Arranging music can often be a daunting task. Breaking things down into smaller tasks is imperative if you are to get things finished. Remember, the arranger with one finished song is far more valuable than the dreamer who has started fifteen!
A few simple rules to remember:
- Don’t focus on what you don’t know. Just keep working on the bits you do – melody, bass, chords. In the end, you might just find you know more than you thought you did!
- Know your limitations – arrange for the singers you have, not the ones you wish you did. A simple arrangement done well will always beat a tricky one performed poorly.
- Always consider the performance. Leave gaps for something visual to happen on stage, and always have in mind how you’d like it to look as well as sound.
- Leave some gaps. A lot of the beauty in music is about what happens in between the notes. Use the power of silence and enjoy some stillness in your music.
Follow these steps to get your arrangements from the ideas phase, through to rehearsal-ready scores:
Choose Your Song
Not every song is destined to be performed a cappella. Some songs now-a-days have their heart and soul in the production rather than the melody thanks to the popularity of electronic and dance music. A lot of songs are written for nightclubs, and are more about feel than the intricacy of melody or lyrics. A song that repeats the same words over and over again is probably best suited to the recorded medium, as it will struggle to keep an audience occupied for three or more minutes in a live setting.
Remember, the heart and soul of a song lies with the words and melody. Pick a song with your singers in mind, so that you know you have the important bits covered. Arrange songs that you know will suit your soloists, and keep in mind any other special skills you might have in the group (vocal percussion, yodeling, trumpet-like sound, etc).
Find Your Resources
Thanks to the digital age, we have a lot of great resources at our fingertips. There’s no need to do everything by ear when there are a lot of good, free ways to get the files you need.
- Mp3 / Audio file
You’ll need a copy or two of the song if you want to really get to know it. Try iTunes – it’s a sure-fire way to get cheap files of impeccable quality. Once your account is set up, you can purchase music any time anywhere. The good thing about online music stores is that you can often find a few versions of the same song (live, studio, remix, etc) – this will give you some different angles on how you choose to arrange it.A less legal way is to use something like www.listentoyoutube.com– find the song in YouTube, copy the URL, and paste it in to download the audio from a video clip. It’s free, easy, and totally illegal so I don’t recommend you do it!Try the old fashion way – buy a CD! Remember, however you get your mitts on music, the artist deserves to make money for their intellectual property. Keep that in mind when you make your decisions. - Printed Score / PDF
Another handy resource to have is a score of the music you are arranging. This will help you with the melody, chord structure and bass line of the song – 50% there already! Don’t wait around for a physical copy to turn up in the music store – jump online and get it instantly.If a song is out of copyright (and often if it’s not), you can sometimes find a piano/vocal score by simply Googling “title.pdf”. This can often find you access to free music sheets online. If not, try a site like www.musicnotes.com– they have most popular music available for instant download, and it costs around $3-5 per song. You will need to be connected to a printer, as you cannot save the PDF.If you already have a PDF of the song, you can use programs like PhotoScore to scan and convert them into an editable Sibelius file. This is a really quick way to start your score. - MIDI File
Another quick way to get started is with a MIDI file. Simply Google “title.mid” to find one for the song you’re looking at. MIDI is a format in which note triggers and data can be saved and transported between computers. Using a program like Sibelius, ProTools, Garage Band, Sonar, Cubase or Logic to open these files will give you full editing control over every instrument’s notes.A MIDI file will generally have way too much information for most arrangements, but by copying and pasting the bits you need, you will be able to make a good start, and understand what a lot of the instruments are doing. There is no quality control on MIDI files, but they’re free and easy to find, making them an arranger’s best friend. - Chord Chart
It is always handy to understand the chord structure of a song before you start to arrange it. This is very simple these days as you can find chord charts very quickly from the Internet free of charge. Just Google “title artist chords” and you should find what you’re after pretty quickly. Try out www.tabs.ultimate-guitar.com or www.azchords.com to get started.
Study Your Song
Get inside the song – work out which parts are the heart and soul of the song. Obviously there is the melody and lyrics, but every song has a chord, a riff, a drum fill, or a harmony that everyone knows and loves. That moment in a song that everyone is waiting for throughout. Get to know the journey of the song – where does it start? Where is the pinnacle of the song? Where is the build?
Studying the song is about listening really carefully to it, as often as you can – check out cover versions, live versions, video clips, anything that will help you understand what it’s about. Make notes as you listen about ideas you may have about how you’ll arrange it. Having a printed score you can scribble on is really helpful here – you can pencil in where you think a harmony or duet would go, where unison or a solo would be appropriate, or where the vocal percussion needs to kick in.
Next section… Scoring your music.
So… go on and get arranging! If you still have any questions, concerns or jubilations about arranging a cappella music, feel free to get in touch. Please note: the websites and businesses are in no way affiliated with Vocal Australia, nor do they pay for advertising of any sort. They are simply handy sites that have proven useful in the past.