What is Arrangements?

In music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet. If a musical adaptation does not include new material, it is more accurately termed a transcription.

Classical music

Arrangements and transcriptions of classical and serious music go back to the early history of this genre. In particular music written for the piano frequently underwent this treatment. The suite of ten piano pieces by Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, has been arranged over twenty times, perhaps the most famous and notable being that of Maurice Ravel. Due to a poor grasp of the ability to do so himself, the American composer George Gershwin had his Rhapsody in Blue orchestrated and arranged by Ferde Grofé.

Popular music

Arrangers in pop music recordings often add parts for orchestral or band instruments involving new material such that the arrangers may reasonably be considered co-composers, although for copyright and royalty purposes usually are not. Rhythm section parts are usually improvised or otherwise invented by the performers themselves using chord symbols or a lead sheet as a guide. (Rhythm section instruments include guitars, bass guitars, string basses, piano and other keyboard instruments, and drums.)

An existing pop song can be re-recorded with a different arrangement to the original. As well as different instruments, the tempo, time signature and key signature may be altered, sometimes drastically so. The end result is a song that retains familiar phrases and lyrics, but offers something new. This practice was particularly popular in the late 1960s. Well known examples of this include Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends, and Ike And Tina Turner's version of Credence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary. The American group Vanilla Fudge and British group Yes based their early careers on radical re-arrangements of contemporary hits.

Some remixes, particularly in dance music, can also be considered re-arrangements in this style.

Jazz

Arrangements for small jazz combos are usually informal, minimal, and uncredited. This was particularly so for combos in the bop era. In general, the larger the ensemble, the greater the need for a formal arrangement, although the early Count Basie big band was famous for its head arrangements, so called because they were worked out by the players themselves, memorized immediately and never written down. Most arrangements for large ensembles, big bands, in the swing era, were written down, however, and credited to a specific arranger, as were later arrangements for the Count Basie big band by Sammy Nestico and Neal Hefti.

Jelly Roll Morton is considered the earliest jazz arranger, writing down the parts when he was touring about 1912-1915 so that pick-up bands could play his compositions. Big band arrangements are informally called charts. In the swing era they were usually either arrangements of popular songs or they were entirely new compositions. Duke Ellington's and Billy Strayhorn's arrangements for the Duke Ellington big band were usually new compositions, and some of Eddie Sauter's arrangements for the Benny Goodman band and Artie Shaw's arrangements for his own band were new compositions as well. It became more common to arrange sketchy jazz combo compositions for big band after the bop era. Gil Evans wrote a number of large-ensemble arrangements in the late fifties and early sixties intended for recording sessions only.

Further reading

• Inside the score: A detailed analysis of 8 classic jazz ensemble charts by Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones and Bob Brookmeyer by Rayburn Wright
• Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration by Henry Mancini
• Arranged by Nelson Riddle by Nelson Riddle

See also

• Transcription (music)
• Orchestration
• Musical Notation
• List of music arrangers

Sources

• Kernfeld, Barry, ed. (1988) The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.
• Randel, Don Michael (2002). The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians.