SO YOU PLAN TO BE A MUSIC ARRANGER?
What Should you Know?
Today’s prosperous music arranger is dedicated, musically skillful, and has to be able to work with a variety of personalities that include producers, business executives, in addition to performers.
Having an in-depth knowledge of music theory, counterpoint, and orchestration is essential for an arranger. He/she must be capable of write quickly (meet deadlines) and accurately, with a minimum written errors.
An arranger should also have the ability to conduct saving sessions, working with both skilled professional and unskilled beginner musicians.
Who Selects the Music?
One of the first things to be considered while accepting a writing assignment is to decide what type of audio group is best suited for the project. Also to be considered is the amount of and what type of ensemble to use to best obtain the sound the producer expects. This is usually accomplished through joint meetings involving the arranger and producers. Everyone concerned must strike any compromise when musical and budgetary decisions are involved.
For instance , a film that takes place during the eighteenth century would more than likely use a touch of classical music as written by Haydn or Mozart, and stringed instruments would be the dominant tools.
Conversely, a film set in an urban, contemporary setting will in all probability require the use of percussion, a touch or rap or Asian music producer, or abrasive-sounding textures in order to reflect the energy plus tension of a fast-paced city.
Do Professional Arrangers Always Study?
Successful arrangers continue to study scores of the grasp composers of the major music periods: Renaissance, Baroque, Time-honored, Romantic, Impressionistic, and Contemporary, including the various styles of jazz music.
Today the arranger must be a composer as well as a great arranger, in that he/she is often required to composer introductions, interlude, and endings for musical arrangements.
How About the New Audio Technology?
Today’s arranger must be comfortable with and have a working familiarity with current music software systems such as Sibelius or Climax, as well as sequencers, and midi functions. This is of utmost importance given that most producers are not trained musicians and often require the particular arranger to let them hear the arrangement before signing down on a costly budget that includes renting a recording facilities, hiring musicians and other items for music production.
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