Arrangement is ... How to create a quality arrangement?

First of all, you need to know that arrangement is a creative activity with its own principles and types. Given this, you can create a great arrangement that will be a hit. Or at least make a musical composition that attracts attention with its attractive sound.

What is an arrangement?

arrangement is

This is one of the creative processes during which additional parts are written for a selected composition. This allows you to emphasize the nature of a work. We can say that the arranger is a man orchestra. To create a high-quality arrangement it is necessary to have certain knowledge of instrumentation (from a symphony orchestra to synthesizer instruments). Arrangement is a musician’s composition of new parts, harmonization, the search for the right accents, work on pace, dynamics and phrasing. An important step is mastering and mixing. Without them, a good-sounding phonogram is impossible.

Style work

The authors, having the finished material, write a melody and harmony. This creates the arrangement of the song. Before you start writing it, you should decide on the style. His choice is very important, as this is the basis of future work. Of course, going beyond the bounds of a particular style is permissible. And in its pure form, it is practically not used. You can safely add your vision and diversify the created musical picture with creativity.

How to process a melody?

song arrangement

A good arrangement of music depends on its expressive components. One of such means is a melody. It can be left unchanged or added to it echo. However, they should not be abused. They are best used for long notes. It is advisable to write a sub-voice above or below the melody itself with another instrument. Thanks to a different timbre sound, the boundaries between them are better felt. Coloring a melody is possible thanks to harmony. However, do not overuse chords. When writing an instrumental work, you need to remember that a melody can go from one register to another. The main thing is not to forget that you have the main melody.

What to do with harmony?

When harmonizing the melody, you need to use a variety of chords. It’s very boring when arranging a song consists only of triads. The introduction of hits, seventh chords and non-chords will make the composition much more beautiful. Non-chord sounds, singing, holding and other moments will decorate the melody. It is very important to monitor voice training. It must be taken into account for which voice the arrangement is written. It is not recommended to oversaturate the texture, especially in those places where the melody is performed. In this section you can insert rhythmic accompaniment or a pedal. It is not worth it to use independent melodic configurations here. It would be much better to raise them an octave up or lower them an octave down.

Form is an important factor in achieving composition integrity.

music arrangement

When creating an arrangement of music, it is imperative to organize it into a form that has been thought out and felt in advance. You need to take care of how many parts will be used and how they will be placed. All this depends, of course, on the development of musical thought. Mostly in the compositions there is a chorus, a chorus and an instrumental fragment. The arranger must be able to compose quality themes for losing. The stylistic features of a song are desirable to consider. Advanced studios are invited to perform certain parts of professional musicians. This enlivens the arrangement. The presence of musical thinking and a creative approach will create a real masterpiece.

The computer is the main assistant in creating the arrangement

modern arrangement

Today, a modern arrangement can be created (in addition to the studio) on a personal computer. It must be equipped with the necessary software, without which the recording process is impossible. Every musician must know certain programs and their capabilities. Most people use Cubase. It is very convenient, extremely popular and is considered the most powerful music application. Thanks to this program, it is possible to fully work with audio and MIDI. At the initial stage, you can work with VST tools. They are software modules that can be used on the platforms of various editors. Among them are Cubase, FL-Studio, Nuendo and Sonar. The choice and number of virtual instruments directly depends on the chosen musical style and texture. In some cases, tools that are inappropriate to use in others are used. It is important to achieve the most beautiful and high-quality sound. Composing music, writing expressive parts requires the presence of creative abilities.

Thus, arrangement is the decomposition of composed music into parts of various instruments. For example, there is an interesting melody and chords to it (harmony). The arranger, given the original musical material, creates different parts, for example, for a rock band. The quality of the final composition directly depends on its creator, who must possess certain knowledge, skills and experience.


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