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Topic: Male Chorus arranging (Read 20485 times) previous topic - next topic

Male Chorus arranging

Can anyone help me in locating a book on choral arranging. I'd like to find the technique on how it's done, especially converting SATB to TTBB.

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #1 –
I'm not up on any book titles, but having performed in a male chorus several years, I have some ideas for you.

1. The 2nd tenor is most often used as the lead voice, with the 1st tenor on a higher pitched harmony part.

2. Baritone (or 1st bass by some composers) may often sing the melody as well, and also regularly harmonizes a fifth above a bass voice root.

3. Bass (or 2nd Bass) often stays quite low in the voice range in TTBB singing.

4. Because of having essentially one less octave of voice ranges with TTBB vs. SATB, the arranger/composer must be careful to watch the spacing of chords.  Keeping the baritone and bass too close together will generally give a thick, "muddy" sound (unless they are in unison on occasion).

5. The tenor parts are usually written in Treble clef, although they are sung/sound an octave lower.  Baritone is sometimes written in the same fashion, however that part is more often in bass clef, as is the bass voice.

6. 1st tenor can go up above the staff, but generally stays within the staff towards the top lines/spaces.  2nd tenor generally follows a similar range to the tenor part of SATB.  Baritone generally covers a range just slightly above the bass parts in SATB, but can go towards the bottom of the staff.  TTBB bass parts most often are similar to SATB bass parts, but regularly go lower, and can be counted on to go below the staff easily when needed.

I hope this isn't redundant information for you, just some thoughts I had on the topic.  Good luck on your music!

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #2 –
Re converting from SATB to TTBB I've done a couple and the quick and dirty method is assign the T part to Tenor 1 and the B part to Bass 2. Drop the S down an octave and call it Tenor 2 (if it ends up being higher than T1 part switch them)Drop the A part down an octave and assign to B1. This usually works ok except that you might find that some 4 part arrangements turn out to be only 3 part (2 share the same notes an octave apart)Don't forget that B1 and B2 traditionally share the bass clef and T1 and T2 share a stepped down treble clef (the one with the little 8 dangling from the bottom) Remember, your ear is the best test of whether the music sounds ok, some arrangements just don't transpose well and need to be tweaked.

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #3 –
I sing in a Welsh Male voice choir, and most of the music that we sing the first tenors have the melody (pitched higher than the SATB arrangements), the second tenors and first basses will be somewhere in the alto part and the second basses quite low.  I have notated quite a number of male choir arrangements in Noteworthy and you can find them on our Website at www.cmcda.co.za by following the Music link.

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #5 –
You may find the information you need in the basic Harmony boooks of Walter Piston or Robert Ottman.  These texts provide the basic information about voice ranges and good partwriting.  If you can follow these instructions, you should be successful writing for SATB, TTBB or SSAA.

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #6 –
Just a question here from a potential NWC customer... can the software be used to create sheet music with multiple trebles & basses for choral compositions?

I.E. - TTBB?

I'm working on some compositions and am seriously considereing the software to help in putting my compositions together.

Thanks!

- Jim

Re: Male Chorus arranging

Reply #7 –
...can the software be used to create sheet music with multiple trebles & basses...
Sure can.  The only limit is your imagination.
Want SATTTTTBBBBB? Piece o' cake.
SSSATBBB? Easy enough.
There are templates to get you started, but you need not feel restricted to only those setups.  You can even make your own templates once you figure out what you want.
As far as being "a potential NWC customer," go ahead and pay for it.  Y'ain't gonna find a better value anywhere else.  And it jus' keeps gettin' better...