Good morning, ladies!
First off, I just want to remind you all about my upcoming drawing for a *FREE* Catalog arrangement of your group's choice on Dec. 9th. All you have to do is get your group members to "like" L's Arrangements on facebook by clicking
here. The more people from your group to "like" us, the better your group's chances of winning. So get on it, the drawing is THIS FRIDAY!
Okay, now onto bigger and better things. For this week's post, I wanted to shed some light on arranging for female groups. I often come across groups who are just learning the ropes of arranging and they have a lot of great questions. I thought it might be helpful for me to give some pointers to those who are either interested in arranging but afraid of where to begin, or those who have some songs under their belt but want to be even better. While I'm no EXPERT, I think I've been around long enough to provide some good advice, so here goes...
1.
Make sure you encompass the entire low range of the female voice in your arrangements. This is my #1 advice when it comes to arranging for female voices. Too often, I hear groups who think that, just because they are females, they must sing all of their songs in the range of a soprano 1. Although a main criticism for female groups is that they don't have the kind of range men's groups have, I disagree: women can sing some crazy low (and high) notes, so we need to encompass that in our arrangements! In my arrangements, I try to gauge the vocal range of the group for whom I'm arranging, but typically I drop the bassline as low as an F or E and keep all of the voices below a high E. Very rarely, I'll have a descant soprano tickle a high F or even a G, but not often. Keep your arrangements lower so that the high parts really stick out when they're supposed to. If you're arranging for your group, make sure you know the lowest notes your groups can comfortably hit, and include them in the song to give it more depth.
2.
Unless you're aiming for a goofy, cheesy song, steer clear of the super-strange syllables. This is definitely more of a personal opinion than fact, but often you'll hear a group that takes a risk and uses some pretty strange syllables for the background ("Ji-now nah now nah," "ficka ficka flin flin flin", etc...). I've heard them all. And they can get strange. I agree, "doo"s and "din"s can get pretty darn old, but there's a way to take small risks without sounding like a Leprechaun being run over by a hyena in heat. What I do is this: listen to the song you're trying emulate as a group. Quietly have your group members pick out certain sounds they hear throughout the song and have a short discussion about the kind of feel you're going for. Often, there are instruments that can easily be imitated but with your group's own creative touch. And remember, audience members like to hear songs they know, but if they wanted your arrangement to be identicial, they could just buy the song on iTunes for $1.29. People pay money to hear YOUR version of a song. So no, you don't have to have a part that screeches a high "winnywinnywoo" to sound like a violin. Make the song your own, and keep the syllables from upstaging the soloist.
3.
Have parts play off one another rhythmically and with fun harmonies. Arranging should be a fun experience where you get to be as creative as you want. When different voice parts play off each other, the song as a whole sounds more put-together and cohesive. Groups can sometimes get caught up in trying to make an arranging difficult sounding, so each part ends up singing something completely different from the others. This not only makes the song hard on the ears, but it keeps group members from really connecting to one another (in the corniest way possible, I know...). If you want to put a fun backup harmony part in the 2nd verse of a song, why not add a
third harmony part that doesn't actually exist in the real song and have the S2s and A1s singing along with the soloist? Also, while it's important to make sure each part is a little different rhymically to add depth to the arrangement, it's important to have some parts sing similar rhythms at some point to bring them out and add some fun parts.
4.
Just because you're an all-female group does NOT mean you can only sing female songs from 1 genre. Some of the best arrangements I've ever heard were actually songs originally sung by men, and I love it when a group captures the essence of a masculine songs while bringing out their own inner powerhouse divas (or in the words of Sara Bareilles, their "lady nads"). When your group is deciding on songs to sing, be open to songs from all genres and from all different artists. I remember the year when BYU Noteworthy won the ICCA Finals in NYC, they sang a Bulgarian folk song, called "Ergen Deda" (
see the performance here). It was fantastic, and such an awesome arrangement, even though it was totally from out of nowhere. But all too often, groups get stuck singing top 20 pop songs just because 1) that's what they've been doing, and 2) they want to make sure the audience knows every song. There's definitely a middle ground here, and while it's important to make sure you sing songs that your audience will know and relate to, it can be really fun to throw them for a loop and sing something from a completely different genre, artist, or time that your group usually sings.
5.
Singing slow, sad, melancholic songs is NOT a bad thing. Singing ONLY slow, sad, melancholic songs is. There's a time and place for every song. I find that some female groups run away from slower songs because they feel that they are not as entertaining. This is dead wrong. To entertain an audience does not mean making them smile all the time: it's making them
feel something because of what you're singing. I remember when I first heard UGA Noteworthy's version of "Wonderwall" by Oasis on BOCA 2007 (
listen to the cd version here), I nearly cried. They did everything female groups were historically told not to do: sing songs sung by men, sing them slow and sad, and make sure the soloist sings high in her head voice. But it was brilliant. They took a song that, originally, does not really sound that sad at all, and they turned it into an emotional masterpiece. Don't be afraid to be emotional - that's a rare form of entertainment that even the best groups are not always able to deliver.
6.
Choreography and Staging ARE important things to consider when arranging for your group. I don't always have the ability to arrange with these two things in mind, since I arrange for groups without having a good understanding of their stage presence. But for those of you who
are arranging for your own group, you know better than anyone else what your group is capable doing on stage. If your group feels comfortable moving around and doing some pretty difficult choreography, it's important to keep that in mind if you're arranging for them so that you don't give them the hardest rhythms and make one part go straight from a high F to a middle C in one measure. It will be next to impossible if they're also having to remember their movements, and you'll end up with a sloppy performance and an even sloppier sound. If, on the other hand, your group tends to stay grounded and not move around at all (which I don't really recommend), you can take more risks within each part, since your singers won't be concentrating on their movements.
7.
Don't get lost in the sea of the aca world. Go to SoJam, ICCA, record CDs, go on rarb.org, market your group, and get connected with fans via a group website, facebook, twitter, etc. Do you think your group is awesome? Do you want everyone else to
know how awesome your group is? Well, then why are you only performing at your semester/biannual shows and at community events?!? GET OUT THERE AND PERFORM FOR THE WORLD!!! The only way your group is going to reach its full potential is if you all are committed to finding ways to improve. And there's always room for improvement, whether it's finding some people who can help you with your arrangements, staging, blend, whatever. By going to aca-related events throughout the year, you'll get to meet some amazing people from other groups across the country and see what they may be doing that your group is not. I've met the most amazing people by attending SoJam in the fall, getting involved with ICCA, and keeping in touch with people who love a cappella as much as I do. Rarb.org is an EXCELLENT resource and I highly recommend hanging out in the forums during your daily checking email/facebook/twitter routine. You'll get some great ideas and learn that the aca world is so much bigger than your school's group(s).
Having good arrangements is only one tiny morsel of the pie if you want your group to be known in the aca community.
I'm aware that these points can also be geared towards co-ed and male groups. This proves that all-female groups really aren't THAT much different from other groups. Yes, they have their own flair and uniqueness, but the points I'm making here can easily be catered to all different groups. But my main focus is the women, so I'm going by what I've learned in this part of the aca-world.
Thanks for checking in, and as always, Keep Singin' Ladies!!!
