Summer comes to a close

The summer of 2021 is, with this August, slowly coming to a closure; flowers wither, leaves on the trees start changing colours, birds migrate and animals and insects alike prepare for autumn and winter. We humans go back to work from vacations, and schools start – anew for some, premiering for others. For me, the atmosphere of August is an eager, busy and anticipating time, where expectations remain untried and hopes have the energy to be pursued.

August can also be a time of melancholy, when a sense of time lost and of a scheduled, regulated life limiting one’s ambitions, slowly seeps into consciousness. On the northern hemisphere we are undoubtedly heading for darker, colder and rainier times.

But there still is much summer-ish sunlight, many warm days, many green lawns and flowering plants left, and the water in the lakes and the sea can still for long be batheable in temperature. Like with the Vervain from our garden in the picture, the summer is still on, and with that the Summer Sale still has a few more weeks to remain open.

Until August 31:st there is the opportunity to buy great sounding, stimulating and unique Big Band charts at the discount of 30% on all compositions, and 25% on all arrangements. All to give your band a stimulating injection to the repertoire for the autumn rehearsals. If you want to know anything about a chart, or would like to see some passages not shown with the product, feel welcome to make contact at: contact(“at”)danieleng(“dot”)com

I wish all you visiting here, a really nice summer ending and to stay safe from the recent upsurge in the pandemic.

Check out the Summer Sale

While this summer’s sowings grow and mature, like these sweet (and cute) tomatoes on my balcony in the picture, the Summer Sale of 2021 has one more month to go. Until August 31:st prices in the shop are reduced by 30% on all compositions and 25% on all arrangements.

Take the opportunity to buy stimulating and great sounding charts for your band at reduced prices, to get an energy injection to the repertoire and the musicians after the vacations.

I wish all of you visiting here a great summer, and to stay safe through what can come from this wretched pandemic – that still tries to hang on to us.

Summer Sale is under way

The 2021 Summer Sale is under way since the first of June. Since the circumstances, with the pandemic, are special, I’ve decided to stick with the larger discount that I introduced in 2020; the abatement is 30% on all compositions, and 25% on all arrangements.

Take the opportunity to buy exciting, challenging and fresh charts for your Big Band at lowered prices, and let’s all hope that come the autumn Big Band rehearsals can start again without any sneaky virus variant waiting for spreading – knock on wood.

Take care and stay safe everybody!

New Arrangement In the Shop

I have always had a liking for the Gershwin brother’s song “A Foggy Day”; something about the melody, the chords and the lyrics make me feel like it’s the perfect, light-hearted jazz standard. Now I have made an arrangement of this song, for Big Band and a male vocalist, that from today is available in the shop.

My version is a little uptempo, with the song alternating between a pedal ostinato and the regular chords, where I try to illustrate a drizzly, deep grey, murky and foggy London morning, which unexpectedly ends with the sun breaking through – maybe both literally and figuratively. This chart could work as a dance chart, and I hope others will find that I have made a stimulating and challenging arrangement.

There will also be a Summer Sale between the 1:st of June and 31:st of August. Because the pandemic has had such a devastating impact on the Big Band culture, I’ve decided to keep the greater discounts this year too. Prices will therefore be reduced by 30% on all compositions, and 25% on all arrangements. Take the opportunity to buy great sounding, fun and stimulating and unique charts at good prices!

Stay safe everybody! I hope we can put an end to the pandemic very soon.

Time for close inspection

This time of the year, with the deadline typically set in the first days of May, is the time for the annual Tax Review and self accounting of income and business outcome. Getting no exception, I have to review my firm’s financial statments of last year, close the books and account both my personal and business results. The verdict is clear: Last year was a disaster for my music business in terms of income and sales.

But I’m not brooding too much over this. Last year was productive from a writing viewpoint, and it’s been long since I had so much time to do focused and developing practising – though I long for playing live again.

I’m currently arranging the Gershwin brother’s “A Foggy Day” for Big Band and a male vocalist, and this far into the process I feel like it’s coming out to be a fun and interesting version of that song – I hope that others will see the same.

I wish all of you visiting here to stay unharmed from this blasted virus, and that we can come to terms with it and its consequences soon – very soon.

The season for growing

Late March, early April, is to me the month of growth; the time when plants of all kind start to show up from beneath ground, twigs and branches show hints of the leaves to come, and where the grass on lawns and fields subtly starts showing a background of green to the yellow remnants of last year. This is also the time when my chili plants start to show significant growth and become real plants, from the tiny, minuscule sprouts they were when they first showed up from the soil.

This year, I’ve settled for only sowing three chili plants; partly because I have very much dried chili in store from previous years, partly because I want to have room on the balcony for other things than just a large bunch of chili plants. The sorts of chili I have this year are two slightly hotter variants, “Habanero White” and “Monster Naga”, and one mild and larger type, “Sugar Rush Peach”.

Other than growing chili, there are also some new charts growing on my desk. An arrangement of Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day”, for a male vocalist, and a vocal composition in Japanese modes and scales. Both will be published here when fully grown and matured.

I wish you all visiting here to stay safe and to finding strength to endure the time that still is left before the pandemic is fended off through the vaccination programmes that are pursued all over the world to increasing effect.

New composition in the shop

Today I publish my 50th(!) Big Band chart to be available in the Web Shop, and I feel particularly good about this one. This newest chart, “Laughing Pearl”, is a disco-funk style ballad for a male vocalist about a love story that never became, that I hope will bring a touch of the seventies back for a while.

Though I’m not especially fond of the key Eb-major (I don’t really dislike it either), this is now the fourth published chart in a row that I’ve written in that key.

Stay safe everybody! I wish all you visiting here to remain in good health and to come through this wretched pandemy unscathed.

New composition in the shop

From today, there is a new composition available in the web shop. After some deliberation, I decided to compose for a Swedish text I wrote in June this summer; the result is now a piece for female vocalist and Big Band called “Den Första Juni” (Eng. “The First of June”).

When I started writing this piece, I realised that I already had composed a short Big Band poem portraying the spring, and as this new piece would picture the summer – I could as well look and work for inspiration to write lyrics and music for winter and autumn too. We’ll see where it ends, but my plan is to compose four short poems for each of the four seasons of which spring (“Midnatt På Landet”) and summer now are completed and available in the shop.

Happy New Year

This very strange and perilous year 2020, is about to fold its business and give over to the new, unwritten and untold 2021. I sincerely hope that the coming year will be the year when the pandemy subsides, the world finally seriously adresses climate change and environmental depletion and extinction of species, and that we can recreate this life of social events and in-person contacts that we had to abandon for most of the now leaving year.

I have spent the holidays at my countryside summer house where I’ve taken long walks, read books, fired up the stove, and done some composing. Just today, the 31:st, I finished a short poem – with Swedish lyrics – for Big Band, that will be a part of a suite portraying the four seasons of the year; this part is the summer. As soon as it’s edited, it will be published here.

The December Sale, ends with the 31:st. There will, as always, be a summer sale, but that won’t be until June.

I wish all you visiting here: A Happy New Year! May you have a great 2021.

December Sale coming up

Between December 1st and 31st, there will, as usual, be a sale. Take the opportunity to buy unique, fantastic sounding and fun to play Big Band charts at a discount.

Because this year is so special, the reduction will be 25% off on all arrangements, and 30% off on all compositions.

Now, when the Corona pandemy ravage the world (as it has for almost a year), and all social activities are shut down due to the need for social distancing, I believe that we have to look forward to a time when we can meet and spend time together unrestricted: The time after Corona. This is why I keep writing music, and arranging recurring sales; because it reminds me of how fun it is to play with others.

Stay safe everybody! I wish all of you visiting here the best.

P.S The contact form on my site is still not working properly, and I’m working to solve the issue. If anyone would want to make contact, there is an e-mail address given in the “Instructions” column, seen on the right side when viewing the individual products. D.S