The Aces endeavor to sing in as many musical styles as possible each year, with no discrimination except quality of music. In that spirit, the entire list is organized alphabetically, as in our folders (except music for December, which goes at the end…)
This was the first year with a full Aces Concert, two acts with 17 pieces sung by the ensemble members, including four pieces sung by the RAMChoir, which is a multi-generational y’all come TTBB choir (parents, fellow students, school staff, community members). That concert comprised all of our repertoire for the year, minus the three pieces we sang for the Holiday Concert in December.
I’ve provided links to audio/video and the publisher information wherever available.
Bright Lights, Bigger City / Magic (From Pitch Perfect, Arr. Deke Sharon)
Intermediate. Epic pop medley. We’ve done this several years in a row and I’m probably not going to program it next year, because while it’s listed as TTBB, the tessitura for the parts is really more like ATTB. It’s hard, physically, to sing, especially for the baritones and tenor 2s. I programmed it specifically this year so we could record it for our next album.
La Chanson de Mardi Gras (Creole, Arr. Michael McGlynn) – self-published
Intermediate. I love Michael McGlynn’s setting of this American French tune – it’s fun, and musically aggressive in a way that’s fun to sing. Students are always excited to check out the original recording, which features a young Hozier as the soloist with Anúna.
Cindy (American, Arr. Alice Parker) – SBMP
Intermediate. Revisiting pieces you’ve commissioned is a lot like reconnecting with your children, and 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.
Good Old A Cappella (Carter/Nevada, Arr. Deke Sharon/Anne Raugh) – Hal Leonard
Primary. This is part of the early a cappella songbooks published by Deke Sharon, and later picked up by Hal Leonard. It’s a serviceable, straightforward arrangement. Like many in this era, there are editing errors and other things to fix along the way, but it’s not hard to see what they meant to write, and the arrangement works well. It has the advantage of being strictly 4-part, so it could be sung by a quartet.
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.
The Longest Time (Billy Joel, Arr. Roger Emerson)
Intermediate. The Aces sing this faithful transcription every year.
The Muppet Theme Song (Muppets, Arr. Jed Scott) Sheet Music Direct
Intermediate. I honestly can’t believe it’s taken me this long to arrange this song for the Aces – the Muppets are among my favorite cultural institutions. There were other arrangements out there, but I opted to write my own rather than rely on an adaptation for Barbershop.
Paul Simon Medley (Paul Simon, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Primary. Only a few measures of music to learn for each of the songs in the medley – Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes and You Can Call Me Al. The 3-part horn line that opens “You Can Call Me Al” is our standard sound check phrase.
Pirate Song (Tim Y. Jones)
Intermediate. I owe the programming of this to my friend Erich Wangeman, who was to conduct it in a “Michigan Brothers in Song” statewide choir for a conference, scheduled for March 2020. We performed it with RAMChoir, complete with eye patches and more. They got into the character and had lots of fun with it.
Prayer of the Children (Kurt Bestor, Arr. Andrea Krouse)
Intermediate. This was also programmed for RAMChoir, and dedicated to the children of Ukraine. (My son even designed a special light cue of the Ukrainian Flag for this song.) It’s sweet, powerful, and straightforward to sing, even with an extended duration. We’ll record it next fall for our next album. (I translated the Croatian lyrics into Ukrainian for our performance.)
Runaway Baby (Bruno Mars, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Advanced. Bruno Mars is having another cultural moment, thanks to Silk Sonic, and I think he’s an amazing songwriter, so I was only too happy to program his classic Runaway Baby with the Aces again. We first sang it in 2012 for our first appearance in the World Choir Games. It’s high, has lots of divisi, and requires some fancy footwork – but it’s a blast to do.
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.
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.
Superstition (Stevie Wonder, Arr. Paul Langford)
Intermediate. I love this arrangement from Paul Langford. No solo means great opportunities for the sections to stand out. His writing is tasty, not shying away from the occasional complex chord voicing. And it grooves. It was on our fifth album, Take Me Home.
Take Me Home, Country Roads – (John Denver, Arr. Jed Scott) – SMP Press
Intermediate. A few years ago I learned just how ubiquitous this song is among our high school students! So I wasted not time in preparing this arrangement for them to perform. It was a hit every time we sang it. It was the title track of our most recent album, Take Me Home.
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. The Aces initially expressed reservations because of the challenges of learning it, but in the end it was among the favorites of the year for many students.
Two Coins (Dispatch)
Primary. An Aces standard, always well-loved.
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.”
Christmas Wish (Straight No Chaser/Dan Ponce) – Self-Published for free, though I can’t currently find the link on Intermediate. their website. 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.
Little Saint Nick (Beach Boys, Arr. Jed Scott) – MANUSCRIPT
Primary. A little Beach Boys at Christmastime is fun, upbeat, and a welcome counterpoint to many versions of Silent Night.