Playlist

Bickleton, WA

Preface

ODE TO SIR ANDREW AGNEW:

AND ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

"Sir Andrew Agnew, oh! thou scourge of sinners,

Thou legislator against vice

And nice

Hot Sunday dinners!

What shall we do

Now thou art gone - thou and Sir Oswald* too -

To make men fast and pray

Each seventh day?

Who now shall save us from sin's burning embers?

Now that we've lost our two old Marrowbone members?"

But seriously, Sir Andrew, do you think

There's so much harm in meat and drink?

That a hot steak

Ate once a week

Show a depraved state of society?

That frizzled bacon

Argues a soul mistaken?

And - pray don't start! -

That devil'd kidneys show a dev'lish heart?

That there is irreligion in hot fry?

And that cold pie alone is pie-ty?

If so, begin, Sir, with the rich: ask these

To give up their ragouts, and stews, and fricassees.

I guess they'd think your application rather strange;

but if you will work out your bill,

Believe me, you must take a wider kitchen range.

Then Sir you think it wrong

In 'bus or cab to ride along

The streets,

Intent on rural treats

At Hampstead, Islington, or Turnham Green;

but have you never seen

The crowd

Of knight and dames, on palfreys fierce and proud,

That fill

Hyde Park o' Sundays? I don't wish to tease,

But, Sir, for riders such as these,

There ought, I think, to be a rider to your Bill.

No doubt it's very wrong, and shows but little nous,

To go a tea-drinking, and making merry

At th' Eagle, Rosemary Branch, or Yorkshire Stingo; -

Chalk Farm's as vile, by jingo!

There's something very black about White Conduit House.

Richmond is sad;

And Twickenham's as bad:

And Hampton Wick is very wicked - very.

But Sir, - excuse the freedom of my pen -

D'ye think that they
Who spend the day

At Tattersall's, in laying wagers

On Derbys, Oaks, and Legers,

are better men?

And then, the Clubs! - where gambling of all kinds,

and vices such as daylight never saw,

Are carried on behind cast-metal blinds -

For these, Sir, Can't you frame some new Club Law?

Then, Sir, I know

You vote rat-killing low;

And wouldn't sit

For worlds in the Westminster Pit.

And so no doubt it is - extremely shocking;

But so is cocking!

And I have known full many a noble lord

(I have, upon my word,)

Fight cocks upon this day:

so pray,

Before us poor folks you legislate,

Just try to quell this main-ia in the great.

Then music drives you mad:

And, Scotchman tho' you be,

I know

You wouldn't suffer even a Scotch fiddle;

And, as for "down the middle,"

And such-like tricks of Dame Terpsichore,

I've often heard you say they're quite as bad;

And that all persons merit a sound whipping

Who are found tripping,

(Apropos -

How you'd be shock'd in France

To see, Sir, a whole country dance!)

Mind! I don't say but that all this is wrong;

But is it worse, Sir, than the Sunday song

of Grisi, Albertazzi, Betts, Rubini,

Lablache, or Tamburini?

And would it not be better first to wipe out

This sin among the high and mighty of the State,

Before you put the poor man's pipe out?

For my part, I think Vivi tu

As wicked as All around my hat - don't you?

And really I don't know

How you can stop Jim Crow,

And let the rich

Carry their concerts, Sir, to such concert pitch.

And, if, Sir, I may speak

My mind, you plan to gag our week

(Tho' done perhaps with very best intention)

Is but a weak invention.

Besides, Sir, here's a poser, -

At least to me it seems a closer,

And shows a shocking lack of legislative skill -

If nothing, Sir, 's to work from Saturdays to Mondays,

Pray how's your bill

To work on Sundays?

*Sir O. Moseley, who lost his election, they say, from having seconded Sir Andrews' Sunday Bill."

from The Comic Almanack an Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips and Oddities, First Series, 1835-1843

Texts

Recorded

Bickleton, WA

April 27, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: Anima del cor mio poi che da me misera me - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

a poetic/sung breath
opens
and fills a constellation of pitches 

neumes become sound

Das ist je gewichlich wahr, SWV 388 - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

these words
are inscribed
upon the space
beneath the cathedral dome
in which
we participate 

these things
are certain
and
will not be moved

Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 148 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

long notes
pointed at
and underlined multiple times 

this this this
is the pitch that matters
and these pitches
are how it matters

Premier Ordre (sol): La Bourbonnoise, Gavotte - François Couperin  Kenneth Gilbert

jolly and free of care

Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gotte, BWV 76 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman

long tones shine like brightening stars 

||excursus:
late 18th Century eschewal of contrapuntal forms
perhaps
a reaction
to what might seem to be
the constant chugging engine
of voices
working themselves out
over the tops of each other 

began to make the dukes yawn?

Bickleton, WA

April 28, 2025

Sonata in B-flat Major, Kk. 272 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

passages
with similarities of figuration sequence
but differing tonal motions

Sonata in F Major, K. 533 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mitsuko Uchida

stage repartee
master chef in the kitchen 

middle movement
idealized maidenhood
pious and pure
kept 

third movement
distinctly not
a ripsnorting finale
a quiet pleasure

Die Schöpfung: Der Fünfte Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry

title card
the curtain opens
to the cute critter dance
the vibrantly encreatured world

Humoreske in B-flat Major, Op. 20 - Robert Schumann - Peter Frankl

a suite of conversations
a vision of timestopping beauty
a thrilling encounter
a sanguinary yarn
tender confidences
strung
so that
the oddball alternations
reach outside
the confines
of their number 

one can never
not expect
a return

Bickleton, WA

April 29, 2025

Sonata in F-sharp Major, Op. 30 (#4) - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev

tonal parfumier
for me
not an aroma
but
the image of one 

senses quickened
and the hounds are off
on the scent

Dippermouth Blues - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

music
as decorative art
fashions change

Finnegans Wake, Chapter 7 (continued) - James Joyce - Neal Kosály-Meyer [streamed January 9, 2021]

the hand's touch
is a language without words
as very recently
as a thousand rains ago
the noxious pervert's
perfect lowness
stank out of sight
how is that
for low
laities and gentle numbs
the Monster Book
of Patriotic Poetry
whiff the polecat
at close range

I Can't Get Started (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

hitch a ride
on the silver screen fantastical

Symphony No. 1/rejected mvt. 2. Largo (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

in search of past music

Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata X - John Cage - Adam Tendler

exotical fan fiction

Janet - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

energetic intro
sudden calm
outro back to energetic
(fade)

Bickleton, WA

The Blessing - Ornette Coleman [from Something Else!!]

sequential speechifying
in lengthy periods
of ornately metered lines

Anna (Go To Him) - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]

here guys
sing into this can

Crosstown Traffic - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]

misogynistic sex brag

You're Pretty Face Is Going To Hell - The Stooges [from Raw Power]

another one
priapic strutter

Sunbird - Carole King [from Welcome Home]

living the dream
life
in a sunbaked hippie montage

The Murder Weapon - T Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]

a double attempt
on an epic
U2 type
stadium entrance
but
his voice isn't that big
gets lost
in such a large space
tries too hard for grandeur
unearned

Improvisation for Organ and Guitar (Part 4) - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Wake - Yu Feng - Improvisation]

occasional intonation
(when the beams cross)

thrashing away
energy release
allows relaxed functioning
for cooperative listening

Track 2 - Elizabeth Panzer [from Talking Harp]

harp music
that sounds like harp music
so that
if you want harp music
you can have some 

this one
has sharp words in it

this music wears the costume of a story teller
every page colorfully illustrated

Banned Rehearsal 500 (part 3) - Isaac E, John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Holden K, Kia M, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 27, 1998]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 500 980627 part 3

I announce
that I will go prepare the coffee 

a feedback has been formed 

it had already been a long session
and we were fading 

Aaronsbundler attempts a rescue 

tunes into
our stress fractured commonality
hanging in there

Bickleton, WA

{journal entry of July 6, 2006:

of all human endeavors
music exists
or could
strenuously
for our benefit
music
for the sake of music
that is
for the furtherance
of the art of music
is an empty task
unless
understood
as a metaphor
an image
of ourselves
furthered
in the music
experienced
as furthered
in the music 

generates
into a parallel knot
of domestic livingsound}

April 30, 2025

Interlude - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]

up from below

Banned Rehearsal 736 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 7, 2008]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 736 080407

sounds of objects interacting
back alleys of culture
prestige transits elsewhere
in the public eye
we make mechanisms
that can be made
to make sounds
make sounds
in the ways
they are made
to make them 

splooshy puddles of organ clumps 

piano sets up a soapbox
to huckster from 

we sit back
to enjoy the evening dim

Here Comes The Sun - Peter Fedofsky [from False Ties and Nice Hoods]

cinematic moment
for happy romance

Bickleton, WA

Banned Telepath 61 Port Haiden - Aaron Keyt [March 14, 2018]

through these sounds
we bring this room
to you 

acoustic character
imported spaces

The Many Voices In Our Heads - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Many Voices In Our Heads]

improvisatory collaborative groove production
subcultures within subcultures 

it's subcultures all the way up

Sly Mongoose - Montrose String Orchestra [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

in those days
our time was fluid 

that fiddle player
sure can play

School Girl Blues - Rosa Mae Moore [from Really The Blues]

heart to heart
mom & daught? 

scenes from a weary life

The Flat Foot Floogie - Louis Armstrong, The Mills Brothers [from Louis Armstrong and Guest Stars]

one of the greatest tracks of all time
in my ever so humble opinion

Little David Play On Your Harp - Merle Travis [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

its time
follows its own internal logic
with no apparent concern
for industrial uniformity

Walking at Night in Key West - Allen Ginsberg [from Holy Soul, Jelly Roll]

when the mad
have lost their glad

Of Thee I Sing (Take 1) - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]

just about the kinkiest song ever
eh?

Track 4 [from The Life Treasure of Christmas Music]

in multiple languages!

In a Station - The Band [from Music From Big Pink]

alienation of uniqueness
among the inanimate

I Wish You Would - David Bowie [from Pinups]

barely a chord in width

Rave On - Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band [from Live at The Roxy July 7, 1978]

finding his inner Memphis

BB JB KE SJ DS 830725 - Benjamin Boretz, Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Sarah Johnson, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, July 25, 1983]

we pause to hear our thinking

at the time

and for some time thereafter

I felt I had made a significant breakthrough

in how I thought of/played/composed with the piano

this session 

in my enthusiasm

I may have taken over some of it

spreading new wings 

but

this first part is just lovely 

starts with guitar and piano dancing
Jill's electric violin pizzicato
provides prodding 

if

in fact

this is the tape I think it is

which I think it is

as it gets to the part

where I play loud 

here's my Bill Evans chorale chords

and yet
I may be mistaken
time has passed since then 

quite an enjoyable session though 

I'm not sure I have the track labelled correctly
as to personnel

{confirmed wrong on all right-aligned counts

not that tape at all}

Sabre Dance - Canadian Brass [from More Greatest Hits]

does not sound safe or sane

Banned Rehearsal 347 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [December 17, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 347 931217

as though we had never stopped
plug it in
and it goes 

turn off all the choices
it doesn't know what to say 

I'm guessing
I'm doing my pinniped imitation on sax
and Aaron is on the keys 

Jingle Bells
as we near the holiday 

had not yet developed
a reasonable mic placement
the room sounds emptier than it does now
its reverberation was harsher 

Aaron sings the haydideedayday song 

like a waffle in the waves
weightless waiting within

Bickleton, WA

{journal entry of December 1, 1998:

saxophone makes an early squeaky appearance
is it me ?
:sounds like Aaron on the organ
I don't think Karen tried to play it...
yes
must be Aaron at keyboard
myself at sax 

what is the difference between a tune and lyricism?
a tune is composed from outside
prepared
and lyricism
is an active state
an activity
a compositional activity
a tune can be invented on the spot
but
this is not the same
as waxing lyrical
a tune
composed
can be a stimulus
to lyrical activity/composition
but
is it possible
or even desirable
at one and the same time
to compose a tune
which stimulates
a separate
and time-skewed
lyrical activity? 

||tuning violin and organ
a lyric stasis
a need for lyrictivity
a prefound basis
a seed
from outside
an insemination
sounding
like some familiar surface
familiar
or current event
onhooking
to
John here
here's Nhoj
cleverness
is something recognizable
an event
for clinging 

a matrial material matrix}

Bickleton, WA

May 1, 2025

Changeling - The Kent 3 [from Blood on the Flat Track Soundtrack]

complete with its own narration
monodynamical 

Psalm 133 (take 1) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, May 10, 2005]

pretty good take
but for one bobble (mine)

Fallen So Hard - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]

a live recording
sounds about like he did when we heard him

Songs Your Mother Should Know - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Karen Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, July 5, 2013]

introducing the man who formerly had no hair

a mini musical

I must have been hosting Salon that night

Ain't So Simple - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]

a member of our church shared these tracks that she had made

Magnuson Park 230411 A - Keith Eisenbrey [April 11, 2023]

Keith Eisenbrey · Magnuson Park 230411 A

some crows having a ruckus
traffic and twitter birds
traffic
that constant roar of the urban world

Bleeding Hearted Blues - James P. Johnson [from Really The Blues]

blues thread
comment thread
dance thread
all twisted together
a strong rope

Ha Ha Blues - Rosie Mae Moore [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

scenes from rural life
in the low lane

Bickleton, WA

I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket - Herman Chittison [from That Devilin' Tune]

style and influence
followed with
baseball stats! fluency
every year
a new amazement
trace of pedigree

Sonata Breve, Op. 26 - Lockrem Johnson - Lockrem Johnson, Gerald Ogle

they go through things together
two for one
and one for two
a not unmassy breve
as breves go

Saving My Love For You - Johnny Ace [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

so this
is the late great Johnny Ace 

a completely believable voice

Frankie and Johnnie - Morgana King [from Sings The Blues]

right through a hardwood swingin' door 

how few verses are required
to tell the whole sorry tale?

The Bells of St. Mary - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans [from A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector]

if a bell is mentioned
a bell must be rung 

repressed
by a wall of sound
only the hook matters
the rest is window dressing

Let There Be More Light - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]

now there
is an entrance
perfectly cinematic
that
actually sounds
like something
somebody
cares about 

emphatically
not
in song form
more like
sprawled
in an altered state
across the ruin
of a song form

Quadrophenia - The Who [from Quadrophenia]

replacing orchestration
with attitude and amplification 

if you make the soundtrack
the film will surely follow
build it
they will come 

vamp after vamp
all intro
no showtime
overture
in the form
of a table of contents

Bickleton, WA

Utopia - Sun Ra & Walt Dickerson [from Visions]

these guys
are on some same page alrighty 

adept at tuning
to a going
that isn't a groove
that
could be sold and fitted
to use elsewhere 

something about the vibe of this
reminds me of Mike Marlin's Dubious Duo
(equally fab) 

this is about them
with each
we
are witnesses to it

The Cutter - Echo & The Bunnymen [from Porcupine]

tracks have histories of their own
how they got made
and histories
of connections
how they found me
compilators are valuable
to mix culture
for our mutual benefit 

this track
and its band
found me
via Nancy's Mix
underground share tapes

In Session at The Tintinabulary

April 27, 2025

Swanwick - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 95 Swanwick 250427 [250427]

April 28, 2025

Gradus 413 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

pursues its path
approaches all taken
or each taken
all transformation
all the time
acoustic models
limit tonal possibilities
wrist shaking
fist shaking
proclaimed
in high legend

Postscripts

Drops

I had the great good fortune to meet the eminent Seattle composer Lockrem Johnson (1924-1977) a few months before his death. A vast treasury of information on Lockrem and his times, including scores and historic recordings, can be found at lockremjohnsonestate.com.

1-24: 24 Preludes, Op. 50 (1967)
25: Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano, Op. 35 (1950)
26: 2 Songs to a Child, Op. 27 (1942/1948):

Do You Hear The Snow

Good Night

27: Chaconne, Op. 29 (1948)
28: Songs in the Wind, Op. 32 (1949)
29: Jazz Hanon 11 (1971)
30: Last 2 Songs, Op.52 (1973):

Because I Cannot Tilt Your Head

An Old Tune

31: Fifth Sonata, Op. 34 (1953)

Keith Eisenbrey, piano (all tracks)
Peter Nelson-King, trumpet (Op. 35)
Susan Payne O'Brien, soprano (Op. 27 and 52)
Lorri Froggét, soprano (op. 32)

Songs in the Wind recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, October 13, 2007
2 Songs to a Child and Last 2 Songs recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 16, 2024
All other tracks recorded 2023-2025 at The Tintinabulary, Seattle.

texts
Do You Hear The Snow by Lewis Carroll
Good Night by Mark Twain
Songs in the Wind by Ruth McDonald
Because I Cannot Tilt Your Head by Anon.
An Old Tune by Robert Abraham

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

Playlist

Preface

"Accept endlessly, scrutinize ceaselessly, and see what will happen."

Virginia Woolf, from "Tchehov's Questions"

Texts

Live

March 29, 2025

These Days - Tom Baker
The Royal Room, Seattle

Tom celebrated his 60th birthday in songs and stories. An evening length poem, remembering family and friends. And he can sing pretty creditably too! We had a wonderful time.

Recorded

March 30, 2025

Track 1 - Spring Piano Recital 980609

unamplified announcements
in a largely empty sanctuary

Gradus 34 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 12, 2003]

the pitches
are given identifying variables
on a grid
'fifth' 'A' 'up':
'ordinal'
'cyclic'
'directional' 

fifth up A
or
A, fifth up
would also work 

it exists
as a location
on  a grid
prior to its instantiation as a sound
we accept the name
as true
even though we made it up
((because?)
we made it up?) 

notes
need not
accept
their nominations
without a struggle 

names of notes
as a means
of organizing a chaos of identities
for sanity's sake 

our ear does it
without asking

Stir The Cup - Tea Cozies [from Tea Cozies]

here's to Seattle pop punk's nod
to the 80s
through 90s colored glasses 

full length
set length song

March 31, 2025

Gradus 227  - Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 3, 2013]

taking pains to identify and possess
in experience
each  complexity differential 

mapping cognitive thresholds

to acquire a sense of a rung
one must sit with it 

an interrogation
debriefing 

step back from it
and be silent with it
(that's
where all the notes he's not playing
would go)

Fish Distributor (partial) - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Skylark, Seattle, March 1, 2018]

artifact recording
the microphone is only partially paying attention

Gradus 379 - Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 3, 2023]

as aforesaid
differentiation of pitch sets
by touch and figuration
and the arcana of melodic binding

thought
and bodily action
to effect that thought
occur
quasi-reflexively
as does
our tracking of it

to the extent
that
an ability is innate
then
that ability
grew into us
with us 

durational variation
on half the figure

April 1, 2025

Madrigals, Book IV: Quel augellin, che canta - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

all his cards face up
dealt thick and fast

Concerto V: Hodie complete sunt - Samuel Scheidt - Capella Fidicinia Leipzig, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Martin Flämig

turning Alleluia
into a rhythmic tongue twister 

solid blockish figures
square shoulders
square heads 

melismas
are held in suspicion

Ein Kind is uns geboren - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

pulses with beauteous essence

Wär Gott nicht mir uns diese Zeit, BuxWV 222 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

an interval
is the adjustment
two pitches make
with each other

Premier Ordre (sol) - La Nanete - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

doubled sweep
to the upper register
doubled
sidestepwise return

Ein ungefärbt Gemüte, BWV 24 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling

a most particular understanding of the Gospel
as it persisted
at that time in that place: 

the polyphony
that is
is
that most particular understanding
as are
the architectures
tonal and spatial

Sonata in A Major, Kk. 268 - Domenico Scarlatti - Jan-Pieter Belder

formulaic in the strictest sense
that it is made of formula-following parts
several interwoven layers of them
at different time-grouping scales

Les Boréades, Act III - Jean-Phillip Rameau - Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi, Purcell Choir, Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Bendikt Kristjánsson, Philippe Estèphe, Thomas Dolié, Tassis Christoyannis, Gwendoline Blondeel

two musics:
the song and its support 

you can't sing like that
verisimilitudinously 

may as well be in a shower 

revels in its artifice 

18th Century bassoons

Sonata in G Major, Wq. 65.48 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Miklós Spányi

on fortepiano
as opposed to clavichord
a personhood amplifier 

lays out the evidence
like Perry Mason
examines it closely
weaves a tale
of plausible inference
then
down a darker path
whew
back in the stern day 

it is to be inferred
from the rhetoric of this blog
that
each blurb
is about
the music
listed immediately above it
but
actually
it's about
only
my
experience
of listening to that music
which is
actually
what that music
is
in any sane sense
so
in fact
these blurbs
are
what they are so inferred to be

Symphony in G minor, K. 550 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter

performed
as an early Romantic symphony
as though
it were post-Beethoven
does make a rather strong case for it 

the ingenue tongues her pious prayers
a stern and manly menuet
with a waxed mustachio
and of course
there's Mr. Boring Old Predictable 
puffing his stogie

we have come to a fork
in the repetition cycle

fugatos and canons
bombard the battlements 

meanwhile
the lonely sentry
so handsome!
dreams of his girl back home

String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74 #3 - Franz Joseph Haydn - The London Haydn Quartet

particulars of ornamental elaboration
become the stuff of its face
it matters
which figure
a note is part of
and how
this menuet
scratches
the back of its head
in embarrassed puzzlement 

G minor
the key
of stormy nights
and desperate horseback rides

April 2, 2025

Phantasie in C Major, Op. 17 - Robert Schuman - Arthur Rubinstein

how
two
fit
in one
and
an angled slice
of overabundance
articulates
images of times
floating off from each other 

figuration play and
polyphony play
or
polyphony
crammed
into unlikely figurations 

two musics
of the same notes
or
proceeding
on differing paths
in alternating times

Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 51 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

attention arrested
in mid reverie
transfixed in dreaminess

Slavonic Dance in C Major, Op. 46 #7 - Antonín Dvořák - The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - John Farrer

spectacular choreography
technicolor costumes

Etude in C-sharp minor, Op. 42 #5 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti

fingers aflame

Preludes Book II: No.12, Feux d'artifice - Claude Debussy - Walter Gieseking

touch control phenomenon

Guitar Blues - Sylvester Weaver [from Really The Blues]

guitar
has a talk with itself
in both chairs

The Preacher Got Drunk and Lay His Bible Down - Tennessee Ramblers [from Really The Blues]

train chugalong tempo
on a text
with a train in it
and a mule
that says
haw hee haw
when its name is mentioned

Says My Heart (take 1) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

wise to the scheme
of that gleam in your eye
wise scheme
gleam eyes
I E
E I

Four Transcriptions from Emerson (1938): No. 1 (middle) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

where will it fit
if I squeeze it in tight?

Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata VIII - John Cage - Adam Tendler

the problem with prepared piano
is that
the preparations can't be switched
among the notes
on the fly 

any note
any preparation
any moment 

(noisy audience)
(or was there a dancer?)

Prelude To a Kiss - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

the melody dances across the registers
afloat

Trinkle, Tinkle - Thelonious Monk [from Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane]

mirror gag
uncanny duets

Since My Canary Died - The Brothers Four [from The Brothers Four Cross Country Concert]

for the variety show circuit
light comic fare

Side 1 - John Lennon, Yoko Ono [from Two Virgins]

playing with the equipment after hours
off-handedly recorded for posterity
(that's us)

Discipline - Sun Ra [from Space Is The Place]

notating swing
is like trying to pinpoint all the wrong moments
that were right

Needles and Pins - Ramones [from Road To Ruin]

a tightly constructed song

Gloria - U2 [from Under a Blood Red Sky]

The Edge sounds good

Banned Telepath 17 San Diego - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [March 28, 1988]

organ and guitar take a road trip
apologetic composition valve 

composing ones way out of a problem
doesn't solve the problem 

the balance is strange
but quite effective
there is no hint
that instruments are in separate channels
they are together in a common space

Lightpoints Emerge - Helena Alexander [from The City Sketches]

awash in the frisson of its surface

April 3, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 483 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Teach Yourself To Drive]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 483 980206

make all the splashes up front
sort it out at leisure 

a goose with a grievance 

makers of sounds
presenters of music
making/performing 

role:
maker of sound*
reified agent
with a music being performed
*among makers of sound

making sounds:
the distinction
is in the respective social standpoints
of the persons in question
within the pertinent social group
and their related moral and ethical obligations
a fellow among fellows
a role on a stage
negotiation inevitable 

groove free
more or less
since 1984

Track 2 - Eckstein Middle School Bands [from Mach 6]

big band blues

Zither Film 12 - Keith Eisenbrey [March 30, 2008]

this one
was more of a "tsth"

Times In Between - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury  [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]

kitchen table blues

Corollaries: Up's Down - Keith Eisenbrey [March 9, 2018]

fleshing out a new thought

304 Merlino Way - The No Ones [from My Best Evil Friend]

California dreaming

Big Fat Ham - Jelly Roll Morton [from That Devilin' Tune]

tap dance drumming

Dry Bones - Bascom Lamar Lunsford [from Anthology of American Folk Music]

americana ecstatic vision
conviction and witness

Pray For The Lights To Go Out - Bob Willis [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

a cartoon of life
vaudeville variety show
light comic

Them There Eyes - Peggy Lee [from Rendezvous with Peggy Lee]

they sparkle and bubble
get you in a whole lotta trouble

Feelin' Bad - Junior Parker [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

train song

Northern Lights - Norman Monath [from Songs of The Pogo]

anything can be recorded and sold
even songs from the funny papers

How Far - Chris Kenner [from Land of 1000 Dances]

radio fueled dance craze
from the Hop to the transistor radio

Glass Onion - The Beatles [from The Beatles (White Album)]

a message direct
from the mouth
of the mouth
to you
the listener 

was he conned by his own conceit?

Walkin' Up In The Road - Betty Davis [from Betty Davis]

strutting with brass
power march

On The Sunny Side of the Street - Willie Nelson [from Stardust]

nothing unlovable about it

MFA Octet (Part 3) - Benjamin Boretz, Jill Borner, Nancy Chase, Keith Eisenbrey, Bruce Huber, Anne McLellan, Dan Sedia, Chuck Stein [recorded at Bard College, June 19, 1983]

we've been at sea now
for weeks and weeks
rolling sickly
in the cold ocean swells 

the watch
slumbers 

flappy cartoon snore lips 

bowed string
dream wand 

all the rapid eye movements
behind closed lids
sleeper to sleeper
toes twitch
early risers stir
putter toward coffee 

table conversations
delicate maneuvers
treacherous shoals
reports
barked
from all points 

empty sky
empty horizons

April 4, 2025

Set It Off - Big Daddy Kane [from Long Live The Kane]

leggierissimo
(tres vif)

April 6, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 345 - John E, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt [November 19, 1993]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 345 931119

light saber duel
plastic replica version 

synth v synth

excited cowbells
and the running game
calisthenics

clock-time steadiness
is an ersatz steadiness
steadiness
not measured
against
the feel
of steadiness 

extended drum roll
expectation
distracts itself 

the running game continues
until
up please 

I ate Aaron
yum yum
in the tum tum 

back to the whangbanging 

debacle lips 

cut to measure
off the rack 

blink blink
mum tum drum

{from my journal entry of November 24, 1998:

more fun with drums and space aliens
we have been not about
(for long stretches)
the production
of releasables
or
even
of avoiding
the avoidables
here
we talk and are silly
but
at least it's just regular talk and silly
with John and Aaron 

yum yum
I ate you}

April 7, 2025

Angelene - PJ Harvey [from Is This Desire?]

wholly invested vocal presence
band supports
but hangs back
a room
invested

Banned Rehearsal 650 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 24, 2003]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 650 030524

pulse-patterns/figures
generate
immediately transparent moments
grooves
presents
as a phenomenon
generated
by an otherwise
inaudible source
domineering
pulse is rain
groove is a river 

martialed gesture
compulsion to repeat
to continue

music
properly heard
might be
more a mirror
to oneself
than an activity
one can talk about
objectively 

a strangely populated kitchen

Air-Sean - Sacajawea Students [from Digital Dreams]

music is what is exactly in line

Banned Rehearsal 838 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 10, 2013]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 838 130610

we putter through the scraps of sounds lying about
stirring the tea leaves
Neal rungs (all A-naturals)
hiding within Banned Rehearsal
our rattles
and cans
and sticks
and bells
and shakers 

an insistence
a rut 

we all hang around nearby

Trap House Xmas - Pity Party [from Are You Happy Yet?}

voice acting for cartoon media

April 8, 2025

Banned Telepath 100 Magnuson Parking Lot Killdeer - Jennifer Chung [April 7, 2023]

we can say
bird sound
is musical
without
necessarily
claiming
it is music
we might only mean
it has pitch
like music does
or
perhaps
that
in imitating it
we use our vocal apparatus
in a similar fashion
to how we use it
when we are singing

Madrigals, Book IV: Non piú guerra, pietate - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

the voice field
is a stage of a chorus of individuals 

stunning dissonance
for the briefest moment
the thorn in its side

Das Wort ward Fleisch - Heinrich Schütz - Capella Augustana

music as a fitting state of mind
for contemplation and edification

Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, BuxWV 222 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella

depicting an image
of an imagined state of mind
(of the Emmaus Travelers I presume)
empathic
(oops! listened to it twice!)

Premier Ordre (sol) - Les Sentimens, Sarabande - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert

a stately dance
for opulence display
performative wealth

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, BWV 147 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Jacques Orchestra, Reginald Jacques, Kathleen Ferrier, William Herbert, William Parsons, Ena Mitchell, The Cantata Singers

a state of mind
within a state of mind

Sonata in A Major, Kk. 269 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder

no dramatic preliminaries
the first item
is in the thick of it 

this music
is in you
without
so much
as
a by your leave

Les Boréades, Act IV - Jean-Phillip Rameau - Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi, Purcell Choir, Sabine Devieilhe, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Bendikt Kristjánsson, Philippe Estèphe, Thomas Dolié, Tassis Christoyannis, Gwendoline Blondeel

Rameau:
supervisor of special effects
musical use of noise
predating Varése 

vis a vis
serious opera
and musicals 

opera
is a body of musics
musicals
are a body of theaters 

Wagner:
I'll write my own damn book!
build my own damn theater! 

who cooked up the idea of a secondary dominant? 

voice
adored
by its string accompaniment

Sonata in C Major, K. 330 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout

1
bright and cheery fellow
endlessly useful
crisply efficient
but
in his sentimental lonesome
he spills his tender heart to the flies 

an adjunct Figaro
or proto 

2
at her mending
and other evening proper maiden pursuits
torn though
by worry
and cares 

in prayer
back to mending
and quiet thoughts 

3
a good brisk ride
will do a world of good
to ones outlook 

all these things can be worked out
we'll get the notary
to draw up the contracts

Die Schöpfung: Der Zweite Tag - Franz Joseph Haydn - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Michael Schade, Gerald Finley, Rodney Gilfry

edifying theater
or
theater with an edifying excuse

Arabesque, Op. 18 - Robert Schumann - Peter Frankl

music of sudden visions
and quick forgetting 

this must be the mustache
and this the stalwart hero

Moderato in E Major, KKIVb/12 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson

just a quickly jotten note
in subtly rhyming couplets

Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46a #8 - Antonín Dvořák - The Royal Philharmonic - John Farrer

big noise
small noise

Etude in D-flat Major, Op. 42 #6 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti

trying out a pianistical pose
for the pianistical photogravure 

nibbling internal figures

Waitin' For The Evening Mail - Billy Baskette [from Really The Blues]

mail jail bail fail
broad rhymes for the general public

Alabama Jubilee - Bill Helms and His Upson County Band [from Really The Blues]

something lively to keep 'em dancing

I Wish I Had You (take 2) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]

the band supports from behind
without loss of their own autonomy and character 

not afraid
to let the side men shine

April 9, 2025

Study No. 23 (partial) (1938) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]

blatant dissonance
signified
forward thinking modernity

Sonatas and Interludes: Second Interlude - John Cage - Adam Tendler

remoteness
from vocal-music-derived forms and figurations and rhetoric
(hard to sing it)
another signifier
of same 

the signification
as such
was an important
if not essential portion
of the meaning
of the piece
of its reason for being

A Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington [from Piano Reflections]

tune bits
picked up
in all the registers
as needed

That's My Boy - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]

spoof theater
occupying
as its space
both the recording studio
and the home record-changer 

post-war suburban culture

Soul Bongo - Stevie Wonder [from Recorded Live - The 12-year old Genius]

solo with band backing
the format
has a struggle
to make this work
as anything beyond
sheer skill display

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles [from The Beatles [White Album)]

every scrap of sound
that remains
was scrubbed clean
of anything
outside the confines
of the recorded song

Up Again - Michael Jackson [from Music & Me]

as a cultural property
Michael mirrored some aspect of us 

did we look?

Streets of Fire - Bruce Springsteen [from Darkness On The Edge Of Town]

overacts
for theater-in-the-too-large

Quicksand - T Bone Burnett [from Truth Decay]

oblique messaging

Improvisation for Guitar and Organ, Part 1 - Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Wake - Yu Feng - Improvisation]

lazy day
waking lazy
stretching lazy

The Eternal Tomorrow - Sun Ra [from Monorails & Satellites]

lots of dampers-lifted sonorities
recorded close

Banned Rehearsal 486 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [from Teach Yourself To Drive]

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 486 980228

the rarely heard flip side
opens in a dim forest
introspecting 

sound can be generous
in its dynamic/timbral depth of field
if giving breathing room 

hushed down
to a few hoots 

movements among the drums
like mice around the set 

cymbals toms snare kick 

song along the wall in the back
ceremonial clash boom boom boom

ritual actions generate ritual residue
ritual evidence
intentionality
as an experience
(of having an intention)
but
how was it acquired?
what is an intention anyway?
a provisional hypothesis?
with buy-in?
a wager? 

it is
what one
has accepted
that one
will attempt

C-9 - Humidiflyers [from Humidiflyers EP]

rhythmically acute
round and round
in the dance forever

Wake - Aaron Keyt [from Wake - Yu Feng - Improvisation]

release from hypnoisis
into alertness 

musique surrealesque 

stages of cleansing and isolation 

music
as a film
as a music 

soundtrack without image
or
soundtrack
that contains its visuals
within its sounds 

raining outside
use your umbrella

Away - Andrew Young [from Inkplaces]

an apparent instability in our intonation sense

Maple Leaf 180311 - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · Maple Leaf 180311

monologues
among kinds of bird calls
travel in waves 

the cause of crows
causes the caws of crows 

the caws of crows
echoes
in caws of crows 

the regularity
of frogs
betrays them
deflation chirp

often
it is a gull
that is the cause
of crow caws 

rarely
I presume
would a frog
be
the crows caws' cause

Sand - Anna La Berge and Tom Baker [from Sand]

passage inexorable
deep bore mine
gnawn clean

April 10, 2025

Fünf Kurze Stücke zur Pflege des Polyphonen Spiels - Ferruccio Busoni - Wolf Harden

passing through the figurations
like waves in a shaken sheet 

bonds of pianism

Groundhog - Jack Reedy and His Walker Mountain String Band [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

make up a new verse game

Maple Leaf Rag - Jelly Roll Morton [from The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz]

the score is a starting point for individuation

Stormy Weather - Peggy Lee [from Rendezvous with Peggy Lee]

finessed modulation of heavy weariness time

I'm Crying Holy Unto The Lord - Brother Claude Ely [from Turn Me Loose White Man]

preach it to feel it

You've Got Love - Buddy Holly and The Crickets [from 'Chirping' Crickets]

a fresh-faced rawness to his ping

By Myself - The Art Farmer Quartet with Jim Hall [from Interaction]

launch into the float free drift
transcription of rhythm
is always inexact
even when accurate

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]

a segment of experience

God's Love (That's Why I Love Mankind) - Etta James [from Etta James]

less than the lowest cactus flower
a twisted midrash
or
a parable
worldcosmos blues
how blind you must be?

13 Emily Dickinson Poems: If I'm Lost - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee - Morey Ritt

pitch particularity
to particularize the sung vowels
vowel particularity
to particularize the pitch points

BB JB KE SJ DS 062483 - Benjamin Boretz, Jill Borner, Keith Eisenbrey, Sarah Johnson, Dan Sedia [recorded at Bard College, June 24, 1983]

it isn't really
that no one wants to start
since we already have 

doing nothing
is a kind of doing 

theater of the eyebrow twitch
micro-adjustments
in constant attendance
of our holding still 

breathing Ommm 

monasterial practice
spiritual practice 

a willed humbling
(tricky
whenever the will is involved) 

simultaneous moments
have flavors of simultaneity
as does
every touch
have a flavor 

an articulatorious pause 

we blink
over the brink 

equip an observation post

In Session at The Tintinabulary

March 30, 2025

Henry - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 91 Henry 250330 [250330]

March 31, 2025

Gradus 412 - Neal Kosály-Meyer

we traverse its breadth
crisscrossing the field
search pattern 

places to stand
places to squeeze into 

wandering is a system

April 1, 2025

Prelude in F minor - Lockrem Johnson

Prelude in E-flat Major - Lockrem Johnson

April 3, 2025

Prelude in F Major - Lockrem Johnson

Prelude in D minor - Lockrem Johnson

April 4, 2025

Prelude in C minor - Lockrem Johnson

April 7, 2025

Banned Rehearsal 1123 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey · Banned Rehearsal 1123 250407

April 8, 2025

Bellarma - Keith Eisenbrey

Keith Eisenbrey · 92 Ballerma 250406 [250408]

Prelude in E-flat minor - Lockrem Johnson

Prelude in B-flat Major - Lockrem Johnson

Prelude in G minor - Lockrem Johnson

April 11, 2025

Prelude in E Major - Lockrem Johnson

Postscripts

Drops

One of the shining lights of the local music scene during the pandemic lockdown was Nonsequitur's Wayward in Limbo series: 134 commissioned recordings of new work by local musicians. I was honored to be asked for a contribution. The essential intimacy of the clavichord seemed fitting for the occasion, and I offer this series of short improvisations for your enjoyment.

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