Playlist

Preface

"Go tell it on the mountain can also mean no one's listening here below, attention!
Slide down your own pole to address the fire that calls you out."

George Quasha - from "Not Even Rabbits Go Down This Hole"

Texts

Live

March 2, 2023

Subvector Colloquy
Tom Baker, Keith Eisenbrey, Leanna Keith, Jim Knodle
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle

Keith Eisenbrey · Subvector Colloquy 230302

I am deeply grateful to my fellow wizards, Tom, Leanna, and Jim, for joining me in this evening of collective improvisatory spells and incantations. In my fluster I believe I completely messed up Daniel Husser's name when I thanked him for the spectacular graphic. Please accept my apologies  - and thank you for muppetizing us so ably! I also forgot to thank Steve Peters and The Wayward Music Series for the use of the venue - so: Thank you!

graphic by Daniel J. Husser

I have edited out the applause from the recording only because the applauders were so close to the recording device that keeping the applause from clipping would reduce the volume of the music to a less than optimal level.

In listening to what we did after the fact, which I have done now a couple of times, I did my best to step aside from my habitual manner of self-criticism (self-condemnation) by limiting and focusing my thoughts to precise issues. Positively, the greater part of this was wonderful - especially the quartet and my duet with Leanna. I think that there is a technical issue with combining piano with electric guitar that has less to do with "how well we played" than with the contrast of presence between the sound of a piano's sound board and the sound of an amplifier. A solvable problem, but one that would require some experimentation both in engineering the recording and probably with my approach to the keyboard. I like a lot of what I was doing in the duet with Jim, but my playing could have been more sharply focused in spots. Tom, Leanna, and Jim, all, in my ever so humble opinion, played as fabulously as I knew they would. The audience was a great bunch to play for. Their attention was awesome and greatly appreciated by us all.

Recorded

February 25, 2023

Fantasia, Fvb. 234 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

a figure can be imitated
in part
starting anywhere

Sonata in A Major, Kk. 222 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

stuttered cadence
push it through

String Quartet in D Major, Op. 50 #6 - Franz Joseph Haydn - Tatrai Quartet

1
there is no development section in this movement
smaller than the whole
the activity of all moments
is all
of the same kind
and all moments
relate with similar close attention to their surroundings

2
phrases divided by distinct tonal colors
the melodic contour of the first theme
lives in its ability to take on so many harmonic colors
and precurses the dire Allegretto from Beethoven's A Major Symphony

3
a game with deceptive cadences
bluffing at cards

4
a tossing game
with blindfolds

Mazurka in B-flat Major, Op. 7 #1 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

character dances
the dancers live
and breathe
and coquette

Lonesome Ghost Blues - Lonnie Johnson [from Really the Blues]

the blues have a companion or daemon
that is a necessary other
to measure the time between the lines

Found a Wonderful Saviour - Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet [from Goodbye, Babylon]

a string quartet for voices

Dark Shadows - Erroll Garner [from Erroll Garner on Dial]

he may be still in love with her
but the song persona comes across as too cocksure of himself to be trusted completely

I Believe - Elvis Presley [from Elvis' Christmas Album]

in crooner mode
each chorus a new adventure in vocal control
not always successful but fun

W.R.U. - Ornette Coleman [from Ornette!]

the double bass line is fabulous
you could lose yourself in it
impersonation
puppetry
everybody gets ample time to really work with all the others
drums pass the baton
to bass
who worries it something fierce

February 26, 2023

I Don't Want To Discuss It - Little Richard [from The Explosive Little Richard]

ownership of women
disguised as devotion
enough song for the sentiment to be clear:
you're mine
you can't leave
end of discussion

April Fools - Aretha Franklin [from Young, Gifted and Black]

playing with texture increments
oodles of fun

Subterraneans - David Bowie [from Low]

experimental
in the sense
of not being in song form
of not being shaped like a pop song
of not being formed of pop song parts
but
what is it positively?
a wallow
an immersion
a bath

Inoculated City - The Clash [from Combat Rock]

the words are placed along a string of notes
not sure the toilet cleaner inset works well for the song
a bit too much like 7 O'Clock News - Silent Night
the song itself is strong
the inset weakens it

Banned Rehearsal 121 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [October 31, 1987]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 121 871031

back home at the Greenwood Big House
we sing a glad to see you again song
now as duet with drums violin and shaker
to help along
in a celebratory mood 

a steady pulse can be fine
if it expects nothing of us
including our patience 

kick drum sounds great

a de-regimented drum circle
sudden breaking through
into observing from a distance

shaker and vocal
a smaller time in a smaller room
we move again to tapping 

village life
a parade
a display of wealth and power

story time
begin the story time drone tone

our singing has a tendency to relate itself to the underlying harmony
existing in the space at the time of that singing
we sing in key 

magnifique
ceremonial shaker
ceremoniously late in the evening
where the booms live
the booms bang-out
where booms abide
in their abode 

news flash
then the beer commercial 

"I lie here on my back staring up at the light
thanking the good Lord I share not the cockroach's plight"
(one of Aaron's gems)

Nica's Day - Wayne Horvitz - The New York Composers Orchestra [from First Program in Standard Time]

trombone comes on like a carnival barker
morphing to stage spectacular
master of ceremonies

Explanation of a Long House Song - Johnny Moses [from When the Humans Thought They Were People]

but not the song

Lids Film Layer 1 - Keith Eisenbrey [June 24, 2007]

all spread out
protected from each other by impenetrable nothing
compositionally
working with system noise
this is a very early level take
but it completely aces the fog I was going for in Work / Architecture / Unity / And / The
(could combine?)
(nah)
the I made you jump aspect is too obvious perhaps
but it's a good kind of crass
each burst of noise carries its bell envelopes

Slow Spring - Steve Layton, Peter Thörn, Jérôme Porier, Roger Sundström, Paul Miller [from Shared Circle]

a slow build
nearing very large
view from near orbit

Now I See You Now I Don't - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 15, 2017]

I don't remember this song at all
it has a nice bite to it

Fine - Star Anna [from Live at Rimbert Illustration]

committed song singing
all the self shows up

February 28, 2023

Walter Erle's Pavan - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

our voices amble together
along separate paths
swapping figurations

Section Gang Blues - Texas Alexander, Lonnie Johnson [from Really The Blues]

lifted poem
lines
but no bars

The Goo - Boots and His Buddies [from That Devilin' Tune]

poking fun at the dance craze trope
with word play

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

drum breaks
structural signposts
even the little ones

You For Me - Blossom Dearie [from Blossom Dearie]

nightclub sophistication
rhyme play

Hully Gully - The Beatles [from First Live Recordings, Volume 1]

the kids were weary of sophistication

Down On Me - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]

a sketch

Let The Wind Carry Me - Joni Mitchell [from For The Roses]

chords help keep the lines of the stanzas organized
inventing personae for identifying with

Mannequin - Wire [from Pink Flag]

nondescript bland and blank

Yellow Coat - Screamin' Jay Hawkins [from Frenzy]

variety show
comic delivery
with dance chorus

Sign of the Times - Prince [from Sign of the Times]

embracing the technology of production
thoughts scattered into a dance rhythm

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me - Morgana King [from This Is Always]

the song is written
so that a listener won't get lost
the singer composes just within that certainty
the chord cycle helps

Gradus 33 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [December 10, 2002]

what are we listening for and why are we listening for that?
I am listening for insight
into how musical thinking happens
in order to broaden and deepen my understanding
of others' and of my own musical thinking 

three notes are in play
but three-ness isn't at issue in this
grouping yes
acoustic residue yes
duration yes
shaping yes
reiteration yes
digging in
quantity
count
part of grouping
taxonomy of materials

Heaven's Waiting - Curtains For You [from Heaven's Waiting]

cabaret boom-chick stage band

Ask Your Question - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at Sound Effects Café, Seattle, October 26, 2012]

forgot to sing into the microphone
becomes an awful lot of strumming

Mistletoe Fancy - Three Fingers [from Stocking Stuffers]

for those one and onlies at holiday time

Rounds for Aaron - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, November 17, 2022]

Keith Eisenbrey · 15 And 16 Rounds For Aaron 210405 [221118]

a sequence of systematic 17-tone shuffles
among two M-transforms
and their registers
spread then
then
to mix them back
then
tight
re-spread
re-pack

March 1, 2023

Fantasia, Fvb. 237 - Giles Farnaby - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

we accept a figure
and another voice reiterates
but with new results
we are expected to follow everything
even the wiggles

I Love My Mountain Home - Carolina Tarheels [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

banjo
mouth harp
two voices
mouth harp providing color commentary
voices provide sentiment
banjo provides constancy
practiced porch music

Diminuendo in Blue - Duke Ellington [from That Devilin' Tune]

inventing a new orchestration model
similarities to concerto orchestration
the instruments and groups talk to each other across the music
composed out studio fade

Budo - Miles Davis [from 'Round About Midnight]

up tempo cooking

New Home - The Staple Singers [from Hammer and Nails]

slow blues
switches roles between lead voice and commentary voice
a song caught in mid-insurrection

Pat of Mullingar - The Irish Rovers [from The Unicorn]

happy hero of the IRA

You Told Me Baby - Bonnie Raitt [from Give It Up]

lots of percussive effects in the bright registers
gives the band some fun to chew on

Down The Road - Vaughn Eller, Lawrence Eller [from The Art of Field Recording Volume 1]

jaw harp
mouth shape modulation
stands in for chord cycle

Stir The Church, O God Our Father - Christopher Parkening [from Simple Gifts]

just the hymn with some appropriate chords

CCSPSP Group - Arlene, Anna K, JoAnn, Neal Kosály-Meyer, Shaunna [November 16, 1987]

toy piano
tongue drum
guitar
some wood blocks
near immediate resolution to a tempo
indifferently maintained
flute or ocarina
tempo dissolved
a piano
guitar
mind control
but the bunch is unruly
and haywire it goes
thanking goodness
suddenly everybody stops
is quiet but not still
steady beats lock themselves in place
pile on the crescendo
back off the release
Neal must have had his cornet with him to keep things lively
a noise to join
and a didgeridoo
whistling in the last ten minutes is pretty nice

getting with a beat
deflects attention away from the sound one is making
and its effect within the sound in general
toward
how well one is behaving 

a low hum throbs

March 2, 2023

My Beautiful Reward - Bruce Springsteen [from Lucky Town]

this is a pretty nice country song
not overblown as many

In Bush We Rust - Dubious Duo [from Children of Siberia]

a drilling tool
brittle surface
point of contact
exact pressure

Lid Film Bits - Keith Eisenbrey [June 24, 2007]

memory does not serve
but this may simply be the raw take cut into a bunch of (33 of) individual sound bits
this bell and that bell
I maybe reordered them
must have
not sure what criteria I used
the last several seem to be the interstitial sounds of me moving around the room

Pipa - Camarones Orquestra Guitarristica [from Live in Natal]

speed
action
heart pump
drive

I'll Shed A Tear Every Day - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Victory Lounge, Seattle, July 15, 2017]

Bow of Everyone - Michael Bisio, Matthew Shipp [from Flow of Everything]

really gnawing at a tough bone
evening hearth fire
chasing thoughts

In Session at the Tintinabulary

February 27, 2023

Banned Telepath 97 South - Steve Kennedy

Banned Telepath 97 Tintinabulary - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt

Banned Rehearsal 1071 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1071 230227

I play with my new toy - an electric rubber-band box

February 28, 2023

Sinfonia 1 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 01 Sinfonia 1 (230228)

I had finished a version of this piece in 2021, revised it considerably last year, and then again this year. Most of my revisions have been cutting measure and notes out and re-composing some of the segments to be more clear and playful with the development of the figuration. 

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery

some listening journal doodles from 1993

Playlist

Preface

"If you're trying to assert authority what musical purpose are you pursuing -- and if you could succeed in asserting authority what musical purpose would that accomplish? Do I get any musical payoff for you being right - as against what I get from your offering an imaginative listening model based on an imaginative idea which might have an interesting transformative effect on my experience of some music - even if the particular transformative effect it has is beyond your control?"

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

Texts

Streaming

February 22, 2022

Tarantino Études - Nicole Lizée - Leanna Keith

rhythm track derived from film sound
followed by flute
as though it were our attention
though the command structure is not clear
from the sound alone
the flute may be
may as well be
controlling the film sound
certainly transforming it by commentary

From Recent Arrivals

February 25, 2022

What Have They Done To My Song, Ma - Nina Simone [from Here Comes the Sun]

tied it up in a plastic bag
not produced from the beat up
but from the song in

Tears Inside - Ornette Coleman [from Tomorrow is the Question!]

holes in the beat
the ride cymbal's sixteenth note touch
is sometimes missing
in fact
but never in the ear

Chaconde - Peggy Lee [from Sea Shells]

a little harp solo
vaguely Celtic
this track is notably lacking in evidence
of Peggy Lee

I'm Yours - Prince [from For You]

a quick body dancing
one could read this as a come-on
from a girl to a boy
just as
if not
more easily
it's like that sort of come-on
in its image of surrendering
i.e. it is not masculine to give up
as I understand pop masculinity

Recorded

February 19, 2022

Le Rossignuol, Fvb 86 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

if a figure replicates
too far from its source
it mutates
within a stylistically circumscribed field of possibilities
of which the boundaries aren't certain

Ich habe genug, BWV 82 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmut Rilling, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Bach is generous with time
to contemplate the text
we proceed in long periods
space around every statement
no word
hurried through
the solid worth
of the text
and the solid worth
of the Church
are both made quite clear
nothing frivolous here
the bindings of societal pressure are strong in this one
I rejoice on my death
yikes
loves to add that little extra
at figures' ends
opens all the doors

Sonata in G Major, Kk. 169 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

a canon in the first phrase
then together
establishes a time
between which
things might happen
for an index

February 20, 2022

Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [Royal Festival Hall, 1963]

1
motivic figurations expand in crescendi
then shrink into the accompaniment
of the next big thing
to come along
carrying with it
its demonstrated potential

tempo
hang time as
though airborne
sprung into weightlessness

2
let's talk about time
shall we 

come we'll use a scalpel
we'll lay the parts out
here on this table
so that
we can compare sizes

3
we'll relax
with some dancing in the ballroom

4
furious races
and wrestling on the lawn
some counterpoints fell apart here
but their outlines
can still be seen
solemn measurements are made
deliberations in authoritative tones
general acclamation

Chant polonaise #12 "Moja piesczotta" - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot

time floats in this space

Steamboat Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers - Chicago Days]

high spirits
for stomping good times
dancers wanted
quick change
surprise
to break up the moves

Cross Road Blues (SA 2624-2) - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]

his lines are thrown with effort
especially in their middles
singing is an ordeal

Diggin' Diz - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Tracks]

the tune as presented at the start
is arranged within a regular sequence of 3 + 1 iterations
but it doesn't sit in them square
it fidgets

Street of Dreams - Peggy Lee [from Dream Street]

{NB I think these were the words of an advertising blurb for a real estate brokerage my Mom may have worked for}
careful who you follow
out there
at midnight
and where
they're
taking you

Unchained Melody - Charlie Rich [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

that much covered song
that has nothing to do
with chains
as such

a popular
slow dance
one presumes

Symphony #7 - Roger Sessions - American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies

1
these scenes go by quickly
oh it's quieter here 

if all of this
were happening to a character
on a screen
you would feel sorry for them 

moves operatically
a pantomime
without mimes
or pants
perhaps
or
just the pants

2
at night
far out in the flown-over lands
the queasy soul
of the Union 

little comfort is possible

3
factory functions
pushed along
against pressure
up the line
expressionist recomposition
of Modern Times 

lovely ending

Betcha By Golly Wow - The Stylistics [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

string together
the most overthetop
bubblegum
sentiments 

then sell it 

nails pop so effectively
it transforms it
and itself
another slow dance

Love Alive - Heart [from Greatest Hits]

the intro outlines the entire breadth of the verse
a play with time and its sizes

Blood Brother - Walt Wagner [from The Evening Muse]

Seattle's quintessentially tasteful lounge pianist
he seems more comfortable in his skin here
than in other recordings of his I have heard

Whirled Series - Milton Babbitt - Marshall Taylor, Charles Abramovic

two quick squirrels
trying to catch each other
at making an incorrect move 

they've gotten quite good
at this little game 

we call them gestures rightly
more pantomime
face hands and body in motion

February 21, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 311 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 13, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 311 921113

bang bang bang bang
John gets a bang
out of the word bang 

playing with toy noisemakers
rattles
pin the VU meters 

funmaker
so here
at the Tintinabulary 

toddler attention
trims the focus
not that it loses focus at all 

guitar ukulele dij
occasional bell balloon squeak
don't pop it 

My journal entry of June 6, 1996

sprite provides  lugubrations
Aaron holds down the fort
with a bell and a kalimba 

drum announces the passing parade
which promptly collapses in a heap
picks it up 

collapses again
noisier and longer
humpty with sibilance and rattles

and variations
unlearning rhythm band
the wheel rings unperturbed

Messe de Saint Marcel - Ensemble Organum [from Portrait]

explicit index pitch
(drone)
moves
in response to the melody's advice

Toccata - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, October 25, 2002]

Keith Eisenbrey · Toccata (021025) 2002

an exploration
by feel
in which I wondered
what would it sound like
if two different arithmetics
danced together 

very much a toccata
despite the general lack of finger display
nicely played past me!

Advice From A Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland - Unsuk Chin - Alicia Lee

graceful pomposity
and spitting spite
stretches out
shrinks back

Banned Rehearsal 813 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 7, 2012]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 813 120507

speech
is self
contained
it
occupies the mind
wholly
allowing
of no fellows
scratch and scrabble
how they might

Canyons of the Escalante - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Further Journey]

guitars and geology
with us always 

en la noche

February 22, 2022

Meadowbrook Park 220209 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Meadowbrook Park 220209

chains of bird calls
answering into the distance
traffic a jet some passersby
song birds
crows gulls
ducks
another jet
rushing water in the distance
a truck backing up
beep beep
ducks quack
in two tempos 

did choral imitation of entrances
derive from bird calls
answering each other?

Galliardo, Fvb 87 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

reset
remind
the smallest moves

Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Howard Wolvington  [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, May 6, 2018]

question
were Preludes and Fugues
or Toccatas and Fugues
commonly used
as part of 18th Century Lutheran liturgy?
Do they arise in any other milieu?

Sonata in C Major, Kk. 170 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

spilling over
cadence after cadence
balance after balance

Sonata in C minor, Op. 132 - Ludwig van Beethoven - Artur Schnabel

1
the first stable key center
is none too stable 

the key
is the entire tortioned matrix
of crossbraced figures 

you're right Ludwig
a fugue won't help much

2
within the ordered sequence
of time-point accumulations
in the progress of these variations
occurs
a terrifying quantity
of twisted voice leadings
these things can't be told to a crowd

Waltz in E-flat Major, Op. 18 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot

imitate or impersonate a dance orchestra
tell the whole story of a dance
from the person of the orchestra

February 23, 2022

Singin' The Blues - Bix Biederbecke [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

dancing
to singin'
the blues
showing moves
politely
but with imagination

I'm a Livin' on the Mountain - The Log Cabin Boys [from Evans 78s]

in a time of increasing urbanization
effusions of nostalgia
or advertisement
or propaganda
for the idylls of rural life

Rock Island Line - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Lead Belly Legacy, Volume 1]

the rhythm of his
"road to ride"
doesn't conform
to notational ratios

After Haydn - Benjamin Boretz

trying on old shoes

This Sacred Ground - David Diamond - Seattle Symphony, Seattle Symphony Chorale, Seattle Girls' Choir, Northwest Boychoir, Gerard Schwarz, Richard Sparks, Erich Parce

one can practically see the stirring video presentation
full of flags and battle
(convenience  bags will be found
under your seats)

not sure
what the slap stick
does for it 

it does Lincoln's text
no favors to sing it 

will there by fireworks? 

those
who neglect to give
a standing ovation
will be shot
in the lobby

Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

gender inverted
Frankie and Johnnie

Don't Do It - The Band [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and the Beat]

advice for Joe?
nope
more jealous guy
don't make me
hm

Pigs (three different ones)/Sheep - Pink Floyd [from Animals]

fuzzed guitar entrance
echoes the pig grunts
of course
this is mean to hogkind
whom we eat 

|| an attempt to unspool a symphonic expanse
using tools designed for two minutes thirty
drones
moving at calculated increments

Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]

Meaningful™
BJ is like one of those actors
who thinks they have a good side
and only allows himself
to be shown therefrom
it's in his contract

Banned Telepath 9 San Diego - Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 20, 1987]

this appears as darkness
Aaron was visiting San Diego
from Berkeley 

in California
one must be spacy
and timey 

is it possible
to understand
our own brain 

potato
an incursion
of amplification threatens feedback 

Pachelbel arrives
with friends
collapses on the sofa

in a rumbly lump
begins to snore softly
and somberly 

wakes
a sudden trouble
with eyelids 

a position he held
for twelve years
killed by the plague 

the slow of sound
compulsive
handwashing 

a rare glimpse
into the private world
of the woman at 10 Downing Street 

in the grooooves
of this record
is the sound 

of John Cage
in the groooooves
why am I doing this

we'll never know
the end of Kathleen
who cleaned

Tear This Building Down - T-Bone Burnett [from The Criminal Under My Own Hat]

Bo Diddley opening
steady thing
for a count of beats
steady things
for counts of beats
steps 2.7 millimeters to the side
for shorter counts of beats
in increasing frequency
to the end
or to the guitar solo
answers
then fade
as it shreds

Banned Rehearsal 465 side A - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [September 11, 1997]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 465 970911 A

beats form and halt
are tested
setting adjusted
let's try violin
somebody brought their synth over
to play with the Wurlitzers
synthscribble toypiano and angklung
join in
the scribbling piano and chimney and drums
give the synth room
it wants to sing
we are full of noise this evening
honks and hoots
must be Aaron's synth,
there's his Bundler

Elegy No. 2 - Tom Baker - Ryan Hare [from Intrada]

fabulous multiphonic
low blats
a music made of distinct sounds
distinct motions
characteristic complexes
in sequence
as though
a sense might be made of them
but if so
that sense
is yours
not its
necessarily

Consider the Birds 8 - Keith Eisenbrey [February 3, 2007]

another busy 3 seconds of sound

Intro - Curtains For You [recorded live at The High Dive, Seattle, on April 6, 2012]

they speak for 30 seconds
at the end of such a sunny day

Ghosting Doubles (second sighting) (after Amy Denio) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at the Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, on March 24, 2018]

this is the pretty one
I was interested in writing a music
that could be put together variously
a music
in which
any set of the parts
would fit together
and transform themselves
differently
in each configuration 

Amy's piece
which forms the thread
is sufficiently strong
as to withstand that punishment
intact and inviolate
and devious enough
to be able
to blend in
with my chromatic shenanigans

Flow - Michael Bisio, Matthew Shipp [from Flow of Everything]

bass
(upright)
and piano
(outflat
one presumes) 

a common sense of a pulse
emerges but not importunely 
moves forward
ever forward
quickly liquid
an unstoppable flood

February 24, 2022

Fantasia, Fvb 88 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

state the basis clearly
elucidate clearly
don't be shy about ramifications
let it all hang out

Goldberg Variations - Johann Sebastian Bach - Trevor Pinnock

spokes
or a journey
or in a spiral
i.e. both
perhaps
an ellipse
or perhaps
a browse
through stacks
the theme comes apart
in the variations
recognizable bits
come loose
dismantles itself
definitely has spoke nature
but without the by-the-book set
of figuration shifts
as in a typical Mozartean set
it wanders
and returns
to proximity
or
each variation
is differently proximate

Ouverture in C Major, Op. 134 "The Consecration of the House" - Ludwig van Beethoven - Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer

introduction
is in a rock solid
unknown tempo 

those bassoons are just weird
it may
consecrate
but
it doesn't settle
every cadence is abuzz

is it in C?
well
sort of
it
doesn't really
want to say
probably
maybe

Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 64 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Peter Katin

fluid change
from segment to segment
tour guide tune
follow me
and I'll show you secrets

[from my journal entry of February 26, 2004:

delight in the peculiarities of angles that tunes can turn.}

In Session at the Tintinabulary

February 21, 2022

Rungs for Neal (page 1) take 1 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 01 Rungs For Neal 220221 (take 1)

February 22, 2022

Rungs for Neal (page 1) take 2- Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 01a Rungs For Neal 220222 take 2

February 24, 2022

Rungs for Neal (page 2) take 1 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 02 Rungs For Neal (page 2) 220224 take 1

Rungs for Neal (page 2) take 2 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 02a Rungs For Neal (page 2) 220224 take 2

The last part of my Études d'exécution imminent consists of 4 pages of score, each of which contains a peculiarly ordered list of notes. Each of the above takes 1 has an error, in that I played a note that wasn't in the list. Oops. It doesn't matter all that much, but I did another just to have a correct version. All the takes are quite gratifying to me.

In my mind at the time of the score, and while performing, is, of course, Neal Kosály-Meyer's decades long project Gradus for Fux, Tesla, and Milo the Wrestler. His lists of notes are derived differently than mine (though mine exist within that universe, and could (howsoever unlikely) theoretically appear in some future session) but I was (I fancy to myself) essentially doing what he does - improvising within the set of notes.

What I found interesting in listening back is that it is the notes as they come along that form the perceived set, not the score (which is otherwise non-existent to the listener) that determines the notes played. Although I am not playing in the same style as Neal (I can't) I believe I am, in my head, doing exactly what Neal is, in his head, doing.

February 25, 2022

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

Keith Eisenbrey · Anybody's Fingerbook 3x3 (augmentational) B C D (220225)

The 14th part of Études d'exécution imminent is a bunch of finger exercises. Here is one of them.

Joshua Tree Prelude 5 - Aaron Keyt

I think I'm going to try this one again next week. A bobble-oops snuck in that I missed at the time I recorded.

Prelude in E minor - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Prelude In E minor 110517 (220225)

At first, upon listening, I thought my tempo was too slow. Upon reflection I think it is just right in a just wrong sort of way.

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery 

more doodles from 1987