Inside a Great Arrangement – Part Three

 So far in this series we have explored Arrangements for Recording Pop Music and Arrangements for Live Musicians in the first installment. Read it HERE. In the second installment, we looked at Samples of Variations in Arranging, Arrangement Elements for More Professional Arranging, including Key and Motif. Read the second installment HERE. 

In this final article, we’re going to examine Form and Arranging for a Particular Ensemble, as well as some Applications. At the end is a discussion about the OvertoneSeries, an extremely vital composition of musical, mathematical and physical science. 

FORM 

The simplest form is called strophic. Think of a hymn with no chorus. Serious musicians denote it as A A – The same thing repeated. It also can include a variation form that’s the same thing repeated with a bit of extra stuff the second time around. It’s denoted A A՛. The partial quotation mark is called a prime. The form AA՛ would be read “A, A prime” 

Next is a binary form. Like digital code, it has two parts. It can be |:A:||:B:| or |:AB:| or even |:A:||:BA:|. (Those lines and dots are repeat signs). This could be the song with a verse and chorus that you don’t necessarily do the “regular” way. 

There’s a form called a rondo. A full rondo is ABACABA, sometimes with a Coda or Cadenza (BIG finish). Sometimes the repeated As or Bs are done as primes. An original piece called Rockin’ Rondo is a full rondo. 

The last big form is the Sonata Allegro or just Sonata. It’s Italian and it “sounded” or “played”. Allegro means “fast”. Together it means “fast piece of music” although many Sonatas begin fast and then become slower, or vice versa. It has three parts: 

• The Exposition “exposes”, or presents the piece, played straight, with no beefing up.
• The next part, the Development, is where the composer pulls out all the stops to make it as full and developed as possible, using variations on the melody, fills, trills and other ornamentations and musical devices. This is where alternate motifs are used heavily.
• The last part, the Recapitulation, recaps the piece. It’s much like the Exposition with only a few embellishments form the development.
•  

 Arranging for a Particular Ensemble  

If all that a composer / arranger had to worry about was the music, the particular ensemble wouldn’t matter because all the musicians would play or sing wonderfully. However, there is a catch. 

For the sake of the discussion, we’ll imagine that an average high school has a music program that consists of a Concert Band, Choral Group and String Orchestra. 

The school hires an arranger to write new arrangements of the alma mater. Each group will perform it separately. 

• To save time and energy, the arranger decides to start with the four part harmony arrangement for the SATB chorus. And, to keep thing even simpler, it will be done in the key of C, with no sharps of flats to be concerned about, except when a couple of accidentals are needed.
• After the choral arrangement is done, the arranger moves on to the string orchestra and takes the four vocal parts and assigns them to four string parts, with the cello doubling the double bass. This arrangement is also in the key of C.
• Finally, the concert band arrangement is written, also in the key of C, by simply assigning the vocal parts to the available instruments. Very simple drum and timpani parts are added.

THE CHALLENGE FOR THE CHORUS– The chorus begins rehearsal of the new arrangement. The first thing they notice is that the sopranos are constantly having to reach for the highest notes in their range while the basses are reaching for the bottom of their ranges. Altos and tenors find their parts uncomfortable to sing as they fluctuate between notes that are too high and too low, arriving there by way of large disjunct skips. The choral director is not happy. 

THE RESOLUTIONS FOR THE CHORUS – 

• He failed to consider the usual range for middle to upper teen-age voices. If he had noticed that the sopranos were singing the G note that is the first space above the staff far too often, he might have changed keys to make the melody more singable for them. That, in turn, may have accommodated the rest of the voices as well. In short, the tessitura (the written range of a vocal or instrumental part in which most of the tones lie) did not match the natural range of the voices.
• Some songs tend to “hover” around the tonic tone, e.g., a song in the key of G is centered around the note G. Amazing Grace is a great example. In it, the highest note is the D above G and the lowest is the D below the G. And that fits nicely into the range of an average soprano. Sometimes the “hover” note is between the tonic tones. The First Noël is a great example. It’s in the key of D and its range is between the D above middle C and the D an octave above, Which also fits well in a soprano’s range. In both examples, the other parts natural fit well, too. This arrangement evidently was written without considering that. The “hover” note was placed too high.
• Even if he had changed the key to accommodate the vocal ranges, he would need to consider what kind of instrument would accompany the singers. If it were to be an A Capella arrangement, that wouldn’t matter. However, if it were to be accompanied by a piano or other keyboard instrument, especially if it were a student accompanist, it would be  better in a key with between one and three or four flats. For some reason, most traditionally trained keyboardists prefer those keys.

 THE CHALLENGE FOR THE STRING ORCHESTRA– The string orchestra begins their rehearsal of this new arrangement. Most of the players are of average skill level. The director hears a fair number of notes being played either sharp or flat, which is not usually an issue. When she asks the students what might be the problem, they show her that some of the reaches between notes is too far apart. She also notices that the players, especially the violinists, are often playing too far up the fingerboard, which is a difficult place to play; intonation is tricky and the tone can be screechy. 

THE RESOLUTIONS FOR THE STRING ORCHESTRA -

• String players, even those not normally found in a string orchestra, tend to like sharp keys. Violinists, violists and cellists find it easiest when the key that the music is written in matches one of the strings on their instruments. The strings on a violin, from lowest to highest, are G, D, A and E. On a viola and cello, they are C, G, D and A. The strings on these three are a fifth apart. The strings on a double bass are E, A, D and G. This is because the player must reach farther, and the closer placement makes it possible to play intervals well. So, a piece written in the key G, D or A is relished by all players. By putting the arrangement of the alma mater in the key of C, the arranger made some of the intervals hard to navigate for the players. If he had simply changed it to the key of D, he would have had happy players and a piece that could be played well in tune.
• Since the notes had to be played too far up the fingerboard, the arrangement simply didn’t have the melody in the right range. It should have been brought down an octave.

THE CHALLENGE FOR THE CONCERT BAND – The band begins rehearsing the new arrangement. Here, too, most of the players are of average skill level. The director immediately notices that some of the players are missing notes or playing wrong notes, even some of the better musicians. He also notices that, just as in the chorus, some of the instruments are playing consistently at the top or bottom of their ranges. A couple of instruments have stopped playing altogether. 

THE RESOLUTIONS FOR THE CONCERT BAND – 

• When the director asks what the problems might be, the first thing he is told is that some of the fingerings are quite awkward. Clarinet and trumpet players say that the music calls for them to “flip” pairs of fingers at the same time. Trombone players say that the skips in the music requires them to move their slides a long way between some notes. What the arranger failed to do here was to either be familiar with or find out what the challenges are for any instrument. Some things are simply unplayable on some instruments.
• Just as in the chorus, instruments have ranges. In fact, there is a bottom range to all wind instruments, as well as strings. The musicians who stopped playing were reading notes that their instruments simply would not play. And, just as with the other instrumental challenges, the arranger did not know the range of the instruments for which he was writing.

 Application 

Many people would ask about the need to discuss all of the classical music elements. The reason is because ALL of the music we listen to and play is based on those concepts. And, just like the overtone series (see section at the end), we didn’t invent any of it; it was all a discovery, codified by musicians as they went. 

The following is a discussion of an artful arrangement of music. Most of these concepts also can be applied to a composition as well, but arranging can be more of a challenge.

A quick and simple definition of “artful arrangement” is found in the word “art”. There is a difference between art and craft. For something to be a craft, it must take some special skill and it must be done well, whether it’s pottery or music. For something to be true art, it must have a sense of both beauty and power. There are numerous variations of this concept of art – tension and release, beauty and truth (absolute, not relative). It also may include expressing oneself, but some expressions are unintelligible. If so, then it’s not art. For more information, see my article Is It Art or Just Music. 

The first thing I do is to try to understand the direction that the composer intended to go in. I may or may not go the exact same way, but I want to know how he or she thought. If it’s a love song, I wouldn’t want it to sound like a march, but it can have a little more or less energy than the original. 

Next, I would need to decide, or find out from the client, is if it should be a straight arrangement or a “variation on a theme”. 

In a straight arrangement, I would keep the melody exactly as it is and rearrange what the instruments do, including modifying a few chords or making the form a little more interesting. I could also make the song playable by different instruments. This kind of arrangement is best suited for songs that people will be singing as a group (think church music, contemporary or traditional, or a choral arrangement of a well-known song) or for music that people expect to be played a certain way, even if there aren’t any words (think classical wedding or band music). 

In a “variation on a theme” type arrangement I might modify the melody, rhythms, harmonies to a greater extent, etc. This kind of arrangement is best for music that people in an audience wouldn’t be expected to join in by singing or for something for which they had rigid expectations. For example, I couldn’t rearrange Beethoven’s 9^th symphony as a jazz piece. 

In order to do either type, I would need to know all “that stuff” that I described earlier in this series of articles. Of course, I wouldn’t use all of it at the same time. Fact is, I probably wouldn’t use any more than about 25 percent in any one piece, just as a cook wouldn’t use his best broiling methods when making cupcakes. 

Sometimes, I try to create a kaleidoscope of melodic, harmonic and/or rhythmic motifs, even if I don’t use any alternate chords. I will use a secondary theme or style in a “fill” instrument or section. A prudently placed three-against-two rhythm adds some tension going into the chorus of a song or into a new section of any music. 

Other times, I will aim to create a new “flavor” for a song. For example, I did Amazing Grace with a 50s rock and roll flavor; I added a New Orleans jazz clarinet part to Go, Tell it on the Mountain; and I’ve added more than one classical element to a number of contemporary Christian praise and worship songs. 

In addition, when working with a client who wants a very particular sound, it helps to know how to achieve that sound. I always keep learning so that my “palette of tricks” keeps growing. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a secret key to writing a great arrangement. When I was in college, I was known for my arrangements, especially for pit orchestras. The professor that taught arranging asked me to help teach the class. They were going through a number of exercises designed to teach the secret of arranging. I soon got tired of such exercises. Finally, one of the students asked me how I did my arrangements. All I could say was, “I just write down what’s in my head”. A great arranger just has to have a lot of good stuff in his head and know how to use it. 

Side Bar about the Origin of Music 

Overtone Scale 

The scale, notes and chords we use weren’t invented by anyone. The notes we use come from a mathematical formula imbedded in the way a string behaves when it is struck or plucked. When a string vibrates, it sets up a wave along its entire length. It also sets up two waves at exactly half its length; three waves along exactly one third of its length; four waves at one fourth its length, etc. There is a point at which the string doesn’t set up any more waves, depending on its length and thickness, but the human ear can’t detect any notes created by the waves at one sixth or seventh of the string’s length. 

The notes created by these waves are the ones that are in the chromatic scale. Without getting too technical, if you held down the “loud” pedal on a piano and hit a low C, you would also hear the C above that, the G above that, then the next C, the E, the next G, the A and the B-flat. You may have noticed that all of those notes are found in common variations of a C chord. If you tried all of the notes on the piano, you would only find the notes in the chromatic scale, nothing in between. 

When the harpsicord and other early keyboards were invented, they reflected those notes in the black and white keys. Even before that, when music was written for Gregorian chants, all they ever used were those notes. 

People discovered the way God had created the musical scales. We have modified, rearranged and tinkered with scales, but we could only use what God had created for us. 

Salt Cellar Creations skillfully use the elements of composition and arranging to craft its music. We have a growing library of original works and arrangements for your ensemble to experience. Explore the available music HERE. 

SCC can also compose an original piece for you or do a custom arrangement for you. There are two ways that this can be done; one is much more affordable than the other. And SCC is always looking for ideas of pieces to arrange or suggestions for original pieces. 

We have sold music not only in the US but in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and New Zealand. Please visit the WEBSITE or  CONTACT US to let us know what we can do for you!