If you’re stuck for ideas (esp. in the verse), you could always add some sort of lyrical echo.  There are these long pauses between each short phrase the solo has, so I would probably experiment with little counter-melodies repeating the lyrics the soloist just sang. (I would probably wait to use this kind of effect until the 2nd or 3rd verse)

I also second Yuri’s suggestion of singing first.  If you write it first and then try to add vocal syllables, it will tend to sound sort of unnatural — Instead, try to sing something that feels/sounds natural to you, then write it down.

Don’t be afraid to shorten the introduction.

Consider cutting the instrumental interlude(s).  Guitar solos almost always come off as corny, which could ruin the mood of the song.  If you have someone who can do a mellow, authentic scat, that could work well.

Other than that, I’d suggest searching YouTube for any and all versions of the song that could give you ideas.  Live performances, acoustic versions, or a cappella arrangements.

Your first arrangement won't be ambitious as this one.

A reader wrote in requesting some pointers on arranging for his high school a cappella group, and I thought I’d post a few here: advice for writing your FIRST arrangement.  These tips do not necessarily apply to ALL arrangements and are not general rules, but are good ways to make sure nothing goes too haywire from the start.  Enjoy!

• The best advice for somebody who hasn’t tried it before would be 1) to map out the structure of the piece, 2) to figure out the chords and make the arrangement conform, and 3) don’t write women’s parts — even the sopranos — higher than an an A or B.  Things can get very messy very fast.  Exceptions exist, of course.

• Make sure vowels match between parts.  Have at most two different vowels happening at once, but really writing a homophonic texture is good.

• The way I arrange is by singing first.  So, sing along to the original song, improvising a line that you think might belong in the arrangement.  Then, I go back and expand it through harmonization, and/or fill in the chord with other parts.

• More specific to the song you’re working on, try to find a midi of it with a decent piano transcription, or find piano sheet music.  This can help take a LOT of work out of the project.

• Your first arrangement will probably have lots of repeats in it, and that’s okay.  You can repeat a section COMPLETELY and just instruct the choir to sing different vowels, and it’s a good quick way to make the piece sound like it’s growing.  Sustained oos can turn into sustained ohs or ahs.

• The most important part about writing a good arrangement is making it FUN for everybody to sing, since that makes all the difference in how well they do it.  So, make sure you sing every single part of your written arrangement on your own, and see if you enjoy it.  If you don’t, fix it.

My Ding-a-ling.

This expands far beyond “Clocks” by Coldplay — thank goodness. Bell chords are used by all kinds of groups in all kinds of different situations, and are not limited to those in which a pop piano accompaniment must be imitated. Let’s take a good look at the different ways these can turn out, and when they work particularly well.

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La!

While arranging music for any a cappella group requires  musical sensibility–not necessarily training, but sensibility–arranging music for an all-female group requires particular dexterity. It is a socially challenging activity, especially at an 18% Greek liberal arts school when you’re asking hot, cool girls to sing nonsense syllables. More often than not, collegiate a cappella groups are comprised partly, if not almost entirely, of excellent shower-singing members–not musicians who get excited about chord progressions. Before you arrange your next (or first!) song, read over these ideas to get your mind right.

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Narrow can be quite beautiful, if you know how to manipulate it.

Last time, we talked about specific range limits for women. Once you’ve accepted these constraints, it’s difficult to see the light between this narrow passage and become inspired! You must muse, what are some powerful and/or effective ways to utilize closed chords (i.e. chords built within an octave)? The advantage to this small amount of work space is that your lines will include small intervals, which are easier to sing. You’ll find that arranging music presents different tugs-of-war; the disadvantage to this small space is that it can feel cramped and unexciting due to narrow ranges. So, you might be asking, how do you battle these two forces in the noble pursuit of bomb-ass arrangements? Everyone will develop their own style, per se, of answering this question just due to individual taste. But, here are some tips to create a more full and robust sound, just to get you started.

Range Compensation in Voicings

Part-writing can be tricky. After dictating the obvious background parts (bass-line, miscellaneous riffs, etc.), you’ll be left with a whole bunch of juicy chords that need to be thrown on the page. Bearing in mind that each voice is an individual horizontal melody and not just a part of the resultant vertical chords, here are some ways to steer clear of part-writing snafus.

• Use different inversions of chords (i.e. more than just the root note in the lowest voice), paying close attention to voice leading (for example, 7ths and suspensions should resolve down).
• Use parallel octaves and especially fifths more sparingly. They are great for emphasizing a specific melody line (or even a great bass line if you’re feeling saucy), but don’t overuse this tactic or it won’t be aurally exciting. For women, more contrapuntal lines tend to be a more effective use of your pitch-space
• Along with the above, allow overlap of the parts: good melodic lines are likely going to cross in the condensed range.

Range Compensation in Dynamic Textures

Women: have you ever noticed that you have a lot more dynamic control in head voice? Classically, women would only sing in this register, and there’s no question why; it’s a sound that has huge potential for expressivity, flexibility, and lightness. However, in the a cappella world, not using chest voice would be a grave mistake, for it cuts off a whole new world in timbre, volume, and range. Because the altos sing oddly low in their physiological range, they may find difficulty in achieving excellent registration and sound production. Big flashy dynamic contrasts are much more difficult to achieve, since the most limber and comfortable tessitura to sing in is markedly higher than the block should be written. So how to overcome this?

Dynamics waiting to be milked.

The best-case solution to this problem comes in the training, not in the arranging. Train the group to milk their dynamics for all they are worth (and explain why!), even in the less-than-optimal basement register — but always with good and healthy vocal technique! If the arranging takes into account the groups abilities to respond to training, you will have a much easier time at this. A few more things to wrap it up :

• Be particularly careful to avoid lots of repetition, even if it’s only in a few parts. The listener’s brain can and WILL grow weary of this, make no mistake. Instead, how ’bout this: write the arrangement especially around an interesting rhythm or melody! Try harmonizing a great riff in all or almost all the parts at once.

• Get creative: you don’t have to always limit yourself to the explicit harmonies the original song uses. Instead, go for more complex implicit harmonies. You have a choir of voices, use them to the fullest — anything that breaks the chain of brain-dulling stupor-inducing repetitive texture.

There are a lot of rules to follow to be sure, but the main thing to take to heart is: don’t be afraid to divert and do new things once you’ve established a basic idea, whether it be harmonic, rhythmic, or motivic. Now get to it!

GWWWAAAHNRRNUHH!

Men’s choirs and mixed choirs have something of a built-in advantage to women’s singing groups — a group of baritones with swallowed tones and an affinity for Barry White known as “basses.” They happily crank away at low notes down to an A or a G, and then start groaning like wounded wildebeest as they prove their testicular fortitude on an F or an E. Oh yes, their absence in the ranks of all-female a cappella groups is woefully mourned. Indeed, when arranging vocally for a treble choir or for women’s vocal ensembles, there are quite a few things to consider in order to compensate for this lack.

First off, it’s necessary to accept that the range of singing is much smaller with all women than with all men. After you’ve huffed and puffed and started to settle back into this unfortunate reality, you may begin the process of arranging well for women. We’ll assume the SSAA framework, and look at ways in which this is quite a different (less wilde) beast indeed.

Range Limits

Altos

Your Alto IIs will form the core foundation of your voicings, just as the basses would for other ensembles. However, it’s important to be very conscious of their vocal comfort, capabilities, and health. Do remember that all women essentially have the same vocal range, that of a soprano or mezzo-soprano. The contralto is the third voice type, and are rare indeed — although you might be lucky and nab one during auditions, it’s unlikely that the majority of your second altos will in fact be true contraltos. Consequently, write carefully for a group of straining sopranos, and mind their vocal health — as an arranger, it is your responsibility to protect their voices from consistent loud and low singing which will most likely permanently damage their voices.

That is, let the enrichment of the singer’s voice outweigh your need for some resonant low tones while in college; they’ll be wanting to use their voices for the rest of their lives. Besides, when girls try to sing below their healthy range limit, it can and will negatively affect their timbre and intonation, thus bringing down the entire group’s sound.

When you’re starting, try to keep your altos above the f below middle c. This is a rather solid and comfortable lower limit, and tends not to distort the voice too ridiculously; even the rare opratic contralto’s range doesn’t extend but a third below this. Many groups will try to arrange down ridiculously low, to a d, c or even a B — this is very risky, and usually hurts in the end.

Definitely the prima donnas of the a cappella world.

Sopranos

Also quite important — the range for sopranos generally shouldn’t be much higher than that for Tenor Is in male groups! By avoiding the higher range, the sound of your women will be compact and powerful, and much more resonant than you could otherwise imagine. Don’t write a Sop I part that goes higher than F unless the situation is fully appropriate — high parts always come out much louder, partly due to the increase in air support one must use to reach higher notes. The highest part is generally the most exposed and therefore most tricky to tune. And of course, for all types of vocal arranging, it’s best to avoid a large space between the highest part and the one immediately below, or the highest line won’t sound or feel supported.

More posts will soon be on the way to delve a bit more deeply into these topics; stay tuned!

Nu is Nu.

Welcome to SmarterMusic, now with Jjjefff. More soon, of course, but the major behind-the-scenes tinkering with technology is done with. Thanks to Blogsdna for the free theme; in time I expect I will modify it beyond all recognition. But for now, we have a start and a new voice. Music stuffs to follow; first will be a guide to arranging a cappella and an expansion of the jazz tunes.

Army by Ben folds, TTBB, as sung by The Achordants.  Audio includes original Ben Folds Five track and a UNC Achordants Pre-Master (before it was stripped of dynamics):

Let’s get started then, shall we?

The opening is the recurring motif that the horns used, using very simple syllables (close to the ones Ben Folds himself uses in his concerts).  It’s scored with some pretty simple harmonizations of either line.  My baritone section was loud as could possibly be imagined, so I dumped one of them into the Tenor II section, which, as you will see, is the one regularly split.  In truth, this is nearly a five-part arrangement.  The cutoff on the downbeats of the measures were easy to hit and very clean after a bit of practicing.  In a cappella arranging, the alignment of cutoffs is incredibly important to make the group sound crisp.

No basses, matching the piano part.  The Split TII occurs over and over, but it’s important that they know they tend to sit on the third when united — when this is the case they should back off a bit.  The change in vowel is just for variety’s sake, and the crescendo on the “doot” (a quiet syllable) helps to make for an interesting pop when the “dit”s return:

The basses enter with gusto!  “Dee” is an excellent syllable for basses, since it’s the brightest and most forward pure vowel, and the throat is widest when singing it.  It helps the basses shoot overtones higher and brighter, and makes for a terrific blend.  They are the center of attention here, and not really driving the action — their syllable is different from the block, so they come out of the mix with a strong melodic line.

Here’s the soft section, shaped dynamically as an eight-bar arch from piano to forte and back.  Note the upper voices are aloweed to cadence firmly in m26 to bring their chords to a satisfying close; they only begin their sweep on beat three.  In the meantime, the basses have already begun their whole notes on the downbeat of m26.  By overlapping the beginnings and endings of phrases, a sense of continuity is gained.  The piano arpeggios were eschewed and replaced with long chords, which is what the voice is good at.  These long chords have carefully timed rests so all can breathe together, and in m26 and m29 a halfnote “pickup” is used as a launching point.  In the second half, some internal melodies and extra notes were added.  The “bum”s on the top were changed to “dah”, since bum was too closed.  Finally, notice how the basses start off with the “doo” sustained to help give the upper voices their initial energy (while they were busy cadencing), but when the upper voices are off and running, the basses are free to dmm their way through, providing some forward momentum taken from the drumbeat.  Then in m33 is taken from the drumset pickups.

I should have written “wop” as “ahp” to help keep the pitch constant.  Singers tended to read “bah doh wop” as almost a melody, where “doh” is slightly lower.  Careful.  In any case, the chord voicings are exactly the same as the first verse, and they stay identical for verses throughout.  In this case, the upper voices are all singing different lines, but their differences are rhythmic and not melodic — they are all still working together, and having similar open syllables helps the group sound like a united and active force.  The T2s and B1s have the sustained halfnotes that somewhat feed off each other. The basses stand alone with their “dee”s, and so the group sounds dynamic and interesting; later on, the syllables will come together for a wall of sound.

More of the same.  I decided not to write in the saxophone part here, since the section is already going to far more exciting and loud than the opening one; also, the baritone line from the opening is already used very often, including in a “breakdown” section later.  In m42, the basses go up high for their Fs (a new chord), and then descend note for note down to the Db.  Although it’s a big of a jump for them to get up this high, it’s important that the music not get too heavy just yet.  The bass part here is new, and the upper voices start their long chords earlier, in m48 and m49.  Also, they’re on the beat more directly.

The basses this time have a different part — it is more active and begins rhythmically earlier since the upper voices are already off and running.  Basses have a rhythm that doesn’t come anywhere from the song itself, but captures the rhythmic feel of this section — they displace the eighth notes from measure to measure as well.  Also, this interlude phrase is four measures longer than before, and has a different overall dynamic configuration.

The bridge has the whole group harmonizing the lead (“woah” should be sung “wuh” in order to brighten it a bit, and also to help neutralize the syllable for the high voices).  m63 shows typically upper voicewriting with a simple sustained note coming in on a weak beat.

The same.  In m73 there’s an ambiguous chord: Eb7sus, but without the Bb.  It’s a way to dodge the piano solo and return to the horn riff.

Pretty straightforward, only without the harmonies.  Very bare and hopefully exciting, like horns calling out across a field.  When the basses enter, they’re hammering away on 2 and 4, and they will form a pedal point on the tonic.  Beats 2 and 4 are where the snare is generally hit; and placing the basses here helps make the song dance ahead instead of plod heavily along.

As the upper voices harmonize, another voice enters: in the middle system, a bass breaks off to fill out the middle of these chords with single notes.  In fact, he is singing the roots of the chords while the rest of the basses squat on the Ab below.  In m90 our pickup returns with new syllables.  All “b” and “d” consonants, and every vowel is an “ah”.

The rhythm used in this section is similar to that which came before, except altered to fill it out more with long notes.  No more staccato.  in the second measure of each pair, a constant eighth-note rhythm is split between the parts for the first three beats (T1 to T2 to B1).  Then, in m97 and m98, a declamatory set of rhythms that’s a bit more hammering.  Notice the top descant part that’s soaring above the mess, and how the basses have joined the group on the “ah” syllable.  All voices are easily within their sweet spots, and they’re not changing notes — this makes this section easy and fun to sing, and very effective.  It’s a wall of sound and sounds very active but not weak.  Usually, giving parts unique material will make the block sound active but potentially disorganized and usually weaker.  In this case, the rhythms used are carefully split and driving.

This time through, the basses hit the F down low, with power, in m99.  From here on out, it’s more of the same.

Unlike in Don’t Stop Me Now, there is very little interplay between the soloist and the block.  Also, although the parts tend to work together, they are much less rhythmically united in the verses.  This back and forth between the rhythmically pounding sections and the long sweeping notes is the basic formula used.  Aligning vowel sounds makes the block sound strong as one, and using different vowels on one part (especially the basses) can have a very large impact on the sound you ultimately get.  Writing in the middle of peoples’ ranges always makes for a good happy group.

Download a PDF of this arrangement

As usual, if you use this arrangement, drop me a line and let me know — I like to get an idea of how much these are being used.

Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen. TTBB, as sung by The Achordants.

A firey and energetic song, to say the least! This arrangement is challenging but rewarding, and lays most of the driving momentum in the hands (mouths?) of the basses. The original track and complete a cappella arrangement are just below. The a cappella recording is a bit rough; it’s just multitracked as I read from the score, but it gets the job done.

Below is a line-by-line analysis of the arrangement techniques used:

The intro begins with full block chords, with matched vowels straight through the ensemble. The voice is good at sustaining pitches like this. All voices are moderately spaced, using traditional voiceleading rules. The bass is the voice that most often breaks away, usually as pickups to the next measure (m3 provides motion to cover for the breaths above). m5 contains a bell chord arpeggiation. m5-6 has a vowel change without an interrupting consonant. Note the syllable choices — very very simple consonants so as not to interfere, and only three basic vowel types. Pure vowels are your friends!

The Tenor Is split; it is usually better to split the highest voices first (and also have fewest people singing the highest parts). Note also the compression of intervals between the higher voices: space upper register singers more closely. m12 has a sustained bass part to provide connection, but the upper voices break off and punch in with an offbeat “hoo”. This provides forward momentum, and the vowel mismatch with the bass makes the arrangement sound to be gaining layers. m14 the basses begin to pound away and hint at their timekeeper role later.

The real texture begins. The basses are running this program with a repetitive rhythm and sometimes walking line. In m19-20 their rhythm’s syncopation helps create tension before they return in 21. The upper voices are working as a unit, sweeping along on long notes with offbeat accented entrances, and exaggerated dynamics. In m19, the offbeats are again emphasized. In m21-23, the same material as in m16-18 could be used, and indeed the bass part is just repeated and the upper voices use the same rhythms. However, the upper voices do the opposite from the first time, by descending melodically AND dynamically. This makes this 8-bar phrase sound like a unit with a gradual rise and fall, and helps keep the piece from sounding too “blocky”. Note too that Queen is really using 5-bar phrases; this 8-bar superposition makes for an even more flowing sound, with no clear starts and stops.

The upper voices are harmonizing the soloist by stealing his syllables and words, while still maintaining their sustained note in m25. The basses here are switching to a new syllable to match the upper voices, and in m25 they are singing along with the soloist, making a connection from the very top to the very bottom of the group. This is a very useful trick to unite the sound of the whole, and it used very often in this arrangement. In m28 the basses have “skah” written to match the soloist’s “sky” — this is done to keep them on pure vowels and maintain the integrity of the bassline. In m24 note the C7 chord without the third: in rock especially, dropping the third is perfectly fine on this chord. A similar thing happens below in m39, where a C9 (gm/C) is “resolved” upwards through a C7 chord to an F. Remember that gm/C is close to a C9, and can act as a slightly weaker dominant sound; adding the E makes it stronger.

All four voices on the pickup to m33 are punching an “ah” syllable at the same time as the soloist (“light”), which creates sudden unity before a massive crescendo m34 sees homophony, and then in m35 the important piano part is split between the upper and lower voices. In m33, I shouldn’t have written that rest in there — very bad call. Ignore it. The syncopated rhythm in the upper voices in m36 is incredibly challenging for many musicians, and they will generally rush them beyond recognition. To remedy this, the bass part was filled out (“Don’t try to stop”) in order to audibly subdivide beats 1 and 2. The upper voices hear this and never rush. In m37 we have a return of our “hoo”, and sustained notes allow for an easy to sing buildup of excitement. The dynamic shifts in this arrangement are the key to separating “backup singer” parts with “background instrument” parts.

More of the same. Notice the upper voice is the one that’s split, and the bass part is getting more complex and interesting (difficult!) underneath the tops. And also, time and time again, “oo-ah” is written instead of “oo-wah”, since writing the ‘w’ would tend to make the choir scoop and punch in strange ways. “oo-ah” avoids this!

Homophony returns with strong and simple voicings near the middle of singers’ ranges. Note the baritone line in m49: the half-step between the G and the Ab is relatively small (Ab is lower than G#), and the half step upward from the Ab to the A is a rather large half-step indeed. If you try this chart, make sure your guys know to be very careful in slotting the Ab lower than they might otherwise, and then resolve it by surprise to a very buoyant A natural on the downbeat of m51. Here, the second verse begins with new material — there is no repeat. In m52, the upper voices are echoing the soloist’s “to mars” line, although it’s written with the “soh” as one syllable to encourage its proper placement. In m53, the upper voices use a stylistic fall-off. The bass continues to sing lyrics.

“Out of Control” has a strange rhythm to be confusing — I would rescore it to be more crazy if I were to do this over. “Reload” in the solo is echoed in m57 as “oo ree loh duh ree loh — doo”, phonetically spelled. The most split parts occur in m59-61, and this height of intensity is underscored by a complete removal of all but the bass for the next two measures.

The basses are treated almost as a soloist, and have an elaborate part with lyrics in time with the soloist. Upper voices enter with a completely new texture: something simple and contrapuntal, with individual lines weaving in and out. Imagine a traditional choir, but by m67 they’re back in action.

The basses drop out completely, and except for m75, this is all unison. Lifted directly from the original.

Ambitiously, a breakaway group of five singers have a fully harmonized version of the guitar solo. The syllables were written just by scatting freely over the solo section. Alternately, a single person would sing the solo as the group repeated to the first verse.

Now for an example of how this works with a soloist. Freddie Mercury I am not, but you’ll get the idea. Listen for how sometimes the backups are reinforcing the soloist as a block by using the same vowels or even words and rhythms, when the basses alone are reinforcing the soloist by using the lyrics in the bassline, and then when the entire block is getting deliberately out of the way during the important part of the soloist’s lines. The verses and chorus alternate between singing their phrases along with the soloist and in opposition to him. In general though, block chord often use the most important sustain vowel of the soloist when a strong sound is desired, and a different one when the soloist is meant to be heard distinctly.

To say a word of process: this arrangement was written entirely with the voice, and not with Finale — Finale was only used as a notation tool after the fact. So, over a looped recording of the original, I’d recommend singing various parts that pop into your mind, and then building the arrangement around these naturally improvised parts. This keeps the syllables and dynamics a crucial part of the partwriting, as they ought be; additionally, most lines tend to be very singable with good voiceleading. If you want to download a PDF of this arrangement, click here:

Broze Bros – Don’t Stop Me Now

Finally, here is a YouTube of the Achordants performing the arrangement: