A Cappella Arranging
Have you ever wondered where the incredible songs that the ETown Augmented and the ETown minors sing come from?
Some of the songs that we perform are purchased from sheet music companies that are arranged commercially, however over 90% (and growing) of our music is arranged locally in Edmonton by our incredibly talented arrangers.
We have a number of individuals that are amazing at creating these pieces of music, and it starts with us giving a commission to one of them to arrange a piece of music for us. Sometimes there is a specific piece of music we want arranged or we would like another of our banging signature mashups. More often than not we leave the choice of song up to our arranger as they know our choirs and will design a piece that will fit our skill level and strengths and is specifically suited to us.
That’s when the hard work really begins. Arranging an A Cappella song is much more than just converting all the instruments in a song just to voice parts. Every arranger has their own process but generally they will take the melody and decide which voice part or parts are singing it (Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass) or if the choruses or verses might be a solo. Then they transcribe this note by note into a notation software like Sibelius, Finale or MuseScore to create the framework of the song. They will then add the intro, ending and some of the instrumental parts that will add texture and richness. Next comes the different types of harmonies in different places so all the voice parts work together to make a song that is both familiar and completely different at the same time. The best A Cappella arrangements will take a song you know and make you hear something completely new. There are typically hundreds of hours of thought, arranging and editing that go into a single song that you will hear performed at one of our concerts! Not to mention all the time the choir then spends learning to perform it to make it sound so great!