Category Archives: Arrangements

Getting back into writing notes

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I got so sick a couple of weeks ago, that at first I was just lying around sleeping with a fever. As I started to recover, I had very few thoughts on writing music, it being Christmas and I had some other responsibilities associated with that (a little for the music program at church, and trying to make it a meaningful time for the family by cooking some special dishes for our dinner, trying to figure out decorations and gifts).

There had been a difficulty for the choir at one of the key changes for Angels we have heard on high, and I added some notes for the clarinet and the alto saxophone to clarify the key change. It was simple and worked.

But today I feel the itch of writing more. I remembered exactly what I had been thinking last time, probably in part because I kept a record here on this blog. I just listened through what I had so far, and then I wrote a part for the first violin, and then one for the second violin. They are rhythmically unison which makes it easy, in some ways. I know that if I keep the same interval between them, they cease to be independent, so I try to vary the distance a little bit, and add in a little bit of contrary motion. But the idea here is high and kind of ethereal, and I don’t want any quick moves.

I add in a viola part, and I start working on a cello part but the library is closing so I’ll have to pick it up later.

Why add dynamics?

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It’s often one of my least favorite things to do, and I often push it off to the very end. I wrote a song a few months ago called Thou shalt call and the LORD shall answer. My first draft that I gave to the group had no dynamics on it at all. While we rehearsed it, it became evident that we needed to all be on the same page, so I put in some dynamics. It proved difficult to communicate clearly enough for everyone to catch exactly what I meant though, so I updated the score and gave them new ones.

I also noticed at rehearsal that the viola part was a little bit overpowering a few times, and I took out several notes to give the singers more space. It’s a reminder that rehearsal often clarifies things and it’s ok to change things. With the software I have available, it’s a quick thing as well.

Last night at dress rehearsal for the TSO (concert tonight! it’s sold out at the UVU) we were playing an arrangement for Ding Dong! Merrily on High by Heidi Rodeback. We played her arrangement with the choir for the first time, and she was listening. After we had played through the entire program, we got new parts, and played through it again. The entire viola section was disappointed because she had taken out our favorite part. But it’s not important. She decided our favorite part had to go, so that’s how it’s going to be. When you sit in the middle of the orchestra, it is difficult to judge how the balance is working as a whole.

Another note about dynamics. It’s one of the easiest things to change in a piece that’s written. It may say forte, but as you rehearse, your conductor tells you to change it to mezzoforte. Or any other change. But the dynamic marking is a placeholder for a change as much as it is a marking for how loud it is supposed to be. I think I’ll be more careful to put in dynamic markings for any pieces I write. I was going to send in a song to a competition, and I realized I had put in zero dynamic markings. So that’s why I worked through the song again, put in my markings, and wrote this post about why it’s a good idea.

Adjustments, more lyrics discovered

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Today ends up being a lot of different things. I start working on the hymn arrangement for Thanksgiving, go on to the wind symphony project, and finish on the Return of the King song project.

At choir practice yesterday, one of my earlier suggestions was revisited, and therefore there were some adjustments to make today. I’m writing in a verse of a different hymn in the middle of the song, and a small instrumental intro to that right after the first verse.

I’m taking a couple of risks here. I don’t know if the guitarist and/or cellist will struggle with the high notes, because I haven’t given them notes this high before, and I figure it could be a challenge – it is on many instruments. The violinist says she can do either octave from the part I sent her, so I will have us test it out on Sunday to hear how well it sounds at the high register.

The middle hymn is more subdued, and it’s in SSA instead of SATB format. So I don’t have all the instruments accompanying that verse, only coming in at times, and counting rests part of the time. I’ll want to have the choir test part of it a cappella, and have the piano optional for the entire song.

No key changes within the piece because I don’t want it this time. Some transposing had to happen to have both hymns in the same key, but it’s totally doable for the sopranos to go up to an F, so I don’t worry about that.

Because it’s fun to work on a big piece, I look in my folder for “Wind symphony,” and discover that I had started a score for the second movement months ago. I listen through the first movement, just over 3 minutes long, and I still like it. That’s good. I think it could go a little bit faster, but I like the themes, and the ideas and the development. It’s obviously needing the next movements though! So I guess I’ll get to that in the next little while.

Well, that song I worked on last week? I look at it, and it seems I’m missing something. I go back to the scriptures, and decide to include some more lyrics. Maybe I won’t need to repeat the lyrics, just melodic material, to make a more catchy song. It sure is superior to work with lyrics that are poetic (and these are definitely poetic). I add in what kind of amounts to a second verse of the “aria” if you can talk about this piece that way. I’m pretty excited. I think I’d like to sing this song some time.

Before quitting for the day, I add in the rest of the song (melody/vocal line). Its running time is five minutes now. Time to deliver the parts for the Thanksgiving song and maybe get dinner on the table.

Thanksgiving song arrangement

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I got a call from our assistant choir director yesterday who requested a simple arrangement of a song for Thanksgiving: Come, Ye Thankful People. So I guess I’ll make a score for this. The instrumentation is still not completely settled, so I’m wondering how this is going to turn out. But part of the decision making process obviously will be to write in all the melody and harmony that is already there, so it may be ok to just get going anyway.

I’m looking at the notes. I accidentally chose the wrong key, and when thinking about whether that could work, I saw that the setting was pretty low already in F, so going down to D was not going to happen this time. I am considering a key change to A flat major though, which I think would sound beautiful.

After talking again to the assistant choir director, she makes it clear that she does not want any key changes, so I scrap that idea. We settle on the instrumentation guitar, violin, viola, cello.

I write in a cello bass line and then a guitar part. The guitar sounds an octave lower than notated, and will be easy to drown out as it’s pretty soft. I’m thinking maybe to let the violin and viola pluck so they don’t get too loud. I’m listening through it now, and thinking that a piano actually isn’t necessary… I guess we’ll see what they think once we start practicing.

I start on the second verse, letting the guitar take the bass line. I want the violin to play an octave higher than the sopranos, but I am not sure how comfortable our violinist is with the high register, so I write it lower and the octave doubling, and ask the violinist to pick one octave. I add in some more phrase markings for the instruments. It can be hard to guess sometimes as an instrumentalist, unlike for the singers. It’s usually pretty obvious as a singer, because of the lyrics and punctuation.

I’m printing off parts and sending them off.

Calling it good

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When God created the heavens and earth… he saw that it was good (see Genesis 1:10). It’s intimidating to turn over your piece to the choir director and saying it is good now, because it is echoing the great Creator. But at the same time, I do think my arrangement is pretty good now, and I’m going to move on to other projects.

I added in a couple of measures for a transition between verses 1 and 2, this time with four instruments (clarinet, alto sax, violin, viola), to help us feel the key change happen, and make it easy for the choir to come in. I have the flute, alto sax, and strings accompanying the second verse, and only letting the piano come in for the refrain. And then I cut out the piano for the repeat. Rude, I know. But I think the choir can hold its own with just clarinet and alto sax, and then let the strings help with the last phrase of that verse.

We’re used to having the piano kind of guide the voices, but I get bored with the same kind of gestures so we’re doing something a little different. This might make it so we’ll have to practice the choir with the all instruments more, but maybe that’s ok.

I’m keeping the piano part pretty simple because I don’t like it when it’s much harder than what everyone else has to do (it’s often the case that the piano part is the most difficult of all). Also, I know I will need to give out parts to our instrumentalists so they can start practicing. I can’t sit on this much longer for that reason too.

I look through the score some more. I add in phrase markings for the piano as well as for the violin. I add in a fortissimo for the last repeat. I like to orchestrate for dynamics, but it’s helpful for the ensemble, in particular for the piano, since it’s probably the most versatile of all the instruments. It can be soft or loud at all the registers, unlike the flute, for example.

And just like that, I’ve sent off the parts. I guess I should print out my part so I can start practicing too.

Angels we have heard on high

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Yes, I wrote an arrangement on this song for wind ensemble last year. But it’s a popular Christmas song, and our choir director requested it. So a new arrangement is in the works. I’m writing for flute, clarinet, alto sax, violin, viola, piano, and SATB choir. I like simple, especially for a worship service. I think this will still classify as simple, despite the complication of so many additional instruments.

I’m finding that the deep chalumeau register of the clarinet works very well for doubling the bass voice at times. My software reminds me that the alto sax has a slightly smaller register, and I can’t give it the bass line sometimes. Well, given its name, maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

I used to not like to write for piano. But it is such a ubiquitous instrument, and I’ve therefore included it in my last song (Thou shalt call and the LORD shall answer). It wasn’t just playing the voice parts, and because of that, it was more fun. So as I’m writing the piano part for this arrangement, I’m having more fun with the piano.

When I was in high school, I had a wonderful friend who played the flute. I wrote for my friends, and therefore, some of my early arrangements and compositions also include flute. These days, as a violist in orchestra, I often sit fairly close to the flutes, and I get to hear that glorious sound close by. I’m trying to keep it within not too difficult, and hopefully the flutist will agree when I show it to her.

Key changes. So much more fun when there is some change. I have sometimes written key changes very abruptly, so that the singers will have to create the key change with just them. I’m deciding for the second key change to let the violin and viola handle the transition, and I hope it will be helpful to the singers. I might still let the piano assist with it.

I’m not finishing the arrangement today. I have another concert to play tonight. Woohoo! Timpanogos symphony orchestra together with the Wasatch Chorale, “Halloween at Hogwarts,” second iteration (we played last night too).