

the verses change point of view from one to the next
the gambler
the girl's parents
the girl
the gambler
the girl
and a train-whistle-from-a-distance effect 

Sukey Jump - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Volume 1]

was a jump a particular dance step
this the sort of song
to which one danced a jump
one wonders

Moon Dreams - Miles Davis [from Birth of the Cool]

there's a tuba back there
the voice leading
going on
inside this
is truly stunning

Do You Love Me - The Contours [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

twist the mashed potato one more time

Your Ole Handy Man - Dolly Parton [from Hello, I'm Dolly]

consider yourself warned dude

Acapulco Gold Filters - Cheech & Chong [from Cheech & Chong]

take 403
Jefferson Hair Pie
what you want
good grammar
or good taste

Liar - The Sex Pistols [from Never Mind the Bollucks, Here's The Sex Pistols]

nothing here to act as a barrier to musical comprehension
everything that is there
is a carrier for the vocals
either directly
or as a surrogate
anti-elite
but certainly not
un-off-putting
intentionally
by keeping them out
we can be us

mallards occupy Green Lake Park

Rock the Casbah - The Clash [from Combat Rock]

one not ought to sound too articulate
or educated
a kind of internally generated
self inflicted
cultural revolution

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston [from Whitney]

a dance song
about dance
in the girls just wanna have fun camp
or rather
the number is a carrier
for words
that put a voice in the person
who wants to dance
and for a dance
an icebreaker

Wach Auf! (Die Meistersinger) - Richard Wagner [from World's Greatest Choruses]

it's odd enough to hear some of the longer set pieces
but these little fragments of Wagner are like contemplating David's left nostril
all by itself

The Roof - Mariah Carey [from Butterfly]

she is fond of decorated appoggiaturas
song as warm bath
envelopment fantasy
for the wealthy client
or their wannabes

June 8, 2022

Gradus 11 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [from April 22, 2022]

a single tone
then
gradually
groups of that single tone
return
to fill gaps among the groups
creating more groups
and more gaps

playing with partial application of the dampers
upon the otherwise freely vibrating harp

Flaming Inner Mount - Ghidra [from The Sound of Speed]

locals Bill Horist, Mike Peterson, and Wally Shoup checking in
furiously scurrying for position
fluid game field

Gradus 213 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 11, 2012]

ten years along
still on the A train
and will be for awhile yet
completing
on this day
all the combinations
of 5 A naturals
on the piano keyboard

June 9, 2022

In the Spin - Low Hums [from Night Magic Wine]

song of the washing machine
announcing its cycles
a cleansing annunciation

My journal entry for
Banned Telepath 85
Back Yard Morning Rush Hour

Banned Telepath 85 Back Yard Morning Rush Hour  - Steve Kennedy [April 12, 2022]

In Session at the Tintinabulary

May 22, 2022

Banned Telepath 87 Roosevelt Station - Steve Kennedy

June 5, 2022

Banned Telepath 87 Breakfast with Chickens - Jennifer Chung, Aaron Keyt

Banned Telepath 87 Samish Island High Tide - Jennifer Chung, Aaron Keyt

Banned Telepath 87 Samish Island - Jennifer Chung, Aaron Keyt

Banned Telepath 87 Dinner with Hummingbirds - Jennifer Chung, Aaron Keyt

June 6, 2022

Banned Telepath 87 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer

our first session ever from Anarcadia
that being
the patio
off the porch
at the Tintinabulary

Banned Rehearsal 1052 - Jennifer Chung, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1052 220520 0605 & 0606

this is lovely
truly lovely
I presume the rude beep beeps
that recur
are the hummingbird buzzes 

all of the above
layered and variously looped around

June 10, 2022

Joshua Tree Prelude 20 - Aaron Keyt

I'm going to give this one another go. The rhythm skews my internal pulse toward the end, but it really needs to be closer to being as written than I managed this time.

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery 

some listening journal doodles from 1989

Playlist

Preface

"If I am irrevocably immured in some mindset, be it historical cultural or genetic, what use is the consciousness that this is so to me? Since - if it is indeed the case - the supposed self-awareness consequent on this consciousness must also be irrevocably, indiscernibly - and hence unsusceptibly to sentient self-reconstruction - so psychically imprisoned. So my freedom and my unfreedom are experientially indistinguishable, both experiencable purely as freedom and reality."

Benjamin Boretz - "Unconnecting the Dots" from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020

Texts

Streaming

March 5, 2022

Strange Moon I - Kin of the Moon and Strange Interlude
Six New Works by (Mostly) Seattle Composers: Wayne Horvitz, Sarah Bassingthwaighte, Nebal Maysaud, Michaud Savage, Abbey Blackwell, and James Falzone

Kin of the Moon is Leanna Keith, flutes; Heather Bentley, viola; Kaley Lane Eaton, vox/keyboard

Strange Interlude is Lily Press, harp, and Simon Linn-Gerstein, cello

a long delayed concert

1
range of affect is narrow
composition builds a narrow range
constricted?
the purpose of minimalism
to liberate
or to bind
to find the universe
in a prison
or monkish cell

2
a song like orchestral art song
but told from a near vernacular

3
bass line
chaconne-like
Weill-like
song-form like phraseology
bound by all fours

INTERMISSION

4
weather: smoke
flashy element
shadow play
like Fantasia!
who is wonder for?
we wonder at
for whom do we wonder
at it?
is it
different from inspirational
slow motion
in type of intent
and in tactic
portrayal or transformation
epic piano
shade of storm
lightning erupts
from harps' upright

5
unquestioned transitions
how it is done
no fuss about it
Persephone

6
phase patterns saturate quickly
one can start over
to re-saturate
saturation units as construction media
like as to chords
but larger scale
irreducible but constructible objects
impervious to each other
except by order and proximity

March 7, 2022

Star Anna at The Fiddler's Inn

now 
with a half a head of blue hair
big old dog
makes an entrance

Star fills a room with her songs
an exact fit

From Recent Arrivals

March 11, 2022

Frenesi - Ray Charles [from Ray Charles in Person]

big band arrangement
with a saxophone choir as well
as the soloists
sax
then trumpet
then baritone sax
then another sax (alto?)
drummer takes a break
cool little tune all told
Ray must have been giving his voice a rest

You're Not the Kind - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan]

pitch inflection by means of vowel placement
nice focus in the chest voice
ba-dup

Say - Sun Ra [from Strange Celestial Road]

road trip tune
but neither train chug rhythm
nor highway hum
something else
rocket ride on a gravel galaxy
in the holy
wholly joyous
party bus

The First Nöel - Whitney Houston [from One Wish - The Holiday Album]

quite clearly
this party is too classy for most of us
table here will cost you

Recorded

March 5, 2022

TWO (No. 8) - Benjamin Boretz, J.K. Randall  [from Open Space 5]

what is it
in a melody
that seems to move
from note to note?
a ghost of verbal utterance
as internalized or imagined internally?
what is it
about voices
that seems to isolate them?
a ghost of personhood?
a voice speaks
a person utters
remains in place
emerges in a place
and remains
glow intensifies
immovability
if we move
it is the rootedness that moves
tendrils
once we are incontrovertibly in place
we can reach out

Banned Rehearsal 313 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 28, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 313 921128

sticks and drum and synth
mouth harp piano
Toad Hall
patches
securely enclosed
puttering permitted
if a pitch bends
is it the same note?
hi tech Funmaker
things it might do
spinning top from Indonesia
I am invited
to take the synth
for a turn
I must have been working on Liebeslied
electricity
peach
dance
double pipe reed blower
timbre identifies person strongly
found a preset
not a heavy session
we stay to home

{from my journal entry of June 15, 1996:

new keyboard. it's a hitech funmaker}

March 6, 2022

Partita in D minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Mela Tenenbaum [from Musical Evenings with The Captain, Volume 2]

intimates an underlying whole
through which we thread
and that
intimated underlying whole
is pretty darned intricate
on its own
if it exists anywhere
outside our perceptions of intimation 

one experiences more than one hears
I can have heard something
before
but I cannot have had that experience
before

Bach the orb weaver

Liebeslied - Benjamin Boretz - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, February 23, 2002]

an organic metrical cross rhythm of musics
that follow each other around the stage
as though tied together 

when I first read through this piece (1984?)
my immediate thought was of Tristan harmonies
but it probably has as much Bill Evans in there as anything

the material is not inert 

I know Ben thinks this piece should be laid to rest
but I am still quite fond of it
it has got some of my favorite chords
in it

Halogen Blue - Ghidra (Bill Horist, Mike Peterson, Wally Shoup) [from The Sound of Speed)

barreling down a twisty mountain road
in a loaded semi
with iffy brakes
such a relief to get onto the flat straight stretch 

endzone dance

March 7, 2022

Make My Pay - Smokestack and the Foothill Fury [from Kitchen Recordings]

the urge to share one's attitudinal thoughts
about this or that
makes some sense
if one assumes one's attitude
is either held in common
with one's audience (solidarity)
or will otherwise be of interest to them

What's Wanting For (Neal vocals trio) - Your Mother Should Know [May 2012]

volume stands for expression

Lilian's Pavilion - CEP (Caroline Polachek) [from Drawing the Target Around the Arrow]

heart drip beat
playing with synths
interference pattern vibrato

Banned Telepath 81 South - Steve Kennedy [February 13, 2022]

layered signals
seeking out
in cluttered drawers
glasses
in vibrating cupboards
plug in
levels clapped at
come and go
distant plosives
sounds invented as we go
we are in among the inner parts
of a vehicle
on the move 

the surface shakes us
the music of doing work on stuff
mis-assembling parts
big fly goes bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
shelling continues in the distance
turn on the nearness
engine room doors
repair tools in use
stand back
tapping drums
best to put on the welding mask
now where did I put that
engine cuts out
valve spouts pressure out
signals fade
fingers wiggle
a postlude on guitar

March 8, 2022

Pavana and Galliardo, Fvb 91 and 92 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

every voice amends what has been passed to it
cadences reset the board

Conceptio Tua - Peter Philips - The Tudor Consort [from Cantiones Sacrae Quinis Vocubus]

cadences here don't resolve exactly
they reconfigure memory
while it is being loaded
they provide the point of contemplation

Sonata in G Major, Kk. 171 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

gracefully interrupted freefall water feature

Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer

1
rivets go here and here
we'll have to fix that
how's that
hm
blast it with the hammer blows
careful
it will get away from you
there now
isn't that just glorious in the morning sunshine
let's pull it out here
where it can really stretch its legs

2
we'll have a proper dinner now
very proper indeed
even the napkins are starched
stiff as boards

3
the dancing
will be less proper
but not much less

4
can you believe that party
thought we'd never get out of it
laugh about it for weeks
now we're stuck
behind the pompous
it will take some doing
to get around

2 Chants Polonais, Op. 74 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot (1939)

art of turning
cadence
and how tempo works
in a meter
with ripples on its surface

Someday Sweetheart (take 3) - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Chicago Days]

violin is owning the G and D strings
leaving the door open for bass clarinet
(I think that's what that is)

Stormy Weather - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]

some notes
must be circuitously approached
with rococo flattery

Yardbird Suite - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]

this
is
that
too darned fast modern jazz
of
just give me some of that rock and roll music
the point being
that
as it entered the intellectual crowd
it became an aficionados' music
and not a popular music
but without
(yet)
gaining the snob appeal
of European derived
long hair music

Sonata 3 - Pierre Boulez - Klara Kormendi

speak of the devil
music to twist your ears
a choreography of precise gestures
as precise
as the notes
those gestures play

He's Sure the Boy I Love - The Crystals [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

great drum sound
reified cultural mindwarp
works if it feeds back on latencies potent in the Zeitgeist
songwriters as cultural amplifiers

Heinz Baked Beans - The Who [from The Who Sell Out]

give the boys a recording studio
and they'll make tapes
they find funny

All the Madmen - David Bowie [from The Man Who Sold the World]

King of Hearts has a similar conceit
give me some good old lobotomy
(Ramones?)

Eine Kleine Nichtmusic - P.D.Q. Bach [from Portrait of P.D.Q. Bach]

stylistic quod libet
over and over
the jolt of recognition
wears thin

Bleed for - The Dead Kennedys [collected from Nancy's Mix]

a new generation of snot-nosed kids gets loud

Banned Rehearsal 113 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 20, 1987]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 113 870320

I didn't remix the Banned Rehearsals that stemmed from Telepaths digitally
as I did for the Banned Day
I leave them
as a monument
to the low-tech past
from which we sprang
there were not so many as all that
before our digital era
anyway
this is one of those cases
where the sum
is greater than its parts
not by much
but we weren't ambitious 

parallel lives
boofhead clothes
Boospook gets Pachelbel along with
killed by the plague
in the grooves of this record
everything must be cleaned and separated

{from my journal entry of May 21, 1988:

Lost words to the Aaronsbundlermarch
so far the balance seems way off
may need to redo
which is
what we is doin' now
is big time
cat wrestlin. 

big roar
ABORT
we will try again
we try again
oh yeah yer are kitties
the National Anthem
wiping out on Pachelbel
thunderous cannon
A Boospook Story
the E part of this tape is vocal about its weariness
this is when the cats are up
wreaking the havoc
cat purr and ferocious ROAR
in the grooves rooves rooves
is the
of this record
grooves
sound of
John Cage}

March 9, 2022

Fallen - Andrew Toovey - Jacqueline Horner, Charles Mutter

blocks of affect sequestered

Banned Rehearsal 466 - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 19, 1997]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 466 970919

my very first digital recording
door bells jingle
persons come and go
in musical experience
number is ordered
counted
whether named or not
or partake
of orderability
violin imitates radio
amplified ocean drum
and radio signal
short break
this was one of a series of two-part sessions we called Complements
in which the personnel in play
was swapped out
this part has some digital artifacts
stemming from too-high input levels
it took me a while to learn how to work with the DAT
it's mostly my piano playing that clips now and then
I was accustomed to high levels for cassette tapes
wherein the distortion was often a welcome part of the sound
Isaac lets loose some shrieks
sounds like Aaron's synth
I want to vibrate my head
no pussy-footing around in this one

{from my journal entry of September 3, 2005:

our first homegrown DAT
drums and violin
excellent sound
some marvelous sounds here
amplified ocean drum!
Yowza!
rude break in the middle where we switch parties
piano sound suffers form microphone placement
and Isaac fusses
"I want to vibrate my head"
Isaac beginning to say DAT
second half more troubled socially
than first half
and has some technical problems as well
all of which
are apparently lacking
in part one}

Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen - Prospect Choir

I should probably listen to Leonard's version someday
this choral arrangement just seems misplaced

Consider the Birds 5 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]

5 seconds long
and the last 4.5 are silent
I count about 8 different events

Fireside Chat - Steve Layton and Improv Fridays [from Shared Circle]

voice as
and not as
instrument
two of them
and electronic organ sound
not vying
just finding
(for)
attention
doing palaver
the fire peacefully pulses

Gradus 308 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 6, 2017]

(*and may not exist)
(*or persist within acquainting)
it is a pleasure to hear a single note
time (enough)
to acquaint therewith
is a note
or a time
a there
yes
but
its center of gravity
does not necessarily equal its point of origin
(*)
now we are two
a g-nat
and a c-sharp
it seemed so sudden
the duration
of experiential persistence
immeasurable
can we measure anything in our experience
we can observe measurements
what is the interval
between observation and experience
observation is an abstraction
from experience
a specific filter applied

Populus tremuloides - Jason Eckardt - Stephanie Lamprea [from Quaking Aspen]

between consonant and vowel
voiced and un
specificity of speech
liberated
from the bludgeon of reference

Pavana and Galliarda, Fvb 93 and 94 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

in which
it may be demonstrated
that the opening gambit
is made of parts
and joins
disjoinable
as whimmed
the art of near repetition

99 Year Blues - Julius Daniels [from Allen Lowe's Really The Blues]

a voice
for the convicted
message
from the gone
the taken
don't come back here
no more
rhythm
of rails
of justice

Last Fair Deal Goin' Down - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]

an outlier
the chords are not his usual blues
and neither is the feel
lovely harmonics on the guitar there

New Orleans (The Rising Sun Blues) - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]

advice
probably good
do as I say
not as I done
minimal elaboration

The Stroll - The Diamonds [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

in order to show off the duds I suppose
rock-a-my-soul
how I love to stroll
the fade-out ends
in a spacy place
check it out

These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

clink clink clink piano part
another song
another fade

March 10, 2022

Drown in My Own Tears - Aretha Franklin [from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You]

the 'z' sound
is technically voiced
but when she sings it
at the end of a line
she loses the voiced aspect
and it becomes 'sss'
in a sound-rhyme
with the ride cymbal 

Judy Garland sings as an actor
Aretha sings as a preacher
background shows

Do Re Mi - Woody Guthrie - Cisco Houston [from The Greatest Songs of Woody Guthrie]

could be about Seattle now
but we're shunning our own
without enough do re mi

Being Here With You - Ann Peebles [from Original Funk Soul Sister, The Best of Ann Peebles]

drum and vocal
down the middle
strings and brass
answer each other
from side to side

You'll Never Find (A Love Like Mine) - Janet Jackson [from Janet Jackson]

posit a dance
and sentiments
that might be latent
or blatant
in such a sitch

I'm Lost - X [from See How We Are]

the engineering effaces the specificity
of pitch and chord

Banned Rehearsal 314 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 6, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 314 921206

recorded at headquarters
ocarina
guitar
bug guitar
balloon
light percussion
toy piano
(needs a better name:
keyed bell rods
cylinder chimes
clinker dinger)
fortunately
your head doesn't do that
(piccolo celeste)
the attention of toddlers is instructive
John knows O
but fusses
when told no
life is hard
boy of many moods
we are compelled
to find focus quickly
and hang on
can be a frustrating listening experience
drums
and bug guitar

John speaks in single words
17 months
knows O
Toad
John learns toad
as we hear
and Bach
bell
nose
frangible drive shaft
plummeted
it's a rude business
it's hard to be told no
crank it up to finish
fuzzy dogs
(keylimba)
mommy's making macaroni

{from my journal entry of June 21, 1996:

John has several fusses then some drumming}

Adios Hermanos - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]

message in place of song
nice backup singers though

O - Benjamin Boretz - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, February 23, 2002]

I played this piece twice at this recital
back to back
right now
I'm hearing it wanting to be slower
or more immovable
makes me want to look at it again
the closing flourish
was the seed for my High and Inside

The Big One - Peter Fedofsky [from the City of Good Neighbors]

disaster
as blithe opportunity
or a sign
to change
cuts right off

What's Wanting For (draft) - Your Mother Should Know [May 8, 2012]

too much tinny on the vocals
piercing
the harmony part could be less equal
guitar and drums are good

C.O.D. - Charms [from Human Error]

sorcerers of sibilance in distress

Banned Telepath 81 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer

jumping steps on the Yamaha midisynth
Karen on drums
Bach exits the rails in Lake City
armor plated
swampy murkadonia
bottom dwellers get big 
bits of Bach
break loose
and sink
to the maw
of the bottom fishes
faulty loops
peck
peck
peck fish

In Session at the Tintinabulary

March 9, 2022

Anybody's Fingerbook 3x3 (augmentational) A B C D - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Anybody's Fingerbook 3x3 (augmentational) A B C D

March 11, 2022

Joshua Tree Prelude 6 - Aaron Keyt

I need to do some more metronome practice on this one yet

Rounds for Aaron (first bit) - Keith Eisenbrey

I'm going to need to record this a little bit at a time.

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery 

some doodles from 1988