Arrangement
In
music, an
arrangement loosely describes rewriting a piece of pre-existing
music for a specific set of instruments or voices, often in harmony or with additional original material.
The
American Federation of Musicians defines
arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structure" (ibid).
An arrangement is often an adaptation of a previously arranged piece of music for a musical application other than that for which it was originally intended. This includes arrangements for different
instruments, for example an arrangement for piano or
flute, or a
duet, based on a
symphonic piece, or an arrangement of instrumental
accompaniment for
vocal music). Or, it may be an adaptation for another musical style, for example adaptation of a classical piece for a jazz or
rock ensemble, orchestration of a song written by a popular band, or an
a cappella setting of a
song from a
stage musical or an
opera.
In
jazz or
studio settings, "arranging" is most commonly used to describe the process that is also called
orchestration, adaptation, setting,
instrumentation, or a variety of other terms. Orchestration differs in that it is only adapting music for an
orchestra or
musical ensemble while arranging "involves adding compositional techniques, such as new thematic material for introductions, transitions, or
modulations, and endings...Arranging is the art of giving an existing melody musical variety" (Corozine 2002, p.3).
A satisfactory musical arrangement will most likely :
*Provide "contrast between high and low sounds"
*Avoid heavily doubled parts with an emphasis on solo sections
*Be "sufficiently transparent to allow the musical lines to be clearly heard" and
*Not have all the instruments playing throughout.
An arrangement may specify or vary some or all of:
*
Harmonies, including
parts.
* Instrumentation.
*
Style, dynamics and other instructions to the players.
* Sequence, including the order and number of repeats of sections such as
verses and
choruses, and provision of sections to be
improvised by instrumentalists.
*
Introduction,
coda, modulations and other
variations.
As with composition, the ready availability of
sound recording equipment has changed the understanding of what "arrangement" means. At one stage, credit for an arrangement would only be given to a person who had produced a written musical score of some sort. More recently, any original treatment of an existing work that is available for repeated performance by other players may qualify to be loosely called an arrangement. In jazz an unscored collaborative arrangement is called a "
head arrangement" (Randel 2002, p.294; it is in the head of the musician(s)). Every time a piece of music is performed it has an arrangement, which may or may not have been done by a professional arranger.
In
popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been
composed by the
arranger or by someone else. Most commonly, this is a matter of providing
instrumentation for the
songwriter or
composer's basic
melody and
harmony. It may add details omitted by the
composer, or it may replace those originally given and be merely based on the original work.
In
European classical music an arrangement is a setting of any composition for a medium other than the one in which it was created: for example, a
piano piece may be arranged for full
orchestra, or an orchestral composition may be arranged for solo piano. Often arrangement involves considerable reworking of the original material, in conformance with the resources of the final medium.
In jazz music, an arrangement is a specific setting of a pre-existing composition, although in jazz, the arranger has a larger role: it is common for jazz arrangers to contribute additional original material of their own, to significantly alter the forms and structures of the pre-existing material, or to combine the pre-existing material with snippets or quotes from other pre-existing material.
Big bands such as those of Duke Ellington, Bennie Moten, and Count Basie performed head arrangements (ibid).
Popular music arrangers include:
*
Billy Byers*
Don Costa*
Duke Ellington*
Gil Evans*
Robert Farnon*
Bob Florence*
Frank Foster*
Jimmy Giuffre*
Slide Hampton*
Neil Hefti*
Fletcher Henderson*
Bill Holman*
Thad Jones*
Quincy Jones*
Gordon Jenkins*
Billy May*
Henry Mancini*
Gerry Mulligan*
Peter Matz*
Sammy Nestico*
David Paich (arranger for Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart)
*
Nelson Riddle*
Eddie Sauter*
Don Sebesky*
Claude Thornhill*
John WilliamsFor a more complete list, see:*
List of arrangersThe Billboard Book of Rock Arranging by Mark Michaels, ISBN 0823075370.
The Professional Arranger Composer by Russ Garcia
Composing for the Jazz Orchestra by Bill Russo
*Corozine, Vince (2002).
Arranging Music for the Real World: Classical and Commercial Aspects. ISBN 0786649615.
*Randel, Don Michael (2002).
The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. ISBN 0674009789.
