Andrew Fouse Anyone Can Arrange

What is arranging? Arranging is the practice of taking music written for one medium and adapting it to be performed on another. An arrangement can be done of any piece of music. The only real limit is your imagination

Why change instrumentation? There are A LOT of pieces in the world of “classical” music On imslp.org, an online library of public domain music, there are over 90,000 works, and that’s just the pieces that are free to use In addition to those, there are at least as many pieces not free to use This massive library of work is split up among all instruments and voices

Why change instrumentation? Despite there being a massive body of work, the pieces are almost always composed exclusively for an explicit instrumentation Without changing instrumentation or creating a unique arrangement of a piece, many pieces will never be accessible to musicians who do not play the instrument it was written for

Example #1 Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky This piece was composed by Mussorgsky upon viewing an exhibit on the art of a recently deceased friend Original composition: solo piano In 1922 Maurice Ravel orchestrated (arranged) the piece for full symphony orchestra The adjustment allowed for more room to experiment with texture and sound It also made the piece accessible to wind and string musicians (the piece was previously arranged in 1915 by Sir Henry Wood, but the Ravel orchestration has been the standard since its debut) Ravel’s orchestration

Pictures cont. Pictures at an Exhibition is a popular piece among arrangers, it’s been set for many ensembles besides the standard orchestra Brass Quintet Percussion Ensemble Woodwind Quintet Solo Guitar Harp Duet

That’s really cool, but what about other music? As a classical trombonist, I know what it can be like to play so much classical and art music that you start to get sick of it Luckily, arranging is not limited to the classical world Some Nights for String Quartet Timber for Marching Band Yesterday for Jazz Band

So you want to make an arrangement of your own? What you’ll need Know what song or piece of music you want to arrange Know what ensemble you want to arrange it for If sheet music is available, use it! If not, there are other ways around Knowing music theory is helpful, but not entirely necessary You’ll need manuscript paper or music notation software Finale is one of the best, but there is a free alternative (Musescore)Musescore If you want to perform it, make sure you have willing musicians and rehearsal time/space

Getting Started For this example, we’ll arrange “Caro Mio Ben”, an Italian aria that many classically trained vocalists have sung for a small instrumental ensemble.

Step by Step The first step in arranging (after choosing the piece and finding music) is to determine the ensemble To keep things interesting, let’s do it for oboe, trumpet, horn, and vibraphone After selecting the instrumentation, look for lines in the piece, whether they’re melodic or harmonic, just look for continuity, and assign a line to an instrument We’ll assign the trumpet the solo line, the horn the bass line, the vibraphone the inner parts, and the oboe a hybrid part

What about something else? For the next example, we’ll examine Lana Del Ray’s song “Young and Beautiful” Music for this song is available, but only for sale or obtainable illegally. What is an arranger to do in this case? -Here is where your theory knowledge comes in handy

Where’s the music?! Most pop songs can be found on youtube for a reference Once you find a recording you like, search for the chords for the song through any search engine and look through some of the results, eventually, you should come onto something like this:

Where’s the music?! The piano or guitar is your best friend at this point! Take the time to listen to the recording bit by bit, and figure out the notes and rhythms at a piano or other instrument, writing down your discoveries along the way. This method will take much longer than the sheet music approach, and will likely require a broader knowledge of music theory, especially if you are going to arrange it for a large ensemble This method also allows room for you to put your own spin on things; without being fed the lines and placements, you can add your own flair to your arrangement without deviating off course

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