arrangement - Explanation, Credit for an 'arrangement', Popular music, Classical music, Jazz music, Arrangers, Further reading

A transcription or reworking of a musical composition, usually (but not always) for a different performing medium. Before c.1600, arrangements (or intabulations) of vocal music formed a major part of the keyboard and lute repertory, and in more recent times instruments such as the accordion and the guitar, for which only a limited original repertory exists, have had to rely largely on arrangements. Since the 18th-c at least, publishers have seized on arrangements as a means of increasing their sales of a popular work. Such arrangements often fail to respect the composer's intentions, but the type of arrangement which is perhaps most despised by musicians today is that which aims to bring older music up to date (even though some of the greatest composers have engaged in this practice, as in Mozart's arrangements of some Handel oratorios). Despite its long history, the practice of musical arrangement tends to divide present-day musicians on both aesthetic and ethical grounds, and some look favourably only on those arrangements in which a creative intention is present.

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.

Explanation

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).

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" (ibid).

A satisfactory musical arrangement will most likely (ibid, p.4):

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.

Credit for an 'arrangement'

As with composition, the ready availability of sound recording equipment has changed the understanding of what "arrangement" means. Every time a piece of music is performed it has an arrangement, which may or may not have been done by a professional arranger.

Popular music

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.

Classical music

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.

Jazz music

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.

Arrangers

Popular music arrangers include:

Manny Albam Ray Anthony H.B. Johnson Jimmy Jones Quincy Jones Thad Jones Gordon Jenkins Bradley Joseph Barney Kessel Colin Keyes Pete King Norman Leyden Joe Lippman Malcolm Lockyer Joe Long (arranger for The Four Seasons) Geoff Love Billy May Henry Mancini Johnny Mandel Marty Manning George Martin Skip Martin Matty Matlock Robert Mersey Hal Mooney Pete Moore Gerry Mulligan Peter Matz Fred Norman Sammy Nestico Claus Ogerman Sy Oliver David Paich (arranger for Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart) Marty Paich Hugo Peretti Don Redman Joe Reisman Johnny Richards Nelson Riddle Pete Rugolo Eddie Sauter Lalo Schiffrin John Scott Trotter Don Sebesky Johnnie Spence Axel Stordahl Billy Strayhorn Claude Thornhill Vic Vogel Richard Wess Paul Weston Ernie Wilkins John Williams Gerald Wilson Hugo Winterhalter Torrie Zito

For a more complete list, see:

List of arrangers