by David Tuma, MIT Cross Products '94
What is arranging and composing, anyway?
Learning a language
- Listen to music; analyze it
Juggling Act
- Harmony
- Chords, Chord progressions & harmonic rhythm
- Keep the target group (e.g. Cross Products) in mind..
- Don't write 4 tenor notes
- vocal ranges:
- Soprano: (d) C - G (a)
- Alto: G - C (d)
- Tenor: C - G (a)
- Bass: (eb) F - C (d)
- Bass line especially important.
- In general, more open space at the bottom, notes closer together
at the top of the chord.
- Exceptions: When the bass comes up high, ``close harmonies'' can be written; note that writing close harmony can take practice-- like creating a moving jigsaw puzzle.
- Lots of little rules of thumb - all breakable, but if you break
them, you should have a reason.
- Parallel 5th/octaves
- Doubled notes: seventh & leading tone bad, root good. Double the more stable notes of a chord
- incomplete chords
- Melody, voice leading
- Soprano part especially important.
- Passing tones - It isn't a sin to leave out chord notes occasionally
- Rules of thumb:
- Avoid weird jumps: esp. augmented 2nd
- Inner voices can cross; Sop and Bass should not be crossed (except by soloist)
- Texture
- Rhythmic structure, also harmonic rhythm
- Passing tones; melodic movement in various parts
- Arpeggiated chords - Bell Chord
- Development
- Key changes
- Character development
Some neat things:
- Chord progressions 6b, 7b, 1
- Chords with the 2 or four in the bass
- Sevenths, seconds, tritones
Transcription:
- works well for already a cappella music
- sometimes works to some extent for instrumental music: more often than not it will result instead in music that is 1) unsingable 2) too busy (e.g. 20 parts). The resulting piece is not really a vocal piece: only the very best group can pull it off, and even then it won't sound great.
Transformation:
- from piano score to a cappella, for example
- note: piano music can do harmonic things that are no-no's for voice
- This is *not* transcription, or even translation. You try to get a picture of how the musical elements affect you, and achieve that with a cappella voices.
Inspiration:
- Creating something new, either inspired by an existing work or by the Spirit.
Exercises:
- Listen to every part of music
- Try to guess what is coming next
- Sit down at a piano with sheet music (even Cross Products music) and try to figure out how it makes you *feel* and *how* it makes you feel.
- Sing through all the parts of a song, and see what the other parts sound like
- Arrange some music!