Mrs. Bardell encounters Mr. Pickwick
Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - from "The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club"
Texts
Recorded
February 3, 2024
The See'r - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
one of those songs written to try out nifty new chords
Trinkle Tinkle (Live) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
making a music of the whisking away of eraser crumbs
herding greased
piglets
a rhythm with
which a solo
periodically
closely
references the subject
or
strays
or
returns
complete with tempos of straying and returning
lots
of snap back sudden
Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
long hold on "of . . . . bread . . . " at the end
My Horses Ain't Hungry - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
that sounds like an autoharp and fiddle
Gods Float in the Azure Air - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
inassertive
cyclicity unaligned
I Hear a Tone, "Ein Ton" - Charles Ives - Eric Grudel, Sumi Kittelberger
||:intone
ein Ton
nein to
one int
tone in
nto
nei:||
In Walked Bud (Live) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
playful revelry
crazy sax solo
I'm Not There - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
at most sounds like he's making a demo of the song for another to sing
Did You Go the Barney? - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
checklist for chores
Flutter By - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies]
something is bubbling beneath the surface
playful pinnipeds
or
otters
or selkies
or merfolk
On The Counter - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
many other cultures have written down music as an artifact
so we can't
rightly blame Western Culture alone
I Mean You (Live) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
notation:
born in the desire to get hold of a span of music
and
make it hold still for further study and manipulation
which
perforce
engenders its own modes of thinking about music
that is
as manipulable in some sense from a distance of time
the experience of music you are about to hear
was fashioned in the
past
signal recording serves the same functions as any other notation
we
treat it as a tool for study and manipulation of music
mid-century jazz form
head solo solo solo . . . head
a socially
engendered format
quasi-egalitarian
Please Mrs. Henry - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
hard luck blues
begs for something
Have a Little Dog - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
how much nonsense can be fit into the schema
First Steps - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
notating in real-time in the past
the past's real-time
but all the
time in the past is as real as can possibly be
notating immediately with
the actuation of music
but the physical actions differ
they are a
different dance
an odd little fragment of a story
being told with forthright vehemence
Epistrophy (Live) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Blue Note Recordings]
since we must now part with Monk and Company for awhile I'm glad this is the
final cut
as it is fine
Crash on the Levee (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
in the voice of a preacher
hell-fire and brimstone variety
Frog Went a-Courtin' - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
a celebration is planned and prepared in a community
all play their part
and do their work
cat eats bride
details on page 8
Loose Weave - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
pitch comes apart from the inside into itself
Scotch Lullaby - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
that's what it is alright
Crash on the Levee (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
no boats gonna row
Little Bird, Little Bird - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
2 + 2 + 3 + 2 meter in the opening
They're In The Walls - Steve Layton [from Colors]
a title that might be the line for the film cue
Autumn - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
the dark is closing in
Lo and Behold (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
the conglomerators either saved some of the stronger tracks for this segment
of the collection
or Bob and band just started to dig into the project
with more performance intent
Free Little Bird - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
every collected song item has a provenance
but the structure of that
provenance is always uncertain
and also presumes that at various points
in the past the traces of that provenance terminate
in acts of
creativity
Jogi - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
ritual actions in species of sequences
so that the magic will work
the sequences need not follow customs of plausibility
possibly
they ought not to
I Knew and Loved a Maid - Charles Ives - Douglas Dickson, Michael Cavalieri
in the manner of a vaudeville songster doing their serious number
Lo and Behold (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
imagining the scene within which this exchange takes place
chorus
articulates the scene into portions
any clear referential relation of
the words of the chorus to those of the verses escapes me
Poor Old Crow - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
from the distributed population of the North American interior
we talked
about our animal friends
Day - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
in the manner of a drummer's groove with breaks
we are in its vehicle
traveling through and past zone after zone
this hymn remembers its uses
all in the past
You Ain't Going Nowhere (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
basement noise
head o' lettuce
Ducks in the Millpond - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
instruments also have provenance
and are pegged to their cultural
position
especially if being played with the traditional techniques
Warning Sign - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
the four x four cyclicity of it pulls us along on tracks
no give
we are taken
Tarrant Moss - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
gleeclub manly song
Too Much of Nothing (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
a little much on the bass
waters of oblivion
Jim Crack Corn - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
examples of the varieties of variety in the oral record
Four Corners - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
square or intersection
the grumbling man intrigues me
Through Night and Day - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
the word-painting is plain for all to see
This Wheel's On Fire - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
the you of this poem may not be the same throughout
singing with a heavy
pack weighing down the going of it
there is no up it's all down
Eency Weency Spider - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
a song I learned as itsy bitsy
Yaquareté - Steve Layton [from Excavations 2013-2014]
and immediately we are there
immersed
not every thing is heard
right away
but it was all clearly there all along
Pictures - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
the base of his style is correct and essentially conservative
using
other style elements as contrast
modulating into one style from another
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
the accompaniment is the paper stock upon which he prints his words
this
is newsprint stock
cheap crude consistent
allowing the song to be
considered without anything fancy added to it
Dog Tick - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the unanswered question
why can't a dog tick dance like a 'bacco worm?
Shangri-La - Steve Layton [from Colors]
the chamber opens carefully
luminosity billows about and forth
unknown to whom?
nostalgia for our old England home
I Shall Be Released - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
some attention was paid to the melody on this one and to the harmony singing
Who Built The Ark? Noah, Noah - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
a counting game song embedded in a folk tale
A Life of No Ambition - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
such as the flowers or the trees or the bugs or the moss
needs and
cycles but no striving for ought else
August - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
a mimic picks up the gist of the thing quickly
on command
the
scene changes around our hero
a close double
Too Much of Nothing (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
searching out the least comfortable place for the tune to fit
proceeds
with effort
Mary Wore Her Red Dress - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
sure a lot of red things in this
finally wanders into butter
Tales From the Bicycle War - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
no sudden altercation can stay our course
we must pauselessly pedal
certainly pleasant enough
with a hint of Away In The Manger to it
Tears of Rage (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
all these songs are wearing the same suit of clothes
Pretty Little Girl with the Red Dress On - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
pan pipe and little banjo?
and fast tapping
almost like a ukulele
as a sound
Ningyo - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
automaton dance
they all come out when the shop is empty in the night
Walt Whitman - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
shouted strongissimo
Tears of Rage (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
so all the songs are intended to vanish into each other
a uniform set
This Lady She Wears a Dark Green Shawl - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
kitchen gossip song
Midlife Crisis - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
the stage is painted black
narrow lights reveal the presences of bodies
clad and masked in black
Mists - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
there was a need that the new elements play by some rules or other
couldn't just be let loose in havocs and kerfuffles
Tears of Rage (Take 3) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
were they working on a specific project?
or workshopping to see what
might arise spontaneously?
Do, Do, Pity My Case - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
complaint from the servants' standing place
Ukraine - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
sitting here among the birds and bells
whines of sirens in the distance
Walking - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
so is this album of all the songs more like the Seeger Museum
or more
like a Dylanesque self-assertion
or a Laytonian exploration?
clearly this album project is a museum of songs by a self-asserter
The Mighty Quinn (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
which makes any particular song little more than an episode in a sitcom
Walk Along, John - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
a parade
but museum piece though this is
I appreciate it
as
it allows me the chance to sit down with it
and check it out
Dark Time - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
tones emerge on the tongue as we linger
A Farewell to Land - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Phillip Bush
starts well
then he chickened out and got noisy
The Mighty Quinn (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
so I do understand that these are
many of them
literally the same
song in different takes
but
the guitar strums bass licks organ and
piano
all of it
could be transported from one song to the next
with no appreciable loss
Hanging Out the Linen Clothes - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
every chore has a song
chore and song are one
Birthing Spring - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
of course
I treat every track as a museum piece
they're all in my
museum
I do my best to observe them doing their things
the
contours of a larger music can only be glimpsed through each of the many
down close where the grit shows
more there to listen at than some
the point of collection is study not categorization
Luck and Work - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
moralism caught in its own thornbushes
Open The Door Homer (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
relying on the authority of the guy on the next stool over
the spiritual
authority of rumor and advice
Lula Gal - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
jawbone walking and jawbone talking
they must have quite the collection
of instruments at their disposal
Elevator - Steve Layton [from Moving Bodies (Pandemic 10)]
each floor announced while the machinery continues to operate
odd floors
and even floors have separate grooves
activated by careful addition or
subtraction
this breaks down as we ascend toward the teens of floors
stop at 12
back down we go
my memory is not sufficient to
determine whether the grooves match those of ascension
though we seem to
have accelerated
going back up
Ich Grolle Nicht - Charles Ives - J. J. Penna, Robert Garner
why would anyone set a text that had a famous (and fabulous) setting already?
to say something different with the text than before
its irony has been removed
what would that be
an ironiectomy?
Open The Door Homer (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
they're singing Richard not Homer
Old Aunt Kate - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the way to a boy's heart is through the stomach
here's the details that
had been at eleven
Night Drive With Wipers Going - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
damp ghosts passing by
we are carried along
gone with the flow
music is invented in microcommunities that exist within
(but*)
the greater culture that includes industrial pop music and its imitators
(* in an alienated relation to it
id est
in protest to it)
hastily scrawled
Open The Door Homer (Take 3) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
working on being able to do it in his sleep
over and over
so
a collection of notes for various projects
it has in common
a calligraphic style
though that is a fancy term for the fact of
the matter
What Did You Have For Your Supper - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
almost sounds like a variant verse from Lord Randolph
Lost - Steve Layton [form Excavations 2013-2014]
so what is a microcommunity
can it be further organized
that is
inwardly organized
are there submicrocommunities?
yes
ultimately
any culture is a sense we have
of something
shared among encounters and episodes
of social interactions among
individuals
including interactions arising or being governed
from
within the institutionalized hierarchies of the greater culture
such as
orchestras or concerts or happenings
Dreams - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Philip Bush
the piano often doubles the singer's notes
as is typical in hymnody
more so than in Lieder or artsong
Nothing Was Delivered (Take 1) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
a letter of disrupture
writing slowly so as to be understood
dreary song at a dreary tempo in a dreary groove
Baby Dear - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
comforting song for a fussy baby
no instruments
(hands full of
baby)
Revolution Number - Steve Layton [from Lucky You]
so microcultures consist of interactions among individuals
the role of
the individual
is that of a moment
an event location
an
indexed spot
but
which also contains images of its past's
interactions
as mnemonic senses of those interactions
both
individual and conglomerated
thus
internalizing the alienations
the protest
within the interactions
A Perfect Day - Charles Ives - Dora Ohrenstein, Philip Bush
such as at Barbie's opening
Nothing Was Delivered (Take 2) - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
it's not about the calligraphy
which is bland
Johnny, Get Your Hair Cut - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
recruitment
hair cut
sword and pistol
Bittersweet - Steve Layton [from Colors]
so
as individuals we interact with others
interacting from the
perspective of our sense of how things are
and the other's as well
microcultures arise in the meeting of minds
music is a field (or
collection thereof) of those interactions
autonomous but reflective of
the other such fields
from within the murky night of quandary
Going to Acapulco - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
lethargic
at this rate they may get there in a few years
I Got a Letter This Morning - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
early communication network
On The Run - Steve Layton [from Ending to Begin]
so what is the venue for these interactions
the internet clearly
but also still dive bars movie houses and concert halls and studios
the individuals in microcultural interactions
have a sense of
those venues
unique to each of them
Charlie Rutledge - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
stories around the body
a wake
Gonna Get You Now - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
uptempo
to almost lazy
slow mule cart
Rose, Rose, And Up She Rises - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
there's a lot going on so early in the morning
Rue Galande - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
a carnival waltz hovering just below the surface static
His Exaltation - Charles Ives - William Sharp, Steven Blier
an exaltation is a form of flattery
Wildwood Flower - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
this would fit not poorly with the Seegers
the family of whom tried to
pull his plug
as rumor and legend has it
What'll We Do With the Baby - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
mothering chore game song
On The Prowl - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
record keeping among any particular microculture
is a task occasionally
ventured
success varies
music as film
music aimed to excite
the visual imagination
Watchman! - Charles Ives - Mary Ann Hart, Dennis Helmrich
the theology of a holy event and its impressions
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
he's sung this one before
trying it now in his new clothes
with
autoharp(?)
Hush, Little Baby - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
the Seeger family business
keeping the relics intact
Cry From The Rooftop - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
matters are discussed among the microcultures
within events of
interaction
words can describe the surface of a music
a disaffected campaign rouser
Come 'Round The Mountain - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
another of the old songs
so then
quite the ride
flipping among these few so quickly like
this
but
there's a better life to come
good Lord willing and
the creek don't rise
Pick a Bale of Cotton - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
job application
off to Texas
Sailing - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
cyclic deja vu all over again
will they (Ives Dylan Seegers Layton) be
forever linked in my headspace
so
to concern myself with the matter at hand
microcultures are
where strange ideas germinate
simply because their institutions are less
imperious
From 'Lincoln The Great Commoner' - Charles Ives - Paul Sperry, Irma Vallecillo
pioneer then when it was
us migrant now when it is them
blunt
effects blunt actions
Flight of the Bumblebee - Bob Dylan [from A Tree With Roots]
must have been pretty late in the night
they all sound tired
This Old Hammer - Mike, Peggy, and Penny Seeger [from American Folk Songs for Children]
a job of work to do
but I'm leaving to go back home
We Keep At It - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from Miracles and Wonders]
issues of style genre technique et cetera
are part of the institutional
categorizations of culture
not parts of culture's creative workings
exit gradually stage left
In Session at The Tintinabulary
February 4, 2024
Leyden - Keith Eisenbrey
Gradus 391 - Neal Kosály-Meyer
third F-sharp then plus the fifth C-sharp
might it on occasion be true
that an outside sound is not part of the
music
but just an outside sound?
could a different music
from outside the venue
also be part of
this music
or does the "part of" matter
could the outside sound be
music
just not this music
intended for performance
what are we saying
this music is intended
to make its noise in the world
a score is an artifact of a creative process
it can have no intent
since it is neither God nor life-form
merely an inscription
tempting interpretation
we liken sounds to objects that make sounds
bells reeds hollow
spaces
in music we hear number play
there are 88 possible starting points for
Gradus
any will do
and innumerable progressions through them
an innumerable collection of possible Graduses
for combining
with
could a note
once introduced into the cycle
be re-introduced as a
new note?
is there a law against it
February 7, 2024
139 Verleih uns Frieden gnädlich (1) - Aaron Keyt139 Verleih uns Frieden gnädlich (2) - Aaron Keyt
February 9, 2024
160 Kommt her, ihr seid geladen - Aaron Keyt
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 13: Music as Film (part 2) 2008 - 2009
Volume 13 completes my Music as Film project, in which I built up textures from snippets of sound. "Zither Film" is just that process and nothing else. "Improvising a Framework for Composition so as to Compose My Thoughts about Improvisation" uses layers from the earlier "Lids Film" in conjunction with texts both original and found. "Torch Song" is all about its found texts. It may not properly belong in the project's remit but it tagged along anyway. It certainly doesn't belong anywhere else.
Volumes 1 through 12 are available at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com
All are free for download.
Skaldmud's Doodle Gallery
listening journal doodles from 2018 and 2019
