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Contemporary A Cappella Arranging in 10 Easy Steps · PDF fileContemporary A Cappella Arranging in ... fairly faithful to the original concept. ... imitating instrument sound (ie

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Page 1: Contemporary A Cappella Arranging in 10 Easy Steps · PDF fileContemporary A Cappella Arranging in ... fairly faithful to the original concept. ... imitating instrument sound (ie

MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

ContemporaryACappellaArranging

in10EasySteps

Doyouhavetroublefindingarrangementsofcontemporarysongsyou’dliketoperformwithyourgroup?Wouldyouliketoarrangebutdon’tknowwheretostart?Thissessionwillrunthroughaneasystep‐bystepprocessfortacklingarrangementsofpop,rockandjazzsongs,includinghowtochoosesongs,voicingconsiderations,styleofbackingparts,usingtechnologytomakelifeeasier,transcriptiontricks,andwaystodigitiseanddistributethearrangement(creatingscores,recordingsandbackingtracks).ThissessionwillsuitteachersinterestedinarrangingfortheirownschoolgroupsandVCEteacherswhowouldlikeaneasysequentialprocesstosharewithstudentsstudyingUnit4GroupPerformance.

1.Chooseasong

Tipsforchoosingasong:

• Chooseasongthatwillsuitthemembersofyourgroup,andthesoloist(ifthereisone)

• Some popular artists nearly always lend themselves well to a cappella arrangements: try Sting,MichaelJackson,TheJackson5,StevieWonder,Queen,Beatles,Maroon5,JustinTimberlake

• Don’toverlookpublicdomainsongs(folksongs,traditionalsongs,hymns)becausetheycanoftenbegivenacontemporary“makeover”–thinkgospelstyle,jazz,pop

• Trytochoosesomethingdifferenttoeveryoneelse!

• Listentomusicwithyour“arrangingears”onallthetime

• Youmightconsiderdoinganarrangementofanarrangementofanoriginalsong

• KeeptrackofpotentialsongstoarrangebykeepinganiTunesplaylistofpossibilities

• Chooseasongyoulike–you’regoingtospendalotoftimeworkingonitevenbeforeyougettothefirstrehearsal,sodon’tpicksomethingyou’renotpreparedtolistenalot!

2.Listentothesong……alot

• Firstofall,findarecordingofyourchosensong.ChecktheiTunesstoreoryourlocalCDshop

• Becomefamiliarwiththedifferentpartsofthesong:melody,bassline,backingparts

• Makesomebasicdecisionsaboutyourarrangementwhilelistening(seeStep3)

• Atsomepoint,it’sgoodto“putitaway”

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MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

3.Decidethebasicparametersofthearrangement

Thisiswhereyoucanstarttothinkcreatively.Perhapsyou’dliketochangetheoriginalsongcompletely,ormaybeyou’llchoosetobefairlyfaithfultotheoriginalconcept.

Somebasicthingstothinkabout:

• Howmanypartswillthearrangementhave?

• Sometimeslessismore:3or4partssungwellisbetterthan8partssungbadly

• Willthesongfeatureasolo?

• What is thesongstructure?Mapouttheverse/chorus/intro/outroandrememberthatyoudon’tnecessarilyneedtobefaithfultotheoriginalversion

Andthefunpart...decidingthemusicalstyle,key,speedandoverall“feeling”. Theseelementscanreallymakeanarrangementunique.

• Willyouuseajazz‐styleaccompanimentforagospelsong?

• Willanup‐tempopopsongbecomeaheartfeltintrospectiveballad?

• Willyourversionbeinadifferentkey?Minorinsteadofmajor?

• Useadifferentvoicepartforthesolo?Befasterorslowerthantheoriginal?

4.Gathermaterials:

Youmayhavefoundarecordingoftheoriginalversionofthesong,butthereareotherresourcesyoucanusetogiveyouahead‐startincreatingyourarrangement.There’snopointspendinghourstranscribingasongfromarecordingifyoucanfindthesheetmusicoraMIDIfileoryourchosensongatlittleornocost.

Attheveryleast,findingthelyrics,sheetmusicorMIDIfilecansaveyoutimewritingoutthemelodyandbasslineandwillallowyoutospendmoretimetacklingthecreativeaspectsofyourarrangement.

Lyrics

Youcanfindthelyricstoalmostanysongonline.Doasearchforthesongtitleplustheword“lyrics”.

Sheetmusic

Theeasiestwaytopurchasesheetmusicisviadownloadfromanauthorisedwebsite

• SheetMusicDirect:https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/

• SheetMusicPlus:http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/

• TheMusicRoom:http://www.musicroom.com.au/en‐AU/

• Don’tforgetthatyoucanoftentransposethesheetmusicbeforeprintingoutyourpurchasedcopy

MIDIfiles

TherearethousandsofMIDIfilesites‐trytypingyoursongtitleplustheword“MIDI”intoGoogle.Youcanalsotrythese:

• MIDIZonehttp://www.free‐midi.org/

• Electrofreshhttp://www.electrofresh.com/

• HitTraxhttp://www.hittrax.com.au/

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MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

5.Considerhowyou’ll“record”yourarrangementandhowyourgroupwilllearnthesong:

You’ll need to share your arrangementwith your group somehow and there are a number of differentoptions.Youmayliketoconsiderthefollowing:

• Doesthegroupreadmusic?Doyouhavetheskillstowritedownthenotation?

• Willthegrouplearnbyrote?

• Do you need an audio recording of each part? Do you have the equipment needed tomake arecording?

• Willyouuseacombinationofthese?

Notation

Theeasiestwaytonotateyourarrangementisbyusingaspecialistnotationsoftwareprogram.Thebestoptionsare:

• Sibelius

• Finale

• MuseScore(free)

Thebeautyofusinga softwareprogram is thatyoucaneasily copyandpaste sections, transposeat theclickofamouse,movepartsaroundandevencreateinstantrehearsalCDs(backingtracks)foryourgroup.

Record:MIDI

If you are not planning to notate your arrangement, you might choose to record it into a sequencingprogram like GarageBand, Sonar Home Studio or Mixcraft using a MIDI keyboard (or an on‐screenkeyboard). Thebenefitsofusing sequencingprogramsaremuch thesameasusinganotationprogram,although they’re better suited to making an arrangement sound good, rather than look as a printedarrangement.

Record:Audio

Another option might be to sing the melody and record it using a hand‐held microphone, multitrackrecorderorintoamicrophoneattachedtoyourcomputer.Youcanthendistributerecordingsofeachpart(aswellasthearrangementasawhole)tothemembersofyourgroup.

TranscribingTips

Ifyou’retranscribingthemelodyfromaCDrecording,hereareafewtips:

• Findaquietplacetowork

• Useheadphones!

• If you’re playing back your song in iTunes, learn a few playback shortcuts (ie. space bar tostart/pause)

• Ifyou’reusingaCDplayer,findonewithresponsiverewindandfastforwardbuttons

• Usetechnologytohelpyou:Audacityisafreeaudio‐editingprogramwhichwillallowsyoutoslowdownthetempoofasong(withoutchangingthepitch).Youcanalsotransposeaverylowpassageupanoctavetomakeiteasiertohear

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MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

6.Getthemelodydown

Ifyou’renotatingyourarrangementwithasoftwareprogram,orrecordingitintoasequencingprogramviaaMIDIkeyboard,agoodplacetostartisbywritingoutthemelody&lyrics.Thiswillallowyoutomapouttheformofthesongandprovideabasisfortherestofthearrangement.

Andifyou’reusinganotationorsequencingprogramitwon’tmatterwhichpartyouwritethemelodyintofornow–youcanalwayscopyandpasteitintoadifferentpartlateronifnecessary.

Iusuallywritetheentiremelodyforasongintoonepart–suchasthesopranoortenorline–andthenaddinrepeatbars,doublebarlinesattheendsofsections,1stand2ndtimebarsetcsothatthesongstructureisinplace.Don’tforgettowriteinthelyricstoo–theyhelpyoukeeptrackofwhereyouareinthesong.

7.Strongbassline

Melody+strongbassline=goodarrangement

Ifyoucangetthebasicsright–thatisastrongbasslinetoaccompanyyourmelody–you’re80%ofthewaythere.Sowhatmakesastrongbassline?

• It’sharmonicallysound

• Itwilloftenmoveinadifferentdirectiontothemelody

• When youplay themelody and thebassline together, the song can “stand”on it’s own (ie. youdon’tneedanyotherpartstomakeitwork)

8.Addinsomeinterestinginner/backingparts

The“backing”partsarewhereyoucanaddalotofinterestintoyourarrangement.Sometips:

• Makethemrhythmicallyinteresting

• Useadifferenttexturetomelodyandbass

• Youmayliketoconsiderimitatinginstrumentsound(ie.jazzhorns,guitararpeggios)

• Youcanrepeatwordsfromthemelody(orpre‐emptthem)

• Youcanusescat/nonsensesyllables

• Be imaginativewithsyllables: there’smorethan justdoo,dmandba! Try jing,gling, thm,zwee,dot,shu….

9.Makeagoodarrangementoutstanding

OneofthebestwaystoenhanceyourarrangementistouseCONTRAST:

• Onesectionunison,thenbreakintoparts

• Beginsparsely(melodyandbassonly)thenincreasefullnessbyaddingotherparts

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MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

• Changethestyleofbackingpartsindifferentsections:ie.arpeggiopatternsfollowedbyachordalsectionorshort,staccatochordsfollowedbyalyricalsection

• Choosetousedifferenttemposfordifferentsections

• Vocalpercussion

10.Sharingyourarrangement:teachingandlearning

Notation

Ifyounotatedyourarrangement,youcansimplyprintoutscorestodistributetoyoursingers.AndtosavetimeandtreesyoucanemailPDFversionstomembersofyourgroup,orevenuploadan“interactive”versionthatplaysbacktoyourgroupwebsite.YoucanalsocreateanaudiofileofyourscorewhichyoucanburntoCDasabackingtrackSequencingprogram

Somesequencingprogramsallowyoutoprintnotation,buttheresultsarenotnearlyassophisticatedasadedicatednotationprogramlikeSibeliusorFinale.Youcanalsocreateabackingtrackofeachpart,orofthewholescoretodistributetoyoursingersAudioRecording

YouronlyoptionhereistodistributeCDsofyourrecordingofthearrangement.

Othertips

Listentorecordingsoflotsofvocalgroupsandtakenoteofwhatmakesanarrangementworkandwhatdoesn’t.Therearelotsofplacestofindgoodacappellamusic:Podcasts

• TheAcapodcast–full‐lengthsongshttp://www.acapodcast.com/• TheMouthOffShow–in‐depthalbumreviews,interviews,opinions(lookpastthegiggling…!)

http://www.mouthoffshow.com/• ContemporaryACappellaSocietyoriginalshttp://www.casa.org/node/5908

Information,links,reviews

• CASAhttp://www.casa.org/• RecordedACappellaReviewBoardhttp://www.rarb.org/

Recordings

• PrimarilyACappellahttp://www.singers.com/• iTunesStore‐itcanbedifficulttofindcontemporaryacappellamusicintheiTunesstorebecause

there’snoacappellacategory.Acappellaalbumsandsongscanbecategorisedas“vocal”,“pop”,“rock”or“jazz”oravarietyofotheroptions.Onceyou’vefoundoneortwoalbums,itcanbeusefultocheckthe“Listenersalsobought”sectionforothersuggestions

• thewebsiteofyourfavouritevocalgroup

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MidnightMusicTailor‐mademusictechnologytraining

www.midnightmusic.com.au

Songsplayedintoday’ssession

Snippetsofsongsincluding‐butnotlimitedto‐thefollowing:Group SongTheRealGroup I’mWithYouTheIdeaOfNorth Sweet,SweetSpiritBeatles GottoGetYouIntoMyLifeEarth,Wind&Fire GottoGetYouIntoMyLifeFiredrill! GottoGetYouIntoMyLifeSuade TheWayYouLookTonightVoxP TheShapeofMyHeartCluster OneNoteSambaTearsforFears MadWorldGaryJules MadWorldSonos IWantYouBackManchoir(roughrecordingbyUgg) AfricaBobbyMcFerrin Don’tWorryBeHappyTheRealGroup ItDon’tMeanAThingFiredrill! MyYardSoCalVocals FallingSlowlyAfulllistofsongsusedwillbeavailableaftertheworkshopfrom:www.midnightmusic.com.au(clickonResources)

KatieWardrobe–MidnightMusic

KatieWardrobeisaqualifiedteacherwhoenjoyshelpingpeoplewhoareshortontimeanddislikereadingsoftwaremanuals.Sherunsherownbusiness‐MidnightMusic‐whichspecialisesinmusictechnologytrainingforeducatorsandstudents.Sheisalsoafreelancecopyist,musicarrangerandtranscriberandamemberoftheMusicArrangersGuildofAustralia.Duringthepast20years,Katiehassunginarangeofacappellagroups,includingjazzgroupVocalese,women’sacappellagroupLesMsandtheVictoriaChamberSingersandisintheprocessofsettingupanew(asyetunnamed!)vocalacappellaquintet.Contactinfo

Email: [email protected]: www.midnightmusic.com.auBlog: www.musictechtips.comTwitter: @katiesw1