I’m often asked how I work when I compose and arrange music, and it seems to me that many people today work more in creating, rather than composing, new music. To me, the distinction is in the physical methods of the working process, and the methods of self-evaluation and proof-reading of what has been created.

Here you can see the notestand by my CP5 electric piano I use when I write music. On the stand is my current sketchbook, full with drafts for the first movement of Guitar Pastime Suite – which is now, finally, under way.

To bypass the manual writing process, and the page-by-page layout and overview of the score, is to me to work with creating, and not composing. Composing is to me the process of manual labor with a draft score, and the methodical work of scrutinizing how the parts interact aesthetically in the score, and probing, thinking and rethinking, and ultimately killing ideas that seem good in thought, but turn out to be dysfunctional from aspects that not always include how they sound – though those other aspects most often turn out to have a strong congruence to musical adequacy.

When I compose, I work on my piano to find the lines, chords and dynamics I want and write them in a sketchbook. From the sketchbook I write a sketch score, which I modify, extend or cut until I deem the piece to be as I want it. Finally I use my computer as

Here are two pages from the sketch score of the first movement of Guitar Pastime Suite, entitled “Pick Your Point”. I use a cutting mat on the table to get a nice surface to write on, and I use a 0.7 construction/architekt pencil with HB pins. I use three different erasers, depending on what is to be erased, how much and if on print or not. The pages are pre-printed from a Finale-template a teacher of mine made some twenty years ago; I still haven’t found any better. The yellow plastic folder is a hand rest so I don’t smear what I write, since I’m left handed.

a typewriter, to edit the score and the parts. Writing the sketch score by hand, makes it possible for me to see and sense the music in a direct physical way, and I can directly see the layout of the piece and the parts visually, by laying out the pages. To me, this process is essential to make the music dynamic and fluent from an over all grasp of the piece and its parts.

Augustus was, as Emperor, also the head priest of the Roman state. Here he is portrayed as a pious, humble priest – the Pontifex Maximus.

The month of August got its name around 8BC, when the Roman Senate wanted to honor their Princeps and Emperor, Augustus. They choose the eighth month of the Roman year, because they wanted to highlight the fact that most of Augustus’s (his birth name was Octavius) military victories and conquests were achieved in this season. Most likely, this is because Summer was the main campaigning season of the year, and most campaigns and conquests came to their conclusion before Autumn set in and the weather made military operations and supply, difficult and hazardous. The Romans renamed their month, and we still use that name over two thousand years later – quite an honor!

This year’s Summer Sale ends on September 1st. I wouldn’t know if Augustus would have seen a sale as an honor, but nevertheless: Take the opportunity to buy some unique Big Band charts at a discount, to get your band on its toes right from the very first rehearsal after Summer recess. 20% off on all compositions, and 15% off on all arrangements.

Thursday 21:st of June, at 12:07 pm local Swedish time was the summer solstice for this year. From now on the warmest period of summer will come, while the days get shorter until December 21:st.

This is also the time when many people go on summer vacation, as have I. Though I’m spending time at my summer house, I enjoy the luxury of free time to do some composing – but in a more rural setting.

The Summer Sale is continuing troughout August. Take the opportunity to buy unique Big Band charts at a discount for your band’s autumn startup. 20% off on all compositions, and 15% off on all arrangements.

I wish all you visiting here a really nice and relaxing summer!

In the Nordic countries there is a tradition of burning large fires in the late spring, to usher in the arrival of summer. Where this tradition comes from, and how old it is, is unknown to me as I write this, but most likely it is a combination of pagan and early Christian practices.

In Sweden, April 30th is Valborg’s name-day – Valborg is an old nordic pagan name – and since that is today – I wish all of you visiting here: Happy Valborg!

The fourth and last movement of Guitar Pastime Suite is now much delayed under way, and will be published here upon completion.

If anyone wonders about the last months silence on my behalf, on my site, it’s because I had my computer stolen some time ago. Besides the finacial hit of loosing programmes, licenses and the hardware, it was also a substantial loss of work and basic material for past and coming projects; multiple gigabytes of data in sound files, countless note files, valuable documents and a lot of photos were lost.

Now I have bought a new computer and though much is irretrievably lost, I have finally gotten everything as much in place as needed to get back on track again, so from now on I can continue doing updates and publish new charts; next up is Guitar Pastime Suite part 3, titled “Past Masters”, that will be published here as soon as the Finale editing is completed.