This year I've been studying jazz.
Have fun!

Jazztastic

Daniel

Copyright 2024 Joe Stroffolino

Lots of people moving to the state of AZ
The desert seems like a nice a nice place to be
The only problem is there’s not enough H20
One day you’ll turn the tap and it’s not gonna flow
The climate keeps getting drier every single year
I guess we’ll have to take fewer showers and drink more beer

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you.
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

There’s not enough snowpack on the mountains up high
They say the Colorado river’s running dry
They’re ripping up lawns, replacing them with rocks
Instead of going barefoot, you walk around in crocs
The polar glaciers are melting in to the sea
I wish that they could scoop up an iceberg and drop it down on me

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

Most of the rain falls in the summer
Monsoon season can be a real bummer
You get a big dust storm, they call it a haboob
You can watch scary videos on You Tube
You’ll be driving and suddenly you can’t see
You gotta make sure you don’t crash into a cactus or a tree

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

A long time a ago, it must have been tough without air conditioning
People just had to sit around all day moaning and bitching 
Now the biggest thing we complain about is our high electric bill
As we lie on the couch watching Netflix enjoying the comfortable chill

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

Can't Stand the Heat

You will find the clip on my YouTube channel.

QUANTUM CANTICLE

This is the lyrics version of my piano piece (https://soundcloud.com/konrad-spittelberg/the-clap-of-one-hand). (Roughly) same melody, but now with lyrics. 
If the melody left you puzzled about the title, maybe the lyrics will connect the dots. Hope you enjoy it — drop me a comment, I’m curious what you think!

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The Clap of One Hand - Lyrics
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The high priest looked the monk straight into the eyes 
“You search for wisdom, want to see through disguise 
Then hear the clap of only one hand, 
Imagine tasting the kiss of only one lip!”

The monk was puzzled, did not know what to make of this question 
His mind was racing without the slightest suggestion 
The meaning was hiding so deep 
He could as well go to sleep

And as he lay down he thought and he thought some more, 
And soon he’d snore a Monkish snore 
Deep in his dream he saw the cosmic law 
As it is and will be and has been before

To find the truth you need to see the world through different frames,
As place and motion, time and energy play Heisenberg’s games
The one single truth, the clap of one hand deceives the ancient lore

And then his dream shifted to our world
Where flags of dogma are unfurled
Where it’s en vogue to scorn the views of those 
Whose minds are differently curled

They yell their slogans convinced that it's only their kind who knows truth
They silence doubt and debate to keep everything smooth
They vote in blocs convinced others mean harm
They don't want to discuss they don’t want to disarm
They spit poison and phlegm - 
Them is us, us is them

The monk awakened quite surprisingly rested – and something like pride filled his chest 
The dream had opened his eyes and he knew the deep meaning that the koan expressed 
And so as fast as his feet could carry him he ran to the temple ground Requesting to see the high priest and as soon as he met him he told him the solution he found:

“Avoid the clap of one hand 
'Cause you can not understand 
The world in all its true colors if your mind cannot bend 

Every Current or Tide 
Must with others collide, 
A single stream is quite boring, nothing happens inside.

Seek out the voices that are not like your own – 
Don’t guard your comfort like a dog protects its chewed upon bone 
Be cautious if all of your friends do agree – 
You might discover greeater insights without cheap harmony

A field of only one crop may spark in sunlight like gold, 
But slight disease might turn these fragile monoculture to mold 
No coral alone can just survive with it’s kind – 
Reefs only thrive when hundredthousand curious creatures entwine

Don’t flatten the ground so that your pace can be faster –
'Cause if you don’t train your balance each false step means disaster 
All life, all vision needs to ripple and bend – 
Not frozen in uniformity but free to transcend”

The monk fell silent, his speech was complete - 
He wanted praisal, but the priest kept his seat. 
An awkard silence filled slowly the air, 
The priest just sat there with a calm, timeless stare

“I like your thinking—it rings wise, it rings bold, 
It has reason, it's crafted, it's gold. 
But, dear monk, there might be one subtle twist: 
There is one aspect that you seem to have missed.

You see the truth where opinions compete, 
That wholeness only grows where none is complete. 
But if no single view should stand out alone 
Then even your own view must be overthrown

You praise duality, the joining of two - 
But what if your view in itself is not true? 
What if the world isn't built as you claim? 
What if we’ll never know the rules of the game?"

Hear the clap of one hand 
Avoid the clap of one hand 
Hear the clap of one hand 
Avoid the clap of one hand 
Hear the clap of one hand 
… Reflect on the clap of one hand

The Clap of One Hand (Piano Poetry)

I started making this piece with the intention of it being a set of songs that could stand on their own as well as being an open collaboration, but then it took on a life of its own, and things just got out of hand from there, lol! 

But I still managed to control myself and didn’t add too many samples though, haha! 

I was listening to 1985 and 1986 hip hop singles when making this so….

You can download this for free as well as some of the unmixed stems on Bandcamp. The lyrics can also be found on Bandcamp since SC didn’t provide enough space in the song info. I reached my description limit!

Feel free to treat it as an open collaboration if you like. The song list, BPMs, and time signatures are listed below. 

I Like To Sample Old Drums Bandcamp Link: 
https://musiciselation.bandcamp.com/album/i-like-to-sample-old-drums

Funny we are now moving to Portland. Bye, bye Hillsboro. I guess this is now a farewell song. 

Track Credits:

The Couch King: Lyrics, Vocals, Production
https://musiciselation.bandcamp.com
Russell Sinfield: Mix and Master
https://soundcloud.com/russell-sinfield

I Like To Sample Old Drums
Rap Attack: 112 BPM 4/4
Take The Max Down To Hillsboro: 189 BPM 4/4
Peach ’N Plum: 132 BPM 3/4
What, Would, When: 112 BPM 5/4
I Like To Sample Old Drums: N/A
This One Goes: 101 BPM 4/4
Bllll: 92 BPM 4/4
The Couch Can’t Help It: 87 BPM 4/4

Here are the lyrics just for: 

Rap Attack

I will
Put you in a tourniquet
Bleeding there’s no stopping it
Got a pimple 
I be popping it
Tripple nipple
Don’t be knocking it
I be chopping it off
Now blood is slopping  
I ain’t mopping 
You be dropping
When you slippin’ in it 
Finna sit and watch as I scoff
Maybe lickin’ ice cream soft serve, huh
What cha sayin’ I can only seem to catch ya gurgling brah
Nah, No one can hear you scream 
When you got a severe stream of
Foam bumbling, bubbling from your mouth, tumbling gravitationally south
Bro, i’m feeling bad for your health
See you reeling keeling over looking so sad 
had I know your noncongealinkg slow at healing
I might have
Not tried to put you in a tourniquet 
Tried to put you in a tourniquet
Tried to put you in a

I Like To Sample Old Drums

Bandcamp

Russell Sinfield and the Couch King -I Like To Sample Old Drums

Losing Art Bar

Lyrics:

I was king of the world, walked the land so free
Mountains bowed to me, no danger to see
But I felt the winds change, heard the sky break wide
A fireball’s coming, there’s nowhere to hide

The ground shakes beneath my feet
The air's grown stale, yet bittersweet
And I can see the end, it’s written in flames
Nothing we built will ever remain

I called the comet just a spark
A flicker meant to light the dark
I said that God would let us be
That fire was never meant for me
We crowned the beast and closed one eye
Then dared the world to split the sky
But soon the leopards bare their teeth
And tear the lies from underneath

We carved our thrones from wax and pride
Then struck the sparks we couldn’t hide
Laughed at crows that lined the wires
Mocked the smoke before the fires

The fireball splits the skies
To advertise my lies
are just maggots and flies

Now I see the end 
is written in flames
Nothing we built will ever remain

First came silence, fear and dread
The world shuddered and mourned the dead
Crows took flight with silver cries
To peck the rot and eat the flies

Then came the dawn, with truth ablaze
Children yelled through smoke and haze
Science grew roots, the wise made rain
And broke the world out from my chain

They scrawled my name on walls of shame
Unmasked the lies that fed my name
My echo burned, my shadow banned
No idols left, no thieving hand

I fed the lies until they screamed
I kiss the storm I make-believed
The old wax throne, just melt and bone
Ground to dust by minds full grown

The fireballs coming
I made it so
Truth is not a democratic show
It is a force of nature though
It doesn’t ask
It only shows

Fireball

What was that man dreaming of, the one who played the saxophone the other night? When he finally wakes up, we’ll ask him – though it’s unlikely he’ll ever reply. And if by any chance he were willing to answer, he might say: "Nothing that I can remember, because nothing ever happens in my dreams."

This is the second in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. 

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025) (a partial remake of this: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/johans-aceleration-check-the-description).
Female vocals courtesy of Function Loops.
Ambient and radio sound effects sourced from Pixabay.
Posted on SoundCloud: August 2, 2025.

In case nothing happens - part 2 (dawn)*

SOON to move to Bandcamp as an album - in the meantime, you can also listen in sequence here: soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/scalar-fields
instruments: Jeff Gardiner and jo richter
voice: Jeff Gardiner
modulation, arrangement and all that: jo richter
lyrics: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter
image: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter
note by jo: for very real, material reasons, some people describe living entities as "stardust" and "all vibration". in our current, mentally largely dissociated state, it would make as much sense, though, to describe us as "stellar noise". It will take heartfulls of kindness and mindloads of understanding and nuances of acceptance of letting go and so much more to individually evolve into more harmonic states.

it is time, he said, to address the cosmic egg
the liquid consistency of what it holds
and the fact that insects and crusteceans
are clad in terrean space suits of their very own
and human skin can crack and bleed and peel and heal
and their minds are similar to that in more than one respect

it is also time, he put forth in further understanding
that the very nature of awareness, sentience and connection
to the entities we cannot smell or touch in our tuesday state of mind
and our wednesday protocols and even in our sunday suits
and unprotected glowing selves - unless that little voice trails off

and there is nothing left to win or lose or be or presuppose
and see the inside out in four dimensions, to welcome the upside
round and fingers that can shape the world without a tool

or a machine or automated processes and institutions and free
of data that informs the abstract mind but starves the living tentacles
of kindness and a self endowed with all the silence held to listen

that's why you will have to make a bold decision
to overcome your dizzy spinning sputtering state
of fuzzy feeling and self-involved confusion made
and all that fruitless pro- and inhibition
and turn that little voice off in your head
turn that little voice off in your head

(instrumental, including free static noises)

even in the southern realms and climes
the mongrels at the helm and lost in rhymes
tell wicked tales encumbered only by
some long forgotten memory
buried to the burnished hilt
while in a building built by lords and ladies of the cosmic court
while all the scouts appear as tiny lights
of white and red and blue and green
in smokey dreams of sorcery...........

scalar field pt 8: hide and Seek ---Sonic Structures and Silent Stretches

this is a song I wrote for the Alters, a ragtag bunch of fellow amputees,,,sometimes we put our parts together to make a hole……this is the 2nd take with Don “heavyhand” Jones one of the best one legged drummers on the block……this is as far as we got before we started to get a bit “legless”……good fun though……..
Seems to be a lot of fakery around with just about everything these days,,,but they’ll never be a Rolling Stone,,,,,,,,peace and cheers for listening

Paul St Jack…Bass
Derf Lipskin…Elec Piano, Vox
Lionel Osbourne…Guitar
Jim  Mcgill…Warblin, other guitar




DingDong

ain't no tomorrow without today
yesterday waved, chased it away
now it's been running
through the middle of my mind

standing room only, come take a seat
feeling confused rinse and repeat
scrubbing the skin, and clean it all away

yeah it's there in the morning too
evening and noon
don't pretend you don't see it
it ain't leaving so soon

here's the news, it aint getting better
it's snowing in the Alice, but Don ain't no rolling stone

what will it matter, how will it feel
now that the fake, is the new real
nothing surprises, it's normal to us now

silence is noise, peace is a dream
if you're hearing voices, it's not what it seems
it's just the assistant, talking while you sleep

yeah they're there in the morning too
evening and noon
don't pretend you don't hear them
they ain't going so soon

heres the fake news, it ain't getting better
Harry got a job, but Andy ain't no rolling stone

you felt safe there on your island
where the ocean was so blue
come and going as you pleased
thought none really knew

if you believe it, it must be true
say the liars, speakers of "truth"
the court jester, who's really the king of the fools

and he's there in the morning too
evening and noon
don't pretend you don't see him, he ain't going so soon

heres the news it ain't getting better
the silks get paid and the purse gets fatter now
the uk 35 degrees, the icebergs are melting
but Jeff ain't no rolling stone

DingDong

Stereo binaural extract of a sonic memorial to peace and peacekeeping created with the assistance of British military veterans and their families (and voiced by AI)

Best listened to on headphones...

Created as part of an exhibition at Aldershot Military Museum (2025)

Supported by Arts Councl England

Sounding Peace :: Aldershot (stereo mix extract)

The piano is not just an instrument; it is a storyteller. My lifelong companion. Each piece holds the memory of a moment in time, of a period in life. Here, I share my personal journey—one miniature, one experiment, one story at a time.

I’m Konrad Spittelberg, 52 years old. Though I’ve always called Vienna my home, I have pursued various interests, building an interdisciplinary background that spans education in Latin and Greek, studies of Mathematics, Physics and Economics and a carreer in Consulting and Risk Management. Sometimes, you might also find me immersed in games of Go, Chess or D&D. 

But only when I’m not making music. Of course. Still then, all of my interests have shaped the way I think — and, in turn, the way I compose.

The instrument of my life is the piano. I play it since the age of six, the first 16 in music school with my dedicated teacher Margarete Gerlach (and also thanks to the city of Vienna to the incredible publicly funded music schools!). My piano playing saw multiyear interruptions due to travel and workload. But in recent years I’ve found the time to pursue my passion again—with renewed joy. I devote many of my evenings to developing, refining and rehearsing my piano miniatures. 

I inhale music wherever I find it. In the echoes of Renaissance motets or contemporary cluster music with my local choir, which I joined 30 years ago. In music running in the background of a fashion store which I Shazaam for later enjoyment. Or live concerts - there are so many gifted artists in the world! 

My music is a dialogue between tradition and exploration. Rooted in classical and romantic traditions, it ventures into jazz, rock, and pop.  I love to experiment—playing with unexpected tonalities, syncopated rhythms, and dynamic contrasts. My compositions often evolve through shifts in tension, rhythmic complexity, and harmonic modulations, sometimes venturing across the circle of fifths. I’m also diving deeper into the art of mastering, an area where I still have much to explore.

If my music speaks to you, I’d love for you to follow my journey. Follow along, share your thoughts—whether in appreciation or in challenge. Music, after all, is meant to be a conversation—and I’d love to hear your voice in it.
Enjoy your time with my music! 
Contact: konrad.spittelberg@gmail.com
Spotify and Youtube: https:\\konrad-spittelberg.carrd.co