Preface
Bickleton, WA
"In the absence of lexical or conventional referents for the ordering of musical elements in a 'semantically interpreted' structure, the construction of coherent musical entities depends on a contextually inferable referential basis. Such dependence requires that it be possible to distinguish among individual musical things, and to distinguish classes of such things, on no more elaborate a prior basis than that on which those things are just identified as musical things in the first place. If our subject were (verbal) language, the claim that the above requirement could be met would amount to a claim that given only notions of what 'language' was, of the kind of data that was pertinent to the construction of 'linguistic entities', and of the varieties of identity and function designable for linguistic entities, it would be possible to infer from the perceptual quality-patterns of successions of sounds and/or inscriptions associated with any 'linguistic utterance' the particular vocabulary and syntax through which to interpret the 'meaning' and 'structure' of that utterance - i.e., to distinguish it as a particular linguistic individual. Thus 'English', while it would be a cognitively designable stage in the definiential ascension from 'language' to 'this utterance', would no longer be an essential stage to account for by the introduction of new assumptions and conventions, since all the essential characteristics of 'this utterance' would be determinable through construction on the original primitives without the mediate intervention of a conventional English dictionary and grammar."
Benjamin Boretz, from Meta-Variations: Studies in the Foundations of Musical Thought
Texts
Live
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| Bickleton, WA |
University of Washington Modern Music Ensemble
Cristina Valdés,
director
University of Washington School of Music Meany Hall
[||||||||||] - Justin Zeitlinger - Cameron DeLuca, Cole Henslee, Taylor DeCastro, Ella Kalnichenko
entertaining visual
percussive keystrokes
mechanical interface
image
pong-like
Acadian Storm - Eddie Mospan - Rachel Ryes, Cameron DeLuca, Cole Henslee, Giuilia Rosa, Taylor DeCastro, Olivia Hsu, Tyler Smith
an environ's sounds
pitch vamp
the pitches
stand for pitches
kept in tight cages
comes in
then goes back
Overture of Unsupervised Logic - Nicholas Mendonsa - Cameron DeLuca, Cole Henslee, Taylor DeCastro, Chris Young, Nicholas Mendonsa, Ella Kalnichecnko, Tyler Smith
image of an uncomfortable condition
sounds move to new sounds
en
masse
a splash quite unnoticed - Arshia Ashari - Cassidy Cheong, Rachel Reyes, Cameron DeLuca, Cole Hensleee, Taylor DeCastro, Chris Young, Ella Kalinichenko
pitch working with itself
not convinced by the spoken bits
but
elsewise pretty strong
a stillness of zero sensation - William Dougherty - Rachel Reyes, Cameron DeLuca, Giuila Rosa, Chris Young, Olivia Hsu, Tyler Smith
literal prolongation
luscious and oozesome
Schumann Resonances for clarinet and piano - Melia Watras - Cameron DeLuca, Ella Kalinichenko
I am left to wonder
if the impulse
or imperative
to extend
techniques
arises
from the workings
of so many pieces
or
has it become a default signifier
of this particular
slice of culture
Hexis, for sextet - George Lewis - Rachel Reyes, Cameron DeLuca, Taylor DeCastro, Chris Young, Ella Kalinichenko, Tyler Smith
every sound
is its way to play
activated
by its assigned
time
an instructed orchestra
Recorded
May 19, 2025
The Black Surf - Scurvy Bastards [from Piranthology]
Let's sing like we are on a stage
in a swashbuckling sea show
Gradus 138 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 28, 2008]
Gradus 138
Hollow Bedroom - Waxahatchee [from Cerulean Salt]
recorded in two rooms
guitar room
vocal room
Gradus 330 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 19, 2018]
presence noted
neumed
indicted
has a pulse
fogs a mirror
nineteen minutes of fame
join the pile of past presences
the
formerly beneumed
a voice on the council
enter
according to the etiquette
of harmonic hierarchy
no ordering
makes more sense
than any other
but
a
systematic approach
has the benefit
of appearing
to be
impartial
and predictable
as notes are added
the field
from which a rung's combination of
notes
is chosen
increases dramatically
each new rung
a rare commodity
a finer sample of the whole
an oracularly
chosen elect
each returning tone
bears the experience
of its solo rung
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| Bickleton, WA |
December 2008 Part 2 - Pete Comley [from Experimental Radio]
the wind mouth
howls vowels
lifts stray sounds from the surface
carried along
like cattle
in Dorothy's tornado
past wars
past subterfuge
past disciples
upper eyelid lift
leaving Jupiter now
to lupine meadow
impossible to know
if there is a surface
firmly
to avoid frowning
the trout
lurking in the depths
swim in the wind
that blows our sounds
Madrigals, Book VIII: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
a miniature opera
in which
the very particular voice leadings
play a leading role
lickety splickety
tongue teasers
the power of holding still
Selig sind die Toten, SWV 391 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana
calligraphically inclined
toward
a calligraphy
that sings in
sweet tones
Ach Gott und Herr, BuxWV 177 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
this is deep
with no tell
as to how deep
till you plunge
Premier Ordre (sol) - La Fleurie ou la tendre Nanette - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
portraits in fine frames
fine brushwork
exact shadings
Siehe Zu, Daß Deine Gottesfurcht Nicht Heuchelei Sei, BWV 179 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
shown to spread advice
as rumors are spread
in intricate fugal
polyphony
music as good counsel
can music believe what it's saying?
or
does it only need to seem
so?
we repeat our lesson this day
by speaking this hymn
in lifted
voices
Sonata in F Major, Kk. 275 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
who knew F Major had such odd little closets?
Symphony in C Major, K. 551 "Jupiter" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Bickleton, WA
a grand stage setting
revealed
by updrawn curtains
Bruno treats this
as a Romantic Symphony
with a story to tell
swordplay and cheerful hearts
material is taken apart
by means of exhibition
almost Berliozian at times
look at him
all dressed up handsome and all
and now
your future
grander than could be imagined
grand in
struggle
grand in triumph
the best of all possible times
Personal Fulfillment
Missa in angustis, Hob. XXII:11 (Lord Nelson Mass) - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Donna Brown, Sally Bruce-Payne, peter Butterfield, Gerald Finley
so
what's the deal with Lord Nelson
a diplomacy?
{NB: nope,
a serendipity}
there is an urgency to this
as well as a private sort of intimacy
mass
is lived drama
peace
for our noble Empire
triumphant
Prelude in B Major, Op. 28 #11 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
a melody
with its reflection
Das Paradeis und die Peri, Part 1, Op. 50 - Robert Schumann - Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan, Edith Weins, Sylvia Herman, Ann Gjevang, Robert Gambill, Christophe Pregardien, Hans-Peter Scheidegger, Choeur De Chambre Romand, Choeur Pro Arte De Lausanne, André Charlet
a praeludium thread is spun
and twined
our tale is told
in
episodes of song
and episodes of narration
with a story
from outside ones cultural home
one is freed somewhat
from the temptation
to cop a pious attitude
{looking at you,
Felix}
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| Bickleton, WA |
Prelude in E-flat minor, Op. 31 #3 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
boils when heated
I Just Want a Daddy - Charles Matson [from That Devilin' Tune]
jazz
if that is what this is
as a means of American
self-caricature
an exemplar
of a way to move one's body
Finnegans Wake, Chapter 7 (beginning) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 15, 2023]
written in black and white
the whole of a nose
the wrong shoulder
taller than the right
sweestereens
the prize
of a
bittersweet crab
when the angel of death
kicks the bucket of life
when yea
we have no mañanas
covetous of his neighbor's word
a meticulosity
bordering on insane
the recital
of the
rigmarole
blood and thunder for life
The Ballade of Perce O'Reille
. . .
Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen - Louis Armstrong, Lyn Murrays
Choirs [from Louis Armstrong and Guest Stars]
Bickleton, WA
its motion is heavy and slow
but without effort
it covers all
More Than You Know - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
vocal solo segment
instrumental solo segment
abut
but don't
cycle back
an ordered pair
Sonatas and Interludes: Fourth Interlude - John Cage - Adam Tendler
we twiddle and tap interludially
December Blue - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]
floating so gently to the ground
climb the easy stairs
Slopposition - Norman Monath [from Songs of The Pogo]
that's about the size of it
My Little Suede Shoes - The Art Farmer Quintet, Jim Hall [from Interaction]
the drummer is a kick
Wild Honey Pie - The Beatles [from The Beatles "White Album"]
one of the interstitial songs on the album
were it not for its inclusion
therein
doesn't so much improve the stronger songs
as bathe in their company
Panic In Detroit - David Bowie [from Aladdin Sane]
the pose of the vocal line
among its Bo Diddley dance
sounds that occur
at the analogous spot
in the stanza
partake thereby
of a kind of rhyme
13 Emily Dickinson Songs: What If I Shall Not Wait - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee, Morey Ritt
this music can't stay seated
Blitzkrieg Bop - The PKs [from Live in the Living Room]
playing things
at a thug con
The Great Bear - Cecil Taylor, Louis Moholo [from Remembrance]
Bickleton, WA
listen carefully
(under advisement)
this music
works inside
you
the time of this
has left beat behind
beat
has been beaten
beat
is beat
20 minutes
within your viscera
not for the faint of heart
or
tender of tummy
a pianist's drummer
or a drummer's pianist
Cold Mountain Songs: A Coat - Robert Morris [from Open Space 30]
what lingers
is the intimacy of discomfort
Synthesizer - Outkast [from Aquemini]
syllable spew
on canvas
primed
with layers of voice
Psalm 133 (050510 final) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, May 10, 2025]
clearly I had been thinking
about The Owl and The Pussycat
Karen Kane - Rachel Harrington [from City of Refuge]
life in the backwoods underworld
Banned Rehearsal 841 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 22, 2013]
on the porch again
packing light
perhaps
the tossing of broken flower pots' pieces
upon the
pavement
perhaps though
some wood sound
rather than
clay
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| Bickleton, WA |
discomfort of alienation situation?
or
of annihiliation
fear of anonymity
of having no voice
without voice
unless I ring this little bell
never wander anymore
welcome home
not knowing
who is which
among us
Lotus Intro - Christine Aguilera [from Lotus]
from within birth
refledgement
Sinfonia 1 (midi) - Keith Eisenbrey [April 20, 2023]
the final version
performed on a robotic harpsichord sample
complete with mock IV V I cadence
generated far outside the normal
channels
Wild Cat Blues - Sidney Bechet [from That Devilin' Tune]
this music
is to entertain and delight
Lord Lord He Sure Is Good - Elder Richard Bryant's Sanctified Singers [from Really The Blues]
blues
in how it aims to the payoff
at the end of each stanza
Rock My Soul - Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet [from Goodbye, Babylon]
sung light as fingertips
fleet as swallows
Three Improvisations (1938): No. 3 - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
dabs of color
Goin' to Virginia - Ralph Willis [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
a journey
has a tempo to it
and ongoing narrative
 |
| Bickleton, WA |
It Don't Hurt Anymore - Hank Snow [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
the long rhyming syllables
at lines' ends
are timbral episodes
Try - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
duhRY
tuhRY
cuhRY
CuhLOUDS
do it
Lonely Little Mansion - Willie Nelson [from Here's Willie Nelson]
a grim joke
constant
in the land title business
divorce and
death
are the twin
surefire
drivers
of residential
transactions
Space Towers - Sun Ra [from Monorails and Satellites]
body checks
and shoulder shoves
upon a figure
that's trying
to be immovable
success negotiable
Anti Love Song - Betty Davis [from Betty Davis]
department of mixed messages
scrawled across the funky raunch
Forget - Nina Simone [from Baltimore]
of course it's about remembering
Sleepless Night - John Lennon and Yoko Ono [from Milk and Honey]
department of body discomfort
becoming its own novelty record
Banned Section 13 - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 2, 1988]
Bickleton, WA
just guessing
2 pianos or 4 hands
leaning toward 2 pianos
mix of touch
register
and location
besides
I
don't think they've been tuned to the same A
I wouldn't be astounded
if I were told
they were two old Sunday School Room uprights
untuned for years
so likely!
at least one of them
had
not conversed with a tuner for a while
figures
can fill time
using it up
or fill time
with
possibilities
to explore
proximity to cultural touchstones
what does it mean
to demonstrate
proficiency?
what musical image
does it project
or
invite?
into the outside world
looking out
for our inward selves
a Dempsterian end point is reached
pause
then something new
buddy march
intermezzo
then
to poundy pedal play
Anna makes comments
as they are finished
there is a big hum
Farandole - Empire Brass Quintet [from Class Brass On The Edge]
favorite set pieces
from your favorite cartoons
Glory to God (050510 final) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith
Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, May 10, 20025]
Bickleton, WA
at the time
this was as close as I could comfortably get
to a
popular type arrangement
(completely accessible)
still sounds
modernist
oh well
American Life - Madonna [from American Life]
fitting in with a manufactured ideal
a skin shredding endeavor
repetition as a hypnotic rhythm
Banned Rehearsal 738 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 5, 2008]
we lurk in the low pitched murk
infiltration under cover
dimension
by token number
identity of number
invites cross
comparisons
whether warranted or not
the activity of comparison
occurs
a rhyme
without syllables
we are the undergrowth
in the forests beyond music
stays with it
and the elephant guiro
works the feedback
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 18, 2025
Colchester - Keith Eisenbrey
May 19, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 1126 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Nocturnes or Discourses
The idea behind this project was to treat five or six minutes of room ambience as the score for an improvisation, and then to use that improvisation as the score for a further improvisation, and then after several iterations to mix together the various scores/improvisations so that at any moment one would be hearing both a stimulus and its response. The second version used a similar but more cumbersome procedure involving two pianos during two different sessions in the same room - taking advantage of the fact that I was swapping out one piano (a Yamaha) for another (an older but wiser Chickering).
Track 1: recorded and assembled in 1993
Track 2: recorded and assembled in 2007
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
