A Cappella Arranging

Deke Sharon; Dylan Bell

doi:10.5771/9781538185308

Summary

The world loves to sing. From barbershop groups to madrigal choirs to vocal rock bands, there are tens of thousands of vocal groups in America. The success of mainstream television programs such as Glee and The Sing-Off not only demonstrates the rising popularity of vocal music; it reflects how current trends inspire others to join in. In addition, through various online and on-the-ground vocal music societies, the “a cappella market” is well defined and well connected. Like singing itself, a cappella is a global phenomenon.

At the heart of every vocal group is the music it performs. This often means writing its own arrangements of popular or traditional songs. This book is the long-awaited definitive work on the subject, wide ranging both in its scope and in its target audience – which spans beginners, music students, and community groups to professional and semi-professional performers, vocal/instrumental songwriters, composers, and producers – providing genre-specific insight on a cappella writing.

The tone of the book is instructive and informative, yet conversational: it is intended to stand alongside any academic publication while remaining interesting and fun. A Cappella Arranging is a good textbook – and a “good read” – for every vocal arranger, whether amateur or professional; every vocal music classroom, and any professional recording studio.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4584-1657-5
ISBN-Online: 978-1-5381-8530-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 340
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. 1. Who Is This Book For? No access
  2. Our Perspective No access
  3. Conventions in This Book No access
  4. The Exercises and Recordings No access
  5. Acknowledgments No access
1. 1. 1. Choose a Song No access
  2. 2. Listen to the Original—Repeatedly No access
  3. 3. Look At—and Listen To—Other Arrangements No access
  4. 4. Decide on a Form No access
  5. 5. Prepare Your Materials No access
  6. 6. Write Out the Melody No access
  7. 7. Write Out the Bass Line No access
  8. 8. Write the Background Vocals No access
  9. 9. The Final Touches No access
  10. 10. Record/Rehearse No access
  11. Exercises No access
1. 1. Exercises No access
2. 1. Transcription No access
  2. Adaptation No access
  3. Translation No access
  4. Transformation No access
  5. Mixing the Elements No access
  6. Arranging Formats No access
3. 1. The Dreamer No access
  2. The Editor No access
  3. The Critic No access
  4. Making Them Work Together No access
  5. The “Inner Ear” No access
  6. Exercises No access
4. 1. Preparation No access
  2. Choose Your Song No access
  3. Listening No access
  4. Lift the Outsides: Melody, Then Bass No access
  5. Lift the BGs, in Sections No access
  6. Vertical Transcribing: Being a Harmonic Detective No access
5. 1. Myth No. 1: There’s Good, There’s Bad, and There’s a Hierarchy No access
  2. Myth No. 2: Music Has Rules, So Learn Them and Stick to Them No access
  3. Myth No. 3: Music Should Be Left to the Experts No access
  4. Myth No. 4: There Is One Great Path to Studying Music No access
  5. Myth No. 5: Creativity Can Be Measured No access
  6. Final Thoughts Before We Start No access
  7. Exercises No access
6. 1. Think Outside the (Voice) Box No access
  2. Vocal Range Conventions No access
  3. Exercise No access
1. 1. Does It Fit? No access
  2. Why That Song? No access
  3. Love It or Leave It No access
  4. Consider Anything—and Be Different No access
  5. Have a Soloist in Mind No access
  6. Variety Is the Spice . . . No access
  7. I Can’t Think of Anything! No access
  8. The Ten Steps in Action No access
2. 1. How to Listen No access
  2. Learning the Song No access
3. 1. Other Recordings No access
  2. Sheet Music No access
  3. MIDI Files No access
4. 1. Conceptualization No access
  2. Translation or Transformation No access
  3. Your Ensemble No access
  4. From That to This No access
  5. Decide on the Form No access
  6. Exercises No access
5. 1. By Ear No access
  2. Arranging through Recording No access
  3. Handwritten Notation No access
  4. Computer Notation No access
  5. The Great Commandments of Music Notation No access
6. 1. Altering the Melody: Where and When No access
  2. How to Treat Melody No access
  3. The Role of Lyrics No access
  4. Lyrics as an Inspiration for the Arrangement No access
  5. What If I Want to Change the Melody or Lyrics? No access
  6. Exercises No access
7. 1. Basses Are People Too No access
  2. Know Thy Bass No access
  3. The Bass Section: It’s Not Just for Bass Lines Any More No access
  4. The Single Bass Singer No access
  5. The Female Bass No access
  6. Sounds, Syllables, and Phrasing No access
  7. Learn by Doing No access
  8. Connect the Dots No access
  9. Make It Interesting No access
  10. Exercises No access
8. 1. Voicing and Voice Leading No access
  2. Different Textures: Building a Vocabulary No access
9. 1. The Rule of Three No access
  2. Read Through the Chart: Know It Vertically No access
  3. Sing Through the Chart: Know It Horizontally No access
10. 1. Two at a Time No access
  2. One at a Time No access
  3. Rehearsal No access
  4. Learn to Let Go No access
11. 1. Four-Part Jazz Writing: “Christmastime Is Here” No access
  2. Instrumental to Vocal: “Skating” No access
  3. Creativity Through Limitation: “From Ash You Rise” No access
1. 1. Start Simple No access
  2. Clever Bits and Song Quotes No access
2. 1. Men’s Ensemble: TTBB and More No access
  2. Women’s Voices: SSAA No access
  3. Writing for More Parts No access
  4. Writing for Fewer Parts No access
3. 1. The Single Drummer No access
  2. The Drum Section No access
  3. Interwoven Percussive Elements No access
  4. VP for Your Group No access
  5. VP for Other Groups No access
  6. Basic VP Vocabulary No access
  7. Notating Vocal Percussion No access
  8. Basic Groove No access
  9. Syllables No access
  10. Notating Changes No access
  11. What Do I Keep from the Original? No access
4. 1. Classical Music No access
  2. And Then Came Polyphony No access
  3. Chorale-Style Writing No access
  4. Barbershop Style No access
  5. Doo-Wop No access
  6. Vocal Jazz No access
  7. Big-Band Style No access
  8. Gospel No access
5. 1. Know Each Person’s Voice No access
  2. Change Voicings No access
  3. A Library of Sounds No access
  4. Putting It All Together No access
  5. The Essence of Your Group No access
6. 1. Conception No access
  2. Distillation No access
  3. Assembly No access
  4. Transitions No access
  5. Ending Your Medley No access
  6. Mash-Ups No access
7. 1. Block No. 1: The Blank Page No access
  2. Block No. 2: Everything Stinks! No access
  3. Block No. 3: Painting Yourself into a Corner No access
8. 1. Give Yourself Permission to Stink No access
  2. It’s Not About You No access
  3. It Can Take Ten Lousy Ideas to Make a Single Good One No access
  4. Practice Makes Perfect No access
  5. Just Notes No access
  6. Simple Beauty No access
Appendix A: “We Three Kings” and “Go Tell It to the Mountain” No access Pages 305 - 322
Appendix B: Notable Arrangers: An Incomplete List No access Pages 323 - 326
Appendix C: Recommended Texts No access Pages 327 - 328
Appendix D: Online Resources No access Pages 329 - 330
Glossary of Terms No access Pages 331 - 332
Afterword No access Pages 333 - 340