The biggest impediment to interesting arranging is imagination. The arranger must imagine a new version.
A great vocal arrangement can surprise, delight, and even exceed the original version of the song, but only when the interpreter has an active imagination, and the tools to execute their imagination.
For me, Kurt Elling’s new version of American Tune exceeds the Paul Simon original.
For me, The Singers Unlimited versions of many songs (You Are The Sunshine of My Life, Sesame Street, Eleanor Rigby, to name a few) equal or exceeds the well-known originals. Of course, Gene Puerling had among the richest imaginations of any arranger in history.
For me, Pancho Sanchez’s version of James Taylor’s Fire And Rain is equally compelling, and in a style I never would have imagined from the original.
(I say “for me” in each case because there is always the chance that what I find imaginative, you find desecrating to the original… and vice versa)
What these creatively arranged versions all have in common is an arranger with a powerful imagination. Too often, a cappella arrangements suffer from a failure of imagination: they simply convert guitar and bass lines to vocal lines, and add the solo on top, simply covering the original. It can be incredibly well performed, but without an imaginative approach, it will rarely measure up to the original.
In my experience, vocal groups often even lack imagination in selecting songs: if the song doesn’t already have harmony singing on it, they have a hard time imagining what it will sound like arranged for vocal group. I always say, “Pick songs you like, and trust me to find a way to make it sound good for you.” A good arranger with imagination and a wide tool palette can make any song work for any ensemble.
Try it now: think of a song, and try to imagine it in a completely different style, format, and arrangement. Do you have the skills to make it come to life? If not, keep developing your imagination, and keep working to try to put it on paper.
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