Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Andrew Fouse
What is arranging?
Arranging is the practice of taking music written for one medium
and adapting it to be performed on another.
An arrangement can be done of any piece of music.
The only real limit is your imagination
Example #1
Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky
This piece was composed by Mussorgsky upon viewing an exhibit on
the art of a recently deceased friend
Original composition: solo piano
In 1922 Maurice Ravel orchestrated (arranged) the piece for full
symphony orchestra
The adjustment allowed for more room to experiment with texture and sound
It also made the piece accessible to wind and string musicians
(the piece was previously arranged in 1915 by Sir Henry Wood, but the Ravel
orchestration has been the standard since its debut)
Ravels orchestration
Pictures cont.
Pictures at an Exhibition is a popular piece among arrangers,
its been set for many ensembles besides the standard
orchestra
Brass Quintet
Percussion Ensemble
Woodwind Quintet
Solo Guitar
Harp Duet
If you want to perform it, make sure you have willing musicians and
rehearsal time/space
Getting Started
For this example, well arrange Caro Mio Ben, an Italian aria
that many classically trained vocalists have sung for a small
instrumental ensemble.
Step by Step
The first step in arranging (after choosing the piece and finding
music) is to determine the ensemble
To keep things interesting, lets do it for oboe, trumpet, horn, and
vibraphone