When I’m teaching “off the shelf” arrangements, these are the three things I’m most likely to, um, adjust.
- Melodic Rhythms. Especially on pop tunes, rhythms are necessarily simplified for legibility. I try to let rote learning and my students’ ears guide us to a subtler interpretation.
- Cutoffs. In a similar vein, cutoffs are generally written on strong beats. But in groove-based music (including swing), the groove can be made more powerful by syncopating the cutoff so it hits an upbeat. (So on swing tunes, cutoffs on the and of 2 rather than on 2 or 3.
- Voicings. This is less common, but occasionally a voicing in an “off the shelf” arrangement won’t work for my ensemble. I feel absolutely no hesitation about changing it, so long as it retain the intent of the composer or arranger. Twice this year I’ve had unneeded voice crossings (baritone above first tenor, e.g.) and have swapped parts to make things more attainable.
I’m a huge believe in respecting author’s intent when it comes to compositions and arrangements (I’m an author after all!) but I also think it’s worth recognizing when subtle or not-so-subtle alterations can stay true to the author’s intent or even enhance it.