Playlist

Preface

"[Barnstable Bear (in blue pants and a red and black checked cap)] FOR MY NEW COMIC STRIP 'LI'L' ORPHAN ABNER,' THE THING FOR ME TO DO IS WORK HARD. DILIGENCE! TWELVE HOURS A DAY AT THE DRAWING BOARD . . . TWELVE HOURS MORE AT THE THINK-TABLE . . . TWELVE MORE DRINKING COFFEE . . . TWELVE MORE WRITING MYSELF FAN MAIL. WORK! WORK! WORK! I'LL MAKE PUBLIC SPEECHES! I'LL ENDORSE THE CHEERFUL CHARLIES . . AND ALL PUBLIC GOOD WORKS! I'LL PUT HONEST TOIL INTO MY CREATIVE LABOR . . . I'LL SCHEME . . I'LL PLOT . . . . I'LL SWIPE OTHER PEOPLE'S IDEAS . . . EXCELSIOR!"

- Walt Kelly, from "Pogo - Clean as a Weasel: the Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 6"

Texts

From Recent Arrivals

February 1, 2022

I Learned That From You - Denise Glover [from Dreams of the Butterfly]

circles around its story
from the image in

the 2nd verse
same trajectory as the first

instrumentals revolve in reverie 

{a Sara Evans cover}

February 4, 2022

Eight - Tom Swafford [from 12.15.19]

work out on the overhead wires
flips and spins

Cherry Orchard Theme - Melissa Dunphy [from The Cherry Orchard]

incidental music for a production of the play
perfectly plausible as such 

poignant
busy
unstable

if by land you mean sea - Josef K [from the natural articulation of things part zero]

syllables of sound
volumes of vowels
filling to the top
the can rings
 somewhere distinctly near
in your ear
where wave meets wind
in the rhythm space of cars
on a wide bridge
we remove to the chatterbeach
so many birds

Amok! 1 - Evan Zaporyn - Gamalan Galak Tika [from Gamalan Galak Tika]

the notion of downbeat slips off its pedestal
something about the way the meter shifts go by
reminds me of the keyboard part of Book of Windows 

it's quieter inside should you prefer

Given a Sign - Loma [from Don't Shy Away]

care taken of the songwriting
after the manner of Bowie or Eno
but there's more than a little Laurie Anderson as well 

composing with wordstruments

Streaming

February 3, 2022

Soundbox 1 - Marino Alberto, Omar Willey, Carlos Snaider, Leanna Keith, Heather Bentley

I was not able to catch the original stream
so I listened later

1
we open with an invocation
worship the ancestors
pantheon call
semiprofundities of accusation

2
from the linqua franca de facto of chords 

||my theory about that:
working hypothesis:
the musical lingo of self-styled civilized Europe
(art music church music court music bourgeois music common practice tonality)
that is
my native language
and the only one I play in fluently
is a dead language
 Beethoven beat it to a pulp
and it expired long and lovely over the next century
I play a dead language
thus
as a composer
I am compelled to invent my own from what is left over 

a new lingo arose in the Americas
(blues jazz country rock folk pop etc.)
all dialects of a common set of assumptions
all based on rhythmic and harmonic structures
that do not match anything like those of my native tongue
except in the most superficial ways

3
between them is a Chinook of sorts

4
a diatribe vituperative

5
outside the language issue outlined above
a personally negotiated cooperation

6
a waltz riffing in our louder culture

7
another diatribe vituperate

Recorded

January 29, 2022

The Jewish Mother (A Yiddish Mamme) - Itzhak Perlman [from Tradition]

fill-in-the-breaks arrangement
orchestra fits its activity
under the violin's held phrase ends
a staple of song writing
an image of supportive cooperation
 melody's helpmeet

Banned Rehearsal 308 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [October 16, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 308 921010

hands
cheeks
head
down
chair
piano
guitar
drums
autoharp
variously resonating
variously pitched
new words for John 

from outside the intent of the session
intent loosely defined
as what we thought we were up to
sounds are being made on instruments
and other times
which don't cooperate with themselves
or with each other
to build anything bigger than that
while a toddler tries out words
from inside that same intent
making a family life music
music that is like family life
nursery play
goal or hope or postulated outcome
a new sort of music
in a new sort of context
not marketable in any known arena
a social experiment
as much or more than a musical one
an infant music
has got to start somewhere
I sloganized this at the time thusly
take music out of the marketplace
and put it back in the family
where it belongs
there's that monotonal radio preacher again
o hum te deum
o hum te deum
we shall put all these sounds in the same box
the way out
is far more out
our scribbled praxis
 forge anew
forge a head
Gnot as a mock myth
drums and the peals of bells
Oozingbrain of the Gauche Garde

my journal entry of May 15, 1995

Looking for Satellites - David Bowie [from Earthling]

bisyllabic lines as rhythm generator

Song for Yvonne and David - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, Febraury 23, 2002]

my setting of the well-known passage from Ruth, composed for Karen's sister's wedding 

a nicely turned setting
the basic idea of its arrangement
is the old fill-in-the-blanks as above

You'll Be Comin' Down - Bruce Springsteen [from Magic]

a smothering embrace of a sound

January 30, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 812 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 812 120423

we poke around in hopes that our poking sounds will reveal something
mostly we just poke or rattle
Neal peals out thunders
goes nowhere
arrives safely
 settles
in makes improvements 

Thur: Nuk:
How'veyoubeenNukI'vebeenfinethanksThur

Witness Protection Program - The Snubs [from Witness Protection Program EP]

the chord changes serve memory
how the players keep track
and we with them

Banned Telepath 80 Theremud - Steve Kennedy [January 17, 2022]

for Banned Rehearsal 1043
throbbing electric drone
from on high descending
whistles chirp
drumming going in or out
revving up or muttering
tones erupt
brightly gentle billows of electric drone sounds
inhabited by swiftly flying swallows
and bugs
an occasional landbeast roaring in the distance
our camera does not move from its field location
we see what comes by
the odd radio
gentle timing
there is a strangeness
to hearing the sound of someone
turning off the recording
we are hearing

Pauana dolorosa and Galiarda dolorosa, Fvb. 80 and Fvb. 81 - Peter Philips - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

movement is by straight line
countermotions in other straight lines
commentary and discussion provided
and shared among the straight lines

Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in A Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Sviatoslav Richter

is any single voice coherent with itself
in anything like the way
that the whole is?
presuming the whole is

Sonata in D Major, Kk. 164 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

the voices count the beats
each different in its number pattern between motions

Symphony in A Major, Op. 92 (#7) - Ludwig van Beethoven - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini

explicit and inexplicit subdivisions
then left adrift
ideas move through the orchestra
each part talking to each other part
Arturo gets the rowdy right
the subdivision of the measure in 2
is shared between inexplicit and explicit
each informs the other
perturbations are inflection points
articulating larger groups
squeeze box trio
step kick step kick
a list of subdivisional strategies

Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 51 - Frédéric Chopin - Artur Rubinstein

structured melody
with aberrations and detours and distractions
the figuration enforces a flexibility of the substrate
in order to clarify the structural integrity of the melody

February 1, 2022

Dead Man Blues (take 1) - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Chicago Days]

the minstrel hokum that starts this cut
an open-eyed comedic gesture that cuts into the future

I Ain't Got Nobody - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]

there is a sweetness in his playing that gets lost
or hidden inside a fireworks
tip o' hat to the Rhapsody in Blue
out

I Found a New Baby - Charlie Parker [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

steady strum on the guitar and drums
almost stern
like a dance floor
this music faces inward

Laura - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, a Lead Belly Legacy]

squeeze box and mouth harp make a train
an industrial age rhythm

Ain'ta Bump in the Road - Roy Hogsed [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

put the chains on Mother?
all the problems with cars and roads
bouncy rhythm
not a train chugging
more springy

Concerto in F Major - Dmitri Shostakovich - Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, André Cluytens, Dmitri Shostakovich

1
starts chirpy gets shrill
whatever it is he's dancing on it's hot
then hotter
like a newsreel of his career so far
clown man

2
distinctly old-fashioned
the old days
poignant-idyllic

3
party game
getting shrill
always more
faster
brighter

Baby, Let Me Follow You Down - Bob Dylan [from Biograph]

doing his Guthrie imitation
I heard this from Green Pastures of Ivy League

This Is My Song - Morgana King [from Gemini Changes]

all the glitter
all the glow
aiming for the old money

When You're In - Pink Floyd [from Obscured By Clouds]

a film cue barely moves
long fade

Kurt's Rejoinder - Brian Eno [from Before and After Science]

in the lab
inventing industrial music production

Next, Please - Orbaneja [from Orbaneja]

technical display of metrical prowess
throwing in regular extra beats

Assembly Rechoired 17 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Loretta M [March 7, 1987]

Keith Eisenbrey · Assembly Rechoired 17 870307

clavichord coffee can drum and other light percussion
the process of recording and amplifying
dis- and then re- embodying the sounds
of these little instruments
transforms them
hyper-particularizes them
is their new-found invisibility
also a part of the medium's transformation?
music boxes harmonica other toys
music box playing Joplin
harmonica playing Amazing Grace
allamerican band
take me out to the old ballgame
on the Schoenhut in the Greenwood Big House
we played in the front room
life with Keith and Karen
if you came over you made a tape with us
we found the mystery chord
if you want to invent a music from the ground up
you've got to start pretty low to it
and the Aaronsbundler on clavichord
accompanied ably on monochord
by Karen I think 

O Hippopotami!!

February 2, 2022

Grande Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion - P.D.Q. Bach [from Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion]

the problem with this
is that it's only as funny as it needs to be
never turning on itself
to invent a new way to be music 

at least the operas work as spoofy theater

Banned Rehearsal 463 (side b) - Isaac E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [August 29, 1997]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 463 970829 B

cases are opened
a high note is plucked
and into the swamp we go
thrashing about
a sudden flower
commentary paused for tight squeezing
thin paths of sound
from perch perilous
to perch pointed
ponderous pounds
radio lands nearby
the daily family life
magic transformations into neverwhere
the Kingsbury was pretty new to us then
may have still had the original keyboard
too many sharp edges
we approach with solemn care
oh dear Isaac's a fuss
Neal does a fine imitation of
Ben-on-Crumar
in the last few seconds

Josephine - Brazilia [a Rescued Record]

riff repeated three times
varied for the fourth
separate section
2 and 2
or at least clearly different in pattern
songwritten punk
expulsion of frustration

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

only 3 seconds long but full of event

Song 1 - The Tailenders [recorded live at the High Dive, Seattle April 6, 2012]

the steady place has soft spots
careful where you step
recorded by me
back when Karen played out with Your Mother Should Know
also on the bill
I brought my DAT
and a small stereo microphone
now defunct

Don't Black Out - Your Mother Should Know [from Demos recorded  February 23, 2017]

starring the cymbal
trademark sound

I Dig Everything - David Bowie [from Toy]

fill your room with sound
alternate affects
push release

Amarilli, Fvb 82 - Peter Philips Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

a note
the beginning of an elaboration
can be redefined
as itself
containing only the memory
of its former self

Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in A-flat Major - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jaccotett

for me the up-down-/high-low-ness of figure
is a different sort of thing
than the up-down-/high-low-ness of register
or
harmonic updown is different in kind
than melodic
and the difference persists through numerous levels 

curse that engineer with his too quick fades!

Sonata in C Major, Kk. 165 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

never shy about showing what he's doing
rather than compose a specious continuity
he signals his segment boundaries
one voice just will continue heedless
of the implied modulations all around

Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#87) - Ludwig van Beethoven - London Symphony Orchestra, Edouard van Remoortel

big square blocks with motion inside
alternate with
linear builds
then combined
dramatic events are plural in essence

these van Remoortel recordings of 7 and 8 were either poorly engineered or poorly transferred from vinyl or both
murky and distant

Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 51 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot

the characters reveal so much
in their hesitations and back-trackings
scene ends

February 3, 2022

Finnegans Wake, Chapter 6 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [from his live stream on October 17, 2021]

... Auntie Providence
for there no men clatter
11
no blank ye
to put it all the more plumsily
as the gates may be
swordswallower
the endswell of man
 temporarily wrapped in obscenity
outing both
A the limits of the horizontal moment and
B the obscurity of its depths
his everpresent toes
as none of you knows
Javanese
ex audi facts
a pentium of parsacks
the stream that would be a river
silken horse
gather behind me satraps
twodimensional of you
the rhyme on my raisin
might have been a happy evening
answered
volleyball
she tried all thee winsome ways
all her winds had taught her
the mooks were not amooksed
I see she said . . .

Fantaisie Négre in B minor (#4) - Florence Price - Lara Downes

not that far from Art Tatum
to be honest
but less coy about its own inner sweetness
not that far
in the way it exhibits its core melody
inside its figuration

Somebody Loves Me - Bud Powell [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

plays with a careful distinction
of what the titular tune is
and what it isn't
up to the solo

Sweet and Easy to Love - Roy Orbison [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

sweeter than easy
per the backups
bop bop de wadda wadda

Yellow Jacket - The Ventures [from Walk Don't Run]

after anything sweet
guard your root beer

Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

a brag with a thicket of nos at the start
in harmony no less
but what about the mashed potato?
no?

In Session at the Tintinabulary

January 31, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 1044 - C, D, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Ahava K, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1044 220131

Neal was narrowcasting from Outpost Lake City, Department of the Tintinabulary where C, D, and Ahava wandered through, Karen and I were ensconced in the Tintinabulary itself.

February 4, 2022

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

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

Joshua Tree Prelude 2 - Aaron Keyt

Prelude in A minor - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Prelude In A 110708 (220204)

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery 

more doodles from 1987

Playlist

Preface

"What if, with a different music-intellectual mindset, I think that some phenomenon of music 'has a story'? Is 'having a story' just a type of 'having a structure'? Is a 'story' just, really, a 'structure' with attitude?: Say some 'Fibonacci Series' story - attributes attitude, maybe, but without particular affect, right? Certainly exudes attitude - can't imagine what its charm would be bereft of the air of having uncorked some special esoteric number-combination emanations scoring it some big-meaningful-idea cred, which gets built in on just the grounds of logging in as a Fibonacci story. Or a tuning story or an exotic-scale or ritual-mode story; got to have the exterior story or how would the sound get to register correctly for the unpreinformed? And, let's see: if a story is a blow-by-blow account of something in terms of something else, correlating a sequence of music things with their private logics to a sequence of other things' otherwise-logic as if either they were the same logic or that the skewness of the logics to one another is somehow super-illuminating or at least entertaining, for the benefit of the music-logic; isn't that just 'having a structure' except with the affect and/or attitude framing and driving the structure-logic logic?"

- Benjamin Boretz - "inside in, outside out"  

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

Texts

From Recent Arrivals

January 7, 2022

Harrow Down The Clouds - Tom Swafford and Zachary Swanson [from Scythe Paths Through the Nettles]

handfuls of hail
waken
thrumbody

Come Pick Me Up - Star Anna [from Soundtrack]

story is told
in terms of
a plea
for what?
abuse?
ironic
or non?

The Elements of the Sun Broke Into Song - Melissa Dunphy - Matthew Curtis

Baroque era approach to word painting
updated contrapuntal language
but essentially Handelian

on the stone pitch - Josef K [from found on the stone pitch]

stands right up and shouts
Prog!
choral and architectural
which are nearly the same things
synthetic on both fronts
a synthetic chorus
within a synthetic architecture

Confusion - Crystal Beth, Alex Anthony Faide [from Episodic Memory]

we get to know it as it constructs itself
armor on!
this creates a cinematic space for itself
3D
by means of suspension of disbelief

In That Bright World - Jody Diamond [from In That Bright World]

interesting acoustic things happening up in tinwhistle register

something about the small ensemble of voices
combined with all those gamelan bells and gongs
is more than a little Partchian 

fascinating tempo shifts
some of those shifts are similar to what
in Western music
usually
signals: end is nigh
this has another sensibility
slowing
to be in a different region of the music
more like entering a small bay or cove
a sheltered place

Recorded

January 1, 2022

Symphony in F Major, Op. 93 (#8) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter

1
blasting into heroic grandeur
cutting back down to size
reblasting 

even the simple countryside is open to the skies
and all they have contained

2
Waiting for Maelzel

theme song for a thumb-twiddler
I think he would rather be outside

3
such as here
we are now strolling with an open heart

4
robust good cheer
slam the stein upon the board
Bier her! 

the dark
heading home
a worry
then courage gathered 

there's Maelzel again

Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op. 30 #4 - Frédéric Chopin - Vladimir Ashkenazy

starts like he's trying to acquaint himself with what the notes do
he puts his keys
(the tonal kind)
in distinct locations
within the registers 

that one falls off 

there is some playful thinking in this

January 2, 2022

The Chant (take 1) - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers [from Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, Chicago Days]

fanfare for all the clowns
all the juggles
let's get this circus started! 

similar to ragtime
in the sense that
it's a dance more than a song

Liza (take C) - Art Tatum [from Classic Early Solos]

the root of this style is lounge piano
but of course that's just the root stock
who knows what hybrid  cuttings have been applied

What's the Use of Getting Sober - Louis Jordan [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

this could be a ventriloquist routine

Ray Charles played a similar game
with a similar conceit
see Let's Go Get Stoned

Billie's Bounce - Charlie Parker [from The Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes]

what are the chord changes for?
a social convention for harmonious living

Strange Things - Henry Green [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

an efficient accompaniment on guitar
he picks the melody as a part of his singing
minimal breaks
and even more minimal checking in with the lower strings 

true and fine

Move - Miles Davis [from Birth of the Cool]

tuba!
or baritone sax
but it sounded like a tuba to me 

the command of the title
is addressed to your earbrain
it has got to move to keep up

Blind Plowman - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [April 10, 1962]

when it comes down to it
the choral art song is an odd sort of genre
whose is the voice?
to whom is it addressed?

A Woman in Love - Bonnie Guitar [from Dark Moon and Other Country Favorites]

a recipe for one
the melody moves upward stepwise
as the lines are added
the ingredients are also added
with the hook as a goal
simple but effective

The Width of a Circle - David Bowie [from The Man Who Sold The World]

intro
the band finds where the song is
for us
if we tag along

sounds like he's doing Dylan 

then we go to another room for a Beatlesish moment 

new scene new song

Gimmie Gimmie Shock Treatment - The Ramones [from Leave Home]

part of the appeal of early Punk
was that
it was a music nearly anybody could learn to do 

The Ramones
specifically
specialized in clear minimal arrangements
there is no slop 

Sally Improv - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from A Cassette Player]

scarabs!
I'd know them anywhere
I think they found some pools
or perhaps pots
for potions

One Time, One Night - Los Lobos [from By The Light of The Moon]

a story about a story teller
and other stories
a Chuck Berry gambit
road house bar stool tales

January 3, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 304 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [September 13, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 304 920913

John says uh oh
took a bad step
but gets over the fuss quickly
whistles drums
toy squeezebox
toy piano
toy cacophony
windups winding down
pluckers
rain stick
speaker of the house
something is making a wonderfully crudded up loudspeaker sound
ring around the rosie
new tune
with children in the session
our collective attention span is pretty darned brief
funmaker in fine form
yellow drum stick tip
a room of sounds
such as happen to be there
in interaction
with those who happen to be there
to be with its aural and musical value
is
for me
chiefly in the immediate sound of it
20 or 30 seconds on either side
is not frequently pertinent
the immediate sound
being the entirety of the relevant universe
one can pontificate freely
as the application of any universal statement
is limited in pertinent extent 

powerwash with funmaker rhythms
all together top speed maximum volume
slowly slowing
something fell over
put them back
where you found them
where they belong

{from my journal entry of April 10, 1995:

gleeful toddler laugh with flute: sudden fuss: sudden fun. bright percussion - slithery flute underneath rattles. drums. (small) and plucked strings. funmaker enters gently. rather alarming speaker of the house bass}

In Shadow, Light - Ken Benshoof - Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby, Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi, Timothy Hale, Theresa Benshoof [from In Shadow, Light]

a gentle deep spirit
cheerily compassionate
in no hurry to move on
patient to observe a space for a full round time
so we get to know it
the players in the composed ensemble
are wonderfully humane to each other
piccolo violin viola cello
I can attest that this aspect is a true feature of Ken as a person too

Gradus 5 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [February 18, 2002]

The two lowest As
paired in proximity of time
and thus
ordered
each has its associated roil constellation
and together they have a joint account

my intent
is to raise my Ebenezer
on new
alternate
creative ways
to write about
talk about
and think about
what music could be
for us
if we allowed it
no part of music
is off limits 

it is some comfort now
to me
that I know he never broke a string while performing this
not yet anyhow
at the time I was forever on edge
my old Yamaha
especially
had a problem with that 

our tools have shaped us
if music is our tool
it also has shaped us 

parts of notes speak at their own time

January 4, 2022

Told You So - The Capitol Steps [from O Christmas Bush]

Florida's first to go
let it go let it go let it go

Never Get It Back - Broken By Clouds

studio cleanliness
composed so as to be sure we notice its
studio cleanliness

First Kiss Day - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at the High Dive on April 6, 2012]

pretty solid
no studio cleanliness here

My Spirit's Gonna Sing - Sarah Pasillas [recorded live at Victory Lounge on April 17, 2017]

a strong voice
perhaps in the mezzo range
though she hangs down low a lot
the power-up into the upper pipes
has some bite to it
accompanying herself gently on guitar
no more than necessary
a bit of a world-weary cowgirl vibe

Banned Rehearsal 1042 - D, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Ahava K, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 3, 2022]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1042 220103

from within life in progress
all those years ago
pulling in radio waves
now Neal joins us
over a similar mechanism
cellwaves
with similar modification to its qualities
Neal has joined the radio chorus
would you pass me the remote?
studies
not in continuities
but aside from
perhaps
wholly gentle
we have mellowed
but not given in
we gnaw like termites
unmindful of any greater structures of the music business
that might loom
in the world beyond our gnawing

The Bells, Fvb 69 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

a composition
but also a species of journalism
a sound picture
like an engraving
of a cathedral
chiming tempo
is tied to meter
as subject
to king 

metrical hemiolae

Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jaccottet

what follows
shoves
what was
aside 

any relaxation afforded by sequence
is hijacked to increase the tension
up up and tighter tighter
conflicted fugue

I sure wish the engineer would let the last notes ring to the end
sheesh!!

Sonata in C Major, Kk. 156 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

his figures evoke a complex of ambituses and vectors
any are fair game

Concerto in F Major, Wq. 43/1 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Melante Amsterdam, Bob Van Asperen

1
genuinely playful
in full confidence of any direction it might go

2
when 1 gets lost
it is forlorn here

3
knows where it is at last!
an orchestration primer
especially: matching instrument sizes
the huge modern (Mahlerian) orchestra
is usually a bad idea to say anything with 

Symphony in A Major, Op. 92 (#7) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter

1
consider the slow Haydnesque intro to the first movement
as a thing unto itself:
what is its "key"?
(established more by being forced into a corner
than anything else)
the rest of the movement
is its accomplishments
once released
into its proper sphere
OK
the intro is the past
the body is the present adventure
to which the past has forced us

2
however!
(a magnificent disjuncture) 

[NB I just went to Goldbergesque lengths to spill the last few sips of my tea] 

the furtive fugue
all set
to explode all over the page

3
again with the high power howevers!

those trills are keyboard derived 

the low horns in the trio do it for me every time

4
and furthermore!
behind all this rowdy
is an image of balance
without that
it would evaporate
rather than
force one's ear to the edge of its seat 

he's not through with you yet
siddown!

Scherzo in E Major, Op. 54 - Frédéric Chopin - Vladimir Ashkenazy

that image of balance is still there
though badly fractured
somewhat trampled
often overlooked
often fondly nurtured 

transitions are moments of potential
they could clearly go upon any of many paths
but once chosen
there is no innocent return

January 5, 2022

Sam The Accordian Man - George Olsen [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

a character study
his dreamy chords
remind you of heaven 

quite the production
big band and male-voice vocal group

Phonograph Blues (SA-2587-2) - Robert Johnson [from The Complete Recordings]

polytonal
polymetric
poly in general
a multiplicity crammed in tight

Missionary Sermon - J. H. Terrell [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

pulling the word out from the dregs
salvation by main force

Who's To Blame - T. Texas Tyler  [from Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune]

c'mon porky
at which
the guitar does some fine strutting
in the middle of a country sound 

the singer really grinds the occasional heavy syllable

On A Monday - Lead Belly [from Where Did You Sleep Last Night, the Lead Belly Legacy Volume 1]

the week
as a loose frame for a verse structure
(like balance?)

What Is This Thing Called Love - Charlie Parker [from The Cole Porter Songbook]

the big band arrangement is rowdy as hell

Marie's The Name - Elvis Presley [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo and the Beat]

syllables and lines are doled out carefully
to slow and speed the flow
atop the Bo Diddley bounce

Soldier Boy - The Shirelles [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

before things turned sour back home

Clarinet Quintet - Bernard Herrmann - David Shifrin, Theodore Arm, Eriko Sato, Walter Trampler, Warren Lash [from American Chamber Music from Chamber Music Northwest]

the opening sequences are solo showcases
melody and accompaniment
the group lets members take turns speaking for them
to that extent
this isn't chamber music
rather
it is orchestra music
for a small ensemble
i.e.
the voices are talking to us
not to each other 

remembrance of old days
in the before times
dear old Vienna heart of Empire

January 6, 2022

You Turn Me On I'm A Radio - Joni Mitchell [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]

the industry's come-on
as a metaphor for romance availability
or t'other way round

Joe The Lion - David Bowie [from Heroes]

somebody's theme song for the taking
uncertain about how to end it

From The Air - Laurie Anderson [from Big Science]

I remember when I first heard LA back in the early 80s 
I was perplexed
at what the big deal was
anyone who was with it
dug it
not being
with it
myself
and with no particular ambition
to be so
it was
for me
a music from an utterly foreign
and somewhat antiseptic cultural region
then I wondered
how one could possibly keep up
with being
with it
as an aesthetic practice
without
perpetually
erasing where you had been
of course
now
it's all in the same midden with everything else

Assembly Rechoired 15 - Matthew Beckmeyer, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [February 4, 1987]

Keith Eisenbrey · Assembly Rechoired 15 870204

begins with the ceremonial pouring out of the fun
from the big red bag of it 

violin
make-shift can drums
and toy piano
probably the now wrecked Jaymar 

I think that the last time Matt and I had worked together before this session was for a performance of Lucas Foss's 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird at the UW in about 1980 or so.
Last I heard he was a Pastor out in Montana somewhere 

part of the image of an instrument
is how it fills the recorded space
which is
a function
of it
the mic
the mix
and proximity 

many lovely sounds
never presumes to be anything beyond play
certainly not trying to be anything beyond the instant event 

when we lose interest in something
we just move on
no big deal

{from my journal entry of February 4, 1987:

Fun. And Our National Anthem. BOOMTH BOOMTH. Aaronsbundler on toypiany. Delicately stringed detail. A little liquid music box. stumbling stream. Lord of the stumbling dancDING! DING! Funmade. Electronics without Electricity!! violin becomes harmonica and the vice of verse. Numenous modes of conversing. Snare drum bolts rolling snare down headwards. Oh the wine has hit!}

Excursions - A Tribe Called Quest [from Low End Theory]

presents immediately
as a self-aware artist
cyclic bebop connection

In Session at the Tintinabulary

January 3, 2022

Banned Rehearsal 1042 - D, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Ahava K, Neal Kosály-Meyer

(see above)

January 5, 2022

Anybody's Fingerbook, 2x2 (augmentational) A (A) - Keith Eisenbrey

January 6, 2022

Keith Eisenbrey · Anybody's Fingerbook 2x2 (augmentational) A (A) 200317 (220105)

Pressure - Leanna Keith

Leanna posted a new score on the socials and I thought I would give it a go. My first attempt, piecing together individually recorded tracks of piano and percussion, got out of hand, so I abandoned it to try again the next day.

January 7, 2022

Two-Part Invention in F Major - Gavin Borchert

Anybody's Fingerbook, 2x2 (augmentational) (A) B - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Anybody's Fingerbook 2x2 (augmentational) (A) B 200318 (220107)

Pressure - Leanna Keith

This time I played it on clavichord, presuming nobody else would do that. Then I made a slide-show to go along with it.

Postscripts

Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery

the following are the doodles in my listening journal from early 1987

Playlist

Preface

"My revelation was: there are things you want to say, anxieties you want to engage, arising from anything in your life, arising in your perception from your perspective as a composer, that are not music itself (because they're explicitly about something(s)) or poetry either (because that's a different perspective of saying),and cannot be discourse (because that's a closed world in which some things are unsayable, or even indiscernible except as composite masks) - but such things may, still, be composable as something - not as music, but as music is composed, as something being what it is about: as languagemusic, composed out of the specific sensibilities which belong to you as composer, listener, reader, writer, player, speaker. "

- Benjamin Boretz - "(Liner notes for) / Language  ,as a music / six marginal pretexts for composition" 
from "inside in . . . / . . . outside out" Open Space Publications, 2020

Texts

From Recent Arrivals

November 5, 2021

October, 1984 - Olivia Block

we are far inside
a place
air is moving somewhere
not near us
then it is
we are near
moving
flowing
substance moves
to inundate
swamp
and scramble
signals arrive
blow past
ashore
we are in a space
emptied
then filled
slow long surf

we have been where before

Ginseng - Laurel Evers - Jim Knodle, Scott Brown, Jack Endino, Matt Cameron, Laurel Evers [from Standing Joys]

syncopatic-metric combo
hectical push groove
raunchuendos
with it pops

It Isn't a Dream - Melissa Dunphy - Cornell University Chorus, Robert Isaacs

SSAA
a story being told
in a space
that echoes certain phrases
back
and back 
flinging the tale
into poemmusicland

Bottomless Hole (Handsome Family) - Star Anna [from Songs to Keep You Up at Night]

a first person folk tale Poe-ism in a way (Karen says like the Boss in Nebraska - sure)

Recorded

October 30, 2021

Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Fvb 51 - John Bull - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

technically brilliant
a master class in composition
is it expressive
yes clearly
though the emotions one might name
are a mix
of calm peace,
placid like a quiet pond at sunrise,
and a frictionless warm glow
each smallest ripple
an elegy
phlegmatic confidence
the daily island life

Symphoniae Sacrae II, Op. 10 #27 "Freuet euch des Herren, ihr Gerechten" - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

metrical design
another master class for composers
but corporately expressive
each musician contributes
to the emotional burden of the whole
from the inside out
the whole
is expressive
because
each individual is
communally
but
so that
the composition
of the whole
bends
the individual expression
into a harmoniousness

social coercion

Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in G minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jacottet

precise finish to each trill
this expression is made of bricks

Sonata in C minor, Kk. 139 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

the initial figure is lopsided
supple sinews
glistening hide
animal grace

Sonata in C Major, Wq. 63/35 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi

domestic life dispensed by paternal beneficence
each petition considered
then decided
a character study
aspirational and instructional
an ordered existence 

oops!
where did that come from
nothing a pleasant game of cards won't cure
private social graces

October 31, 2021

Don Giovanni, Act 2 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Nicolai Ghiarov, Franz Crass, Claire Watson, Nicolai Gedda, Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry, Mirella Freni, Paolo Montarsolo, New Philharmonia Chorus, Henry Smith

Giovanni and Leporello argue,
then trade places
they conspire
almost literally
in duping Elvira 

G's lutish serenade is truly beguiling
seducing the audience
(Mozart tips his hand and winks)

G scatters the forces arrayed against him
his single successful ploy in the entire story
violence 

Zerlina's song of comfort
matches G's lute tune
in beguilishness
a wonderfully humane moment 

the scattered forces regroup
come to a more resolute agreement
back each other up
realize whom they are dealing with
a darn seriously amazing ensemble piece 

sociopolitically
Leporello
is in a real pickle
perfidy of the servant economy 

Mozartean recitatival nonsequiturs abound

everybody stop now
the MAN is going to speak
Ottavio
the mic is yours 

interesting that he finally comes around
after hearing testimony from the peasant 

Elvira thinks there may be something salvageable out of the Don
even after all that
(must have been quite a night!) 

the switcherudes
meet again
in the graveyard
where all
are equally low 

|||
In some productions Massetto and the Commendatore are played by the same voice.
It could be staged
such that
the Statua Gentilissima
is Massetto
in disguise
he comes to supper
and Don Giovanni
is undone
by his own (unselfacknowledged) terror
and credulity
the most coldest hand 

the demons coming out of the pit
are Ottavio
Anna
and Zerlina
in disguise
they drag him
into the cellar and kill him
emerging then
knives in hands
in bloody costume
for
the bad dude's get what they deserve chorus
at the end
||| 

Anna dispenses high notes with liberality
noblesse oblige
Mozart and duplicity
how about that party scene
not just an orchestral stage multiplicity
but also
a conversation
between Giovanni and Leporello
thick as thieves

Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 7 - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim

do a thing
vary that thing
but interrupt
halfway through
the varied
thing
with
some other
thing
embed freely

Lim reads this
as music made of figurations
the figures
make the key
the key
is not
something
the figures
are in 

interesting

November 2, 2021

Etude in F minor, Op. 10 #9 - Frédéric Chopin - Alfred Cortot [1933]

the melody is in no meter known to mankind
the grumbling in the bass
gets angry
when it pulls too hard on its leash

The Christian Warfare -The Original Sacred Harp Choir [from Allen Lowe's Turn Me Loose White Man]

it's in the book
first
with solfeggio
then
with the verses
just as they sing it
singing is a ritual
and a catechism
teaching the singers
to be cogs
in a machine
an analytic
with a social similarity to bell choir performance
each player gets a selection of notes to play
important to understand
that this is not a music for public performance
it is for participants alone

String Quartet No. 3 - Béla Bartók - Juilliard String Quartet

lab coats
bubbling retorts
plasmodic discharges
angry nationalism
contention and strife
little canons
drift by
out the window
in the storm 

queasy moments

Don't Forget Me, Little Darling - Parker and Dodd [from Evans 78s]

guitar and banjo
two voices
tenor on the tune
female voice (I think)
as an upper harmony
though I would completely believe
a falsetto sort of voice
more likely
the more I hear

If You Build a Better Mousetrap - Peggy Lee [from The Complete Recordings 1941- 1947]

mix a better toddy
sweep a better floor
lying bigger lies
a dilemma
for discussion
amidst the entertainees
at the nightclub tables

Organum - Carl Ruggles - Buffalo Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas

we don't talk about it
we buried it

Walkin' the Boogie (single version) - John Lee Hooker [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]

a story teller
telling stories
on top of a rhythm game

Sweet and Easy to Love - Roy Orbison - [from Sun Records Definitive Hits]

bump de wadda wadda waaaa
I think the backup guys
are saying
"sweeter than easy"

Alive - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, Joanne Deacon [April 10, 1962]

a rather severe study in large intervals
in canon
like an ostentatiously chromatic fughetta

Do I Move You - Nina Simone - [from Sings the Blues]

move groove soothe move
an inquisition
quiver liver

Era of Peace - The Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [from Betty's Picks]

a plea for such
with uncomposed accompaniment
staccato block chords
precursor to #meaningful #sungword #music

Beauty and the Beast - David Bowie [from Heroes]

engineered artificiality
masked multiples
half a song at best

Intermezzo 2 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded February 23, 2010]

Keith Eisenbrey · Intermezzo 2 (100223) 821217

begins with permutations
and a summary
an extrapolation
re-summarize
leap logic
resummarize
repeat 

a tonality that emerges from a seed
(which is a pretty good synopsis of the Intermezzo project as a whole) 

next task
was to dig into what seeds
consist of 

here 3 notes make groups
sometimes 4
there are overlaps of gestures
clearly I was somewhat obsessed
with the Chopin section of
("...my chart shines high where the blue milks upset...")
still am
to the point of trying to regenerate it
from homegrown principles
didn't manage that of course
but something else for sure

Let Him Go - Bonnie Guitar [from Dark Moon and other Country Favorites]

a letter to the other woman
you won't miss him
hm
you wouldn't even know he's gone 

I hope he didn't read the letter

Banned Rehearsal 299 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [July 31, 1992]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 299 920731

messages
are you there
and you are here
happy birthday
is sung by Aaron
to Karen
Aaron is Sam
He am Sam
reads the tale
house mouse
quiver liver
cumulative verse
words on words
with dulcimer and kalimba
a train a train a train a train
very clever

my journal entry of February 10 1995

train tree car
box fox
mouse house
here there
anywhere
would you oh
could you oh
in an administration
by Ross Perot
goat boat
boat goat
complete with summaries
say yea though I travel
wherever I go
I still shan't eat them
in an administration by Ross Perot 

the whites are not green
eggs don't got hocks
ham hawks
drumming
can you hear the constituent elephants
of the balances of your body

November 3, 2021

Eusebio Consumed - Mary Lee Roberts [from Open Space 9]

inside a metallic tube
it bends around us
semiarticulating chambers
we pass through
de-organizing

{my journal entry of January 4, 2004:

concerned with elemental forces and speaking
- in the time of syllables and seaswells

Banned Rehearsal 629 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [January 18, 2002]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 629 020118

let us make pretty sounds
at the time
I was not happy
with how the room was miked
I believe
we had a single stereo mic
in the middle
lots of transparence
but not much presence
golly almost 20 years ago
oversells the proximity effect

the little bells sound good
it misrepresents the size of the space
the space is livened
with some partial amplification
and loudspeaker noise
radio static
bird tweet
and rattle
to tambourine
we work the setup
tok!
disintegrated residue
the tide waxes inward
there are strange stations
out there in radioland
a wind that comes and goes
for striving after
the whole becomes dire
and prophetical
portentiosity unleashed
alarum sounds
and crashing waves of tam tam
magnificently weird

November 4, 2021

Hoosier Daddy - Antique Scream [from Sink the Sun]

I barely had time to sit down
a quick come-on
spoken
and some guitar stuff

Banned Rehearsal 810 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 26, 2012]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 810 120326

we poke at it
to discover what it might be
a bass guitar is practiced
like an annoying gnat
passive aggressive poison
when it goes away
the sound becomes a sound
an explorable territory
full of unknowns
the bass wanders around
unable to recall its past
we assist in its losing that
the mimicry of walking
is unfortunate
but fairly innocuous 

we don't jam 

stuck again
sort of comes and goes

Choppy - Sky Mackley - Splinter Reeds [from Hypothetical Islands]

works pretty well
with the tall trees
across the street
getting blown around
a steadyish force
some hyper birds
screeching at each other
some wiggly lines
descending
repeatedly
it's a living
a bit of an assault

Fantasia, Fvb. 52 - William Byrd - Claudio Columbo [from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book]

voices in imitation
piled on top of each other
pitches
notes
have multiple cross-indexed contextualities
when the meter shifts
follow the footwork
light as a butterfly
fancy dance

Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

query
was this a Lutheran thing
to make a setting of these particular texts
{answer:
no there is a Latin setting from ca. 1500, but this is a pretty early one}
or did it predate that schism
birth of the sacred oratorio
a sung passion play

the picardian nature of the cadences
is a punctuation
a marker

surely
as effectively transformative
as Wagner ever dared hope to be

Die Wohltemperierte Klavier, Band 1, Prelude and Fugue in F minor - Johann Sebastian Bach - Christiane Jacottet

his hand is everywhere
his face nowhere
these thoughts are complete
they don't turn themselves
in on themselves

Sonata in D Major, Kk. 140 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

we'll have some fanfares and flourishes
the clowns will jape into their beards
no stick up this dude's keester
playing for delight
not instruction

Kurze und Leichten Klavierstücke, Allegro di molto in D minor, Wq. 114/1 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklos Spanyi

not even a minute long
it sounds like one of his dad's inventions
turned inside out

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Capella Istropolitana, Wolfgang Sobotka

a sunny bright night
it was a lovely day
today
was it not

gracious lovely duds
enforce slow movements

November 5, 2021

Sonata in C minor, Op. 5 #1 - Ludwig van Beethoven - HJ Lim

ends for good
right in the middle
then picks up elsewhere
entirely outside the same times
his voice leading
holds characters
much as Mozart's characters do
in his operatic ensembles
everything going on around the melody
is a dialog
third movement:
the figures scurry
to escape the downbeat
which chases them
to pounce
it's an awesome scrap
victory unassured
peace has been restored
or so we say
tee hee

Sonata in F minor, Op. 1 #1 - Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner - Luigi Gerosa

enters like a barker showman
spins his magic
one-dimensional
but magic
anyway 

strictly melodic 

this music is looking itself
in the mirror

those double trills are a bear
pretty great tunesmith though
a clever padder
a jolly fellow

Etude in F Major, Op. 10 #8 - Frédéric Chopin - Cecile Licad

just strolling down the walkway
in the early AMs
swinging a cane
in playful twirls 

circus peril

In Session at the Tintinabulary

November 1, 2021

Gradus 374 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

a tone alone
makes its own
fellows
from its innards
the place
upon which they expand
is neither vertical
nor horizontal
but internal
and curved
possibly polyplex

the second rung
is the 6th D Down
pretty low
and the 2nd E down
pretty high
the high E and its fellows
have a palpable acoustic effect
on 
the low D and its fellows
oddly
less so
the other way around
fewer audible partials to affect?

Special Mention

My Dinner with Wallace

Much of my musical energy during the first year of the Pandemic went into producing this virtual recital of recent solo piano music by my long-time collaborator, Aaron Keyt, and by me. There are 9 reels total in the playlist, ranging from 10 to 20 minutes or so each, the whole stretching for just under 2 hours. I am quite pleased with the results, especially with how well I manage to illuminate the extraordinary "in-your-presence-alone" intimacy of Aaron's compositional voice.

Postscripts

::Consult the Oracle

this to thank me for I had to such skill

was no disturbance in her play had that

happened her entire honored so would

Reality Check::

soon

the stone

would draw thunder