danieleng.com

Before: Piano wrapped in plastic bags and surrounded by tucked away stuff.

What should have been a simple and brief window renovation, turned out to be the Work-In-Progress from hell. The company doing the renovations took our windows out to do much of the work – such as changing glass, painting and carpentry – at their shop, and we found ourselves having to live with just some poorly fitting tarpaulin umbrellas over the empty windows for more than a month. Because autumn is now setting in here in Sweden, things got cold (the draft!) and damp in the apartment, and since we live by a fairly trafficked street it was also noisy. To keep my electric piano safe, I had to pack it in thoroughly and for more than a month I have been unable to do any serious writing work at home.

After: Piano unpacked, connected to its outlet and played for the first time in over a month. On the stand is the score for Guitar Pastime Suite part 1 “Pick Your Point”. Partly due to this abysmal renovation still not completed.

Today I am finally unpacking my workplace! After tidying things up I plan on a composing spree this weekend.

This year’s summer sale is over, but between 1st and 31st of December, there will be a Christmas-New Year’s Sale.

(Did things finally work out with the renovation? No. We finally got our windows back after a serious delay, but the job was poorly done. This is by no means over…)

Sweden is right now in a severe drought, with large areas not having had rain since early May. Combined with a – for Swedish conditions – heatwave, with about a month of temperatures around and above 30C, or 86F, trees and lawns are now yellow, brown and autumn-like, and in forests around the countryside wildfires are ravaging unprecedently.

In such circumstances, a trombonist has to take shelter in the cool of his basement to get some proper bass trombone practising.

Fortunately, the Summer Sale is unaffected by drought and wildfires! Take the opportunity to buy new, unique Big Band charts at a discount – to keep your band practising during summer recess. 20% off on all compositions, and 15% off on all arrangements.

The Summer Sale this year is from 2018-06-01 throughout 2018-08-31. The discount is 20% off on all compositions, and 15% off on all arrangements.

Take the chance to buy some exciting charts and get a kick start for the band at the first rehearsal after summer break.

I wish you all visiting here a really nice Summer!

From today, Past Masters, the third movement of the suite Guitar Pastime Suite, is available in the web shop. The work on this suite fell severly behind schedule due to much work and the disrupting loss of my computer, but finally the chart is edited and uploaded here.

Also a correction would be in place here. In the post from September 22, I said that the nights are longer than the days from the automnal equinox until December 21, the winter solstice. This is not the case. The correct description is that the nights are longer than the days between the automnal and the vernal equinox, approximately between September 21 and March 20 – whereas the winter solstice marks the end of the nights getting longer, and summer solstice ends the days getting longer. All this on the northern hemisphere.

Today is the Automnal Equinox – after today, on the northern hemisphere the nights are longer than the days until December 21.

In ancient times the apparent celestial movement of the sun was essential to people, and the various cycles of the sun were both celebrated and feared, as they have such influence (both physical and psychological) on the life and well being of both men and creatures. To me; it’s kind of strange that not more modern music inspired by these annual events is composed – but maybe that’s because we live less in consideration of the sun’s phases in today’s society.

One who has composed music inspired by today’s solar event is Jean Michel Jarre. His music has been a huge influence and inspiration to me, and his 1978 album Equinoxe is one that I’ve listened to hundreds of times – each time feeling something new about the both powerful, awe inducing and beautiful powers of the nature and universe that harbour our little blue and green planet.