A Cappella Arrangement Analysis!
Thursday, April 7th, 2011I read the A Cappella Blog and today they mentioned this Youtube cover of a J. Biebs song, Pray, by some Sing-Off superstars- Peter Hollens from On The Rocks, Therry Thomas from Committed, Courtney Jenson from The Backbeats, and arranged by Tom Anderson. I started writing this analysis with the intention of sharing it with two other member of the Northwestern Undertones I’m currently arranging with, but it turned into a more massive and thorough endeavor, so I thought I’d share it with you all! So first watch the video, and if you love it like I do, buy it on iTunes because all proceeds go directly to support disaster relief efforts in Japan.
One of the best ways to learn how to arrange, or to get better, is to listen to what other people have done. Listen to it first, then think about the questions posed below before proceeding to my analysis.
I found this picture by Googling
Did anything immediately get your attention/ get you interested/ engaged?
What was the coolest moment of the piece? Why was it the most effective?
Pick a section and listen for what exactly is going on. Try to identify about 4 different ideas that are going on at once. Now pick another section. Is anything the same? Are any parts derived from material in the other section? What changed? How do these changes affect the mood?