Vocal Group Styles
Learn a little more about the history and approaches of various vocal groups in these handy little videos.
Arranging
Temporal Freedom To Create
The limiting forces on creative work change over time.
End With The Start
Sometimes, you need to wait till the end to start. Often when I write, I write a clear summation of the idea at the end. Then – at least half the time – I cut and paste it to the very beginning. Part is clarity: I like to start with […]
Changes in Your Score
I never finish a vocal jazz score without including chord changes in the vocal part.
Three Moments of Musical Literacy
There are three moments from my high school years that stand out for me as inspiring my desire for musical literacy, and specifically for the kind of musical skills I gravitated towards. Three musical professionals in my life offhandedly demonstrated their literacy in a way that resonates to this day. […]
Four Types of Arranging
As I see it, there are four types of arranging, based on how far your arrangement takes you from the source material. Transcription is the art of copying down exactly what is already in existence. You might be called to write an arrangement for a cover band, or for a […]
Best of Tin Pan Alley
I’ve spent a lot of hours listening to the great Tin Pan Alley songwriters – the ones who composed the core of the Great American Songbook/jazz standards. Along the way, I’ve developed some strong opinions about the songwriters’ output. Here’s my ranking of TPA songwriters. (Who did I select to […]
Recognize What You Like to Sing
Don’t try to compose what other people want you to compose. The most successful arrangements and compositions I’ve written are the ones in which I intentionally tried to write the sort of thing I loved to sing when I was in singing groups. Too many young composers focus on writing […]
Più Mosso
I recently changed my mind about opting for Italian musical terms in my scores. It came after receiving a new score with Italian marking such as Più Mosso and Meno Mosso, among others. It came because they were in a score written by a Swedish composer. The argument I’ve heard […]
More Unison
Even the harmony master himself agreed. Gene Puerling loved unison singing. I can’t prove it to you, because the album is not available on any streaming services. I can’t link to a YouTube video because they’re all unavailable. But go and find The Hi-Lo’s singing “A Quiet Girl” By Leonard […]