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.
We like InterCaps.
“Guh, chicka chicka tss” “Doof, tepuh kss” “Pfft dubba dubba, kcha” It’s a fallacy that drums noises are reserved to just drums, just as vocal percussion is limited to the vocal percussionist. If you can speak, you can do VP, and if you’re writing arrangements for people who can speak…well, everyone can be a drum [...]
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 [...]
Pretty stellar stuff here — gospel with Elvis. His roots were deep in the gospel tradition, and his success was largely due to his ability to sing in “black” styles while being socially acceptable to the white audience of the day. Race has defined America in so many ways; this recording is well-suited to meditate [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
As arranger, you have free reign over what your singers will do — this can mean inserting a bell chord into the work when there’s no particular associated thing going on in the original. In this sense, it’s a useful technique (gimmick) to pull out of your Bag Of Tricks, and use at will. You [...]
Now that we’ve looked at some fundamentals of bell chords, it’s time to look a little more closely at how this technique can play a role in an arrangement. Certainly in the case of Clocks, the bell chord is crucial to recognizing the song — in these cases, a direct transcription is probably necessary. Other [...]
