Arrange a song for my a cappella group

I arranged this in less than three hours, which is pretty good when I’m just plucking notes out from a recording and comparing them to the chord charts. It’s an easy song with one or two difficult time changes, and the audiences seemed to like it. I want to take a look at it now that we won’t be performing for a few weeks and see if I can tweak it, but it worked out pretty well. Now that I did an easy one, I can work on a few of the harder ones!

Well, since I originally posted this, I have graduated (and therefore don’t need to arrange a song anymore). I think it was just something that was a bit too hard for me to figure out when I was also trying to get through school.

A few years ago, I was an arranging machine. I arranged almost a dozen songs for my group, and many of them have gone on to be, if not smash hits, at least crowd favourites. I did a slow jazzy version of “Hitchin’ A Ride” by Green Day, cashed in on the OutKast mania with “Hey Ya!”, and did a tolerable version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers.

And then…my creativity all dried up. I haven’t arranged anything in two years. But I’m trying once again, thanks to a recent acquisition of Finale Songwriter, and I’m 1/8 of the way through “She’s Actual Size” by They Might Be Giants. It sounds okay so far, and I hope to have it finished by April, just in time to start on a Super Secret Song for May.

My first arrangement, “Let Down” by Radiohead, fizzled after one concert. Too complicated, I guess. Guster’s “Two Points for Honesty” seems to be a hit, though, and will probably get onto the next CD.

My advice to arrangers is to focus on the parts, not just the overall sound. You want people’s parts to get stuck in their head, so make the parts simple and compelling whenever possible. Is there a part that people would spontaneously start singing? Can other group members join in when they hear this part? Then you’ve got an arrangement that will take off, because the group is practicing it without even trying.