It’s my annual tradition to publish my repertoire list for my ensembles. Here’s this year’s Rockford Aces repertoire. The Aces endeavor to sing in as many musical styles as possible each year, with no discrimination except quality of music.
We end every school year with the Aces Concert, a 2-hour showcase of their work across the year. In addition to the Aces’ repertoire, I had four pieces sung by the RAMChoir, which is a multi-generational y’all come TTBB choir (parents, fellow students, school staff, community members). I’m providing this year’s repertoire in Aces Concert Order, with repertoire we didn’t sing for the concert at the end.
I’ve provided links to audio/video and the publisher information wherever available.
Life Is A Highway (Rascal Flatts, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. This arrangement will be published soon. With Cars such a foundational piece of many current high school students’ childhoods, it felt like a perfect choice.
Runaround Sue (Dion, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. It’s fun, it’s classic, and it might sound a lot like Justin Bieber’s “Baby” – like, a lot a lot. This is a fun arrangement I originally wrote in 2014 for our European tour. I’m hoping to publish it soon!
Frobisher Bay (James Gordon, arr. Diane Loomer) – Cypress Choral
Intermediate/Advanced. The length – 5 1/2 – 6 minutes – is what takes this from intermediate to advanced…it takes stamina. But it’s a powerful story and a gorgeous arrangement, where the orchestration choices really help tell the story. We’ve recorded it twice already, and it’s always among the most requested Aces pieces. This was the first time we sang it on-mic, rather than acoustically, and I thought it worked really will in that formation.
The Longest Time (Billy Joel, Arr. Roger Emerson)
Intermediate. The Aces sing this faithful transcription every year.
21 Guns (Green Day, Arr. Jed Scott)
Intermediate. Another arrangement from an earlier era, this one from our 2012 World Choir Games trip. This is one of two pieces we featured acoustic guitar on; in this case, we had two student guitarists accompanying the piece. Fun, high energy, intense message.
The Uncertainty of the Poet (Cary John Franklin) – Self-published
Advanced. This quirky, angular piece is a setting of a Wendy Cope poem inspired by a Giorgio di Chirico painting that hangs in the Tate Modern Gallery in London. It’s delightful.
Shenandoah (American, Arr. Parker-Shaw) – Alfred
Intermediate. I had to program some Alice Parker this year. In fact, I programmed two of her arrangements. This one is so powerful and evocative, and the song and lyrics connect on a deep level to students about to leave home for careers or college. The piece is published for TTBB and piano or guitar; it’s almost always sung with piano, but I was lucky to be able to enlist my guitar professor colleagues from GRCC to perform it on classical guitar. If you have the choice, that’s the way to sing it. This will be on our next album.
Jabberwocky (Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. This was a delayed premiere from 2020. I wrote this piece to be a premiere at the 2020 World Choir Games; it took this long to find the right place and right group to premiere it. I explored mirror canons, auditory illusions, and more in this setting of Lewis Carroll. You can read more about the piece here.
Cindy (American, Arr. Alice Parker) – SBMP
Intermediate. Our second Alice Parker arrangement was this arrangement we commissioned in 2013 of “Cindy”. Singing Cindy again this year was as joyful as it was when we commissioned it from Alice in 2013. It sings like a dream, is clever and fun, and connects students to the central stream of American song.
Everything (Michael Bublé, Arr. Jed Scott)
Intermediate. This Bublé song is always a favorite when I program it with the group, and the RAMChoir loved singing it just as much as the Aces always do.
Tell My Father (Arr. Andrea Ramsey)
Primary/Intermediate. This song from the Broadway musical The Civil War is a stirring and moving anthem about sacrifice, family, and war. It’s accessible writing for all parts, approachable for RAMChoir. It has an obbligato part for violin, though in this case I transposed it for clarinet.
To A Skylark (Tim Brent) – MusicSpoke
Advanced. My friend Tim Brent is a brilliant composer and arranger, and his new setting of the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem (actually, just a portion of a very long poem) is stellar. It’s exciting, powerful, and lots of fun to sing. This was a favorite of the Aces from two years ago, beloved enough to introduce it to RAMChoir with lots of support from the Aces who already knew it.
Sh-Boom (Arr. Anne Raugh) – Hal Leonard
Another from the early Sharon/Raugh archives, also in need of some editing. But high school students right now are the perfect age to sing this song, because it comes from the Cars soundtrack – a formative musical experiences for many. It’s fun to sing, and with a few edits is very fun to sing. It’s on our most recent album.
In The Still Of The Night (Fred Parris, Arr. Ed Lojeski)
Primary/Intermediate. An a cappella standard. We usually take this down a half-step to E from the original key of F. It makes it more accessible for baritone soloists, less rangy for the tenor 1s, and is just generally a slightly brighter key to match the song.
Earworm (Vulfpeck, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Neo-fusion bands like Vulfpeck are so popular at the moment, and this song was a great way to teach about groove, pocket, and so many other rhythmic feel ideas in the concept of a fun song.
Pompeii (Bastille, Arr. Caleb Harrison) – MANSUCRIPT
I’ve been hoping for more students to begin to write arrangements for the Aces for years, and now for the second year in a row I was able to premiere an arrangement by a student. This is a great pop a cappella arrangement of the 2013 song from Bastille, and the Aces loved singing it. I’ve asked Caleb to prepare it for publication, so hopefully it’ll be available in the near future!
Brimful (Anders Edenroth) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. This is the third movement of A Camaraderie Ensemble Suite, which we commissioned and premiered in 2023. This movement has become a sort of anthem for the group, a statement of value and purpose, couched in gorgeous melody and harmony. I have committed to making it part of our repertoire and Aces Concert every year. You can hear it on all streaming services.
Stand By Me (Ben E. King, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. We always close our concerts with this Ben E. King standard, with our alums joining us onstage.
National Anthem (Arr. Jed Scott) – manuscript
Primary. My arrangement of the National Anthem for TTBB voices. We sang it multiple times during the year at school events.
All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Intermediate. Who doesn’t want to hear a tenor-bass choir cover Mariah Carey?! It’s seriously a lot of fun and works perfectly well as a tenor-bass pop tune.
Christmas Medley (Various, Arr. Richard Gregory) – MANUSCRIPT
Advanced. An arrangement I wish I had written. We sing it every year, and I love our personal version that includes an interpolation of “Longest Time.” We actually did sing this as an encore at the Aces Concert, surprising all the alums who were already onstage.
Christmas Wish (Straight No Chaser/Dan Ponce) – Self-Published but currently unavailable online
Intermediate. It’s a fun 12/8 doo-wop style piece. The notation is sometimes hard to follow, and there’s some divisi that makes it a little tricky, but it’s fun to sing in the end.