Notes 2012 A Cappella Arranging Quick ‘n Easy Katie Wardrobe Midnight Music www.midnightmusic.com.au About Katie 4 Professional development & training 4 Free tips, tutorials, articles and news 4 A Cappella Arranging Quick ‘N Easy 5 10 Easy Steps 5 1. Choose a song 5 Tips for choosing a song 5 2. Listen to the song…a lot 5 Familiarize yourself with your chosen song 5 3. Decide the basic parameters of the arrangement 6 Faithful to the original, or a creative approach? 6 4. Gather materials 6 Find lyrics, sheet music and MIDI !les 6 Lyrics 6 Sheet music 6 MIDI !les 7 5. Consider how you’ll “record” your arrangement and how your group will learn the song 7 Sharing options 7 Notation 7 Record: MIDI 7 Record: Audio 8 Transcribing Tips 8 6. Get the melody down 8 Notate or record 8 7. Strong bassline 8 The basis of a good arrangement 8 8. Add in some interesting inner/backing parts 9 Rhythm and texture 9 9. Make a good arrangement outstanding 9 Including contrast 9 10. Sharing your arrangement: teaching and learning 9 From a notation program 9 From a sequencing program 10 2 From an audio recording 10 Other tips 10 Podcasts 10 Information, links, reviews 10 Recordings 10 3 About Katie Katie Wardrobe is a quali!ed teacher who enjoys helping people of all skill levels get the most out of music software programs. She runs her own business – Midnight Music (www.midnightmusic.com.au) – which specialises in training classroom teachers, instrumental music teachers and students. She also regularly runs sessions for composers, songwriters and arrangers. Katie’s sessions are relaxed, informative and relevant. Katie has worked in a variety of music and education-related workplaces, including Sibelius Australia and Orchestra Victoria. In 2011 she was the Project Manager of the Soundhouse Alliance's Music Technology in Education Conference and she has presented at more than 20 other conferences and events. Katie has worked as a freelance copyist, music arranger and transcriber for more than 20 years and is an Executive member of the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia. She also sings in (and directs) a 5-voice a cappella group called Quintessential. In 2010 Katie set up a tutorials and tips website to support users of MuseScore – free open-source notation software (www.musescoretips.com) – and in 2011 she released an ebook titled MuseScore: The Essential Beginner's Guide. Professional development & training In-person training Katie runs music technology training sessions at schools, network meetings, conferences and professional learning events in Australia (and beyond!). Courses focus on the application of technology in education, in addition to the nuts and bolts, “how- to” aspects of software. Training is offered for Sibelius, Acid, Audacity, GarageBand, MuseScore, Interactive whiteboards, iPads, !lm scoring, podcasting, remixing, teaching composition with notation and more. You can !nd more information about professional development workshops here: www.midnightmusic.com.au/pd Online courses Kae offers a range of online courses in Sibelius, Audacity, GarageBand, Acid, Mixcra, interac#ve whiteboards, iPads and more. Courses are scheduled to take place aer-hours (Australia) and consist of mul#ple sessions. To find out more, visit: www.midnightmusic.com.au/online Free tips, tutorials, articles and news Sign up for the free Midnight Music email newsletter and receive music technology tips, tutorials and news about upcoming courses and events. Newsletter sign-up: http://midnightmusic.com.au/newsletter 4 A Cappella Arranging Quick ‘N Easy 10 Easy Steps Do you have trouble !nding arrangements of contemporary songs you’d like to perform with your group? Would you like to arrange but don’t know where to start? This session will run through an easy step-by step process for tackling arrangements of pop, rock and jazz songs. 1. Choose a song Tips for choosing a song • Choose a song that will suit the members of your group, and the soloist (if there is one) • Some popular ar#sts nearly always lend themselves well to a cappella arrangements: S#ng, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Beatles, Maroon 5, Jus#n Timberlake • Don’t overlook public domain songs (folk songs, tradi#onal songs, hymns) because they can o<en be given a contemporary “makeover” – think gospel style, jazz, pop • Try to choose something different to everyone else! • Listen to music with your “arranging ears” on all the #me • You might consider doing an arrangement of an arrangement of an original song • Keep track of poten#al songs to arrange by keeping an iTunes playlist of possibili#es • Choose a song you like – you’re going to spend a lot of #me working on it even before you get to the first rehearsal, so don’t pick something you’re not prepared to listen a lot! 2. Listen to the song…a lot Familiarize yourself with your chosen song • First of all, find a recording of your chosen song. Check the iTunes store or your local CD shop • Become familiar with the different parts of the song: melody, bassline, backing parts • Make some basic decisions about your arrangement while listening (see Step 3) • At some point, it’s good to “put it away” 5 3. Decide the basic parameters of the arrangement Faithful to the original, or a creative approach? This is where you can start to think creavely. Perhaps you’d like to change the original song completely, or maybe you’ll choose to be fairly faithful to the original concept. Some basic things to think about: • How many parts will the arrangement have? • Some#mes less is more: 3 or 4 parts sung well is be`er than 8 parts sung badly • Will the song feature a solo? • What is the song structure? Map out the verse/chorus/intro/outro and remember that you don’t necessarily need to be faithful to the original version • And the fun part...deciding the musical style, key, speed and overall “feeling”. These elements can really make an arrangement unique. • Will you use a jazz-style accompaniment for a gospel song? • Will an up-tempo pop song become a hearcelt introspec#ve ballad? • Will your version be in a different key? Minor instead of major? • Use a different voice part for the solo? Be faster or slower than the original? 4. Gather materials Find lyrics, sheet music and MIDI !les You may have found a recording of the original version of the song, but there are other resources you can use to give you a head-start in creang your arrangement. There’s no point spending hours transcribing a song from a recording if you can find the sheet music or a MIDI file or your chosen song at li`le or no cost. At the very least, finding the lyrics, sheet music or MIDI file can save you #me wri#ng out the melody and bass line and will allow you to spend more #me tackling the creave aspects of your arrangement. Lyrics You can find the lyrics to almost any song online. Do a search for the song #tle plus the word “lyrics”. Sheet music The easiest way to purchase sheet music is via download from an authorised website • Sheet Music Direct: h`ps://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/ • Sheet Music Plus: h`p://www.sheetmusicplus.com/ • The Music Room: h`p://www.musicroom.com.au/en-AU/ 6 Don’t forget that you can o<en transpose the sheet music before prin#ng out your purchased copy MIDI !les There are thousands of MIDI file sites - try typing your song #tle plus the word “MIDI” into Google. You can also try these: • Cool MIDI hp://www.cool-midi.com/ • MIDI Zone hp://www.free-midi.org/ • Electrofresh h`p://www.electrofresh.com/ • Hit Trax h`p://www.hi`rax.com.au/ 5. Consider how you’ll “record” your arrangement and how your group will learn the song Sharing options You’ll need to share your arrangement with your group somehow and there are a number of different op#ons. You may like to consider the following: • Does the group read music? Do you have the skills to write down the notaon? • Will the group learn by rote? • Do you need an audio recording of each part? Do you have the equipment needed to make a recording? • Will you use a combinaon of these? Notation The easiest way to notate your arrangement is by using a specialist notaon so<ware program. The best op#ons are: • Sibelius • Finale • MuseScore (free) The beauty of using a so<ware program is that you can easily copy and paste sec#ons, transpose at the click of a mouse, move parts around and even create instant rehearsal CDs (backing tracks) for your group. Record: MIDI If you are not planning to notate your arrangement, you might choose to record it into a sequencing program like GarageBand, Sonar Home Studio or Mixcra using a MIDI keyboard (or an on-screen keyboard). The benefits of using sequencing programs are much the same as using a notaon program, although they’re be`er suited to making an arrangement sound good, rather than look as a printed arrangement. 7 Record: Audio Another op#on might be to sing the melody and record it using a hand-held microphone, mul#track recorder or into a microphone aached to your computer. You can then distribute recordings of each part (as well as the arrangement as a whole) to the members of your group. Transcribing Tips If you’re transcribing the melody from a CD recording, here are a few #ps: • Find a quiet place to work • Use headphones! • If you’re playing back your song in iTunes, learn a few playback shortcuts (ie.