Portamental is dedicated to the exploration of music in all its forms and the promotion of musical understanding for all. Contributors include:
Pianist, instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger, molecular biologist and music theorist. Former Music Director of the Achordants. For arranging services, see Broze Brothers Music; for performing and lessons, see Yuri Broze.com.
Accomplished guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and photographer.
Composer, arranger, double bassist, writer, and didgeridoo builder. Music Director of Brandeis University's Rather Be Giraffes. For arrangement and other sundry music services, check out MusicaRanger.
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So maybe you don’t want to peruse the multitude of articles right now, and you just want fast and easy directions of how to do an a cappella arrangement. Will do, but here’s the caveat- this is just one way of going about an arrangement. I would recommend reading the other articles on this website [...]
Boys and girls, high and low, with every voice specialized like a well-run machine…ahh. Hopefully the group you’re arranging for is already balanced in terms of boys and girls, but make sure you know when you’re making a custom arrangement. It would blow if you wrote a SSAATTB part for a group that has no [...]
The best way to get better at your craft is study the work of others and practice. And steal. There was a whole phase in contemporary music when quoting famous pieces was in vogue. The art of “mashup” is when your material is, essentially, other people’s stuff (plug for Girl Talk; I never danced harder [...]
If you’re lucky enough to scrabble together a handful of boys and girls to hold productive rehearsals amidst incredible sexual tension, creating unique and engaging arrangements are going to be a piece of cake. Co-ed groups not only have the advantages of a ready pool of datable singers, but the vocal range and palette of [...]
Howdy campers, and well met! My name’s Dan, and I’m a newly inducted member of the SmarterMusic family. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’ve been music directing a co-ed all-genre a cappella group called Rather Be Giraffes at Brandeis University for almost four years now, as well as years and years of orchestra and [...]
Song selection is tricky business. It might not make or break your group, and each individual song choice might not matter that much, but a group’s audience and reputation are largely determined by the catalog of music they present. So before you decide on your group’s lineup for the year, or the semester, mull over your priorities.
A great many songs you’ll run into have prominent harmony parts in them, and larger groups have the luxury of being able to spin off a single singer from any given part who will step up to the front with a microphone and harmonize away. Sadly, our example group has only 7 members: 2 basses, [...]
If you were to imagine the simplest arrangement possible for an accompaniment to a soloist, what would you think of? Well, let’s say it’s one other person — that’s simple. What would they sing? Harmony? Backup vocals? Some combination of all of these? What if you lived in a world such as ours where chords [...]
I’ve stumbled across a really excellent performance by a spirited a cappella group with an arrangement that really caught my eye. Of all the others of this song I could find (save the Stereotypes), this is the only one that was particularly entertaining: If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player [...]
If history is any indicator, a great many new aspiring arrangers are members of newer groups with fewer members than the large swaggering a cappella groups that resemble a small construction team on a government contract, only slower-moving. In fact, I would wager there’s a reasonable chance that you personally are a member of one [...]
