My arranging journey started back in high school when people started asking for new (less boring) music. I never really got the chance to have anyone judge my skills or arrangements and give me feedback (I guess it should have been a sign that everyone in the band always liked what I wrote and I got the approval from the staff and directors, but alas 😂), so I just kept creating arrangements as my music theory and ear training skills kept growing. I'm a junior in college now and I write music for my university, and watching this video, I was just nodding every time you brought up a method of arranging, because those are all things I taught myself to do as well 😂
Great! I see that you are in the ATL. I am a band arranger myself. I used to write for a lot of the metro area bands. I just retired from teaching orchestra - 36 years in Dekalb County Schools, all in the McNair Cluster. I was determined to teach my students music they like from the radio so that we could keep up with what bands are doing. I still write for orchestras especially because I have a youth orchestra called Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia. I sort of taught myself how to arrange as a freshman at Morehouse. Back then (in '73) I wrote everything by hand. There was no music writing on computer. I didn't get computer-literate until about 1999 or 2000. Then I learned to write by computer a few years after that beginning with Encore, then Sibelius. My structure is like this: flute, clarinet, and trumpet on the melody line most of the time. The inner harmony (three parts) is horn and alto sax 1, alto sax 2 and trombone 1 with baritone B.C., and tenor sax and trombone 2 with baritone T.C.; then the tuba below. Depending on balance, baritone B.C. could play either the 1st or 2nd bone part. I learned the ranges of the instruments. Since I have perfect pitch, I really did not need the piano. I would pick a key according to the range of the instruments. Early in my teaching career, I worked a security guard job. I walked around with a Walkman cassette player and a clipboard with music manuscript paper on the overnight shift (or whatever shift). When I got off, I had a complete arrangement...or two. I went around to some of the high schools. I still have a lot of these arrangements deep in my junkie garage that I want to convert to Sibelius. I wish you the best. We should meet sometime. Please join the Minority Band Directors page on Facebook. They need to see your presentation.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!! This is the exact style my school has and so far I have found no videos on how to arrange our style. Thank you for making this :^)
Bro this is an awesome tut! Thank you for making it! It's very informative and cohesive, and not many out there that are as helpful as this, so thanks!
This is a good tutorial for beginners. Some of my colleagues ask me how to arrange music but I try to tell them the biggest challenge is ultimately learning how to use the software.
Seventy year old guy in PA... I have a lot to learn from you in particular I want to learn how to get the drum and percussion section to cook. Get a great rhythm to drive the marching band and audience to stand up, clap and listen.
Thanks so much Antoine! As a fellow Atlanta arranger, I love learning from you. In my view, the HBCU style is becoming more prominent - and it's really fun in the stands! I'll be using these tips for my high school band. Thanks! PS. And always care about your woodwinds LOL ;)
MajPayne yea man it compartmentalizes things for the reader as it breaks the music into sections. Subliminally, the reader prepares for something to change without realizing it, thus making them more prone to catch that accidental or bring out the new idea, etc.
Glad you've found something you love and feel good about doing. What about copyright laws? You're taking someone else's intellectual property and arranging it. Who pays for the rights? Is this a work-for-hire where the group that hired you pays the royalties? Or are you claiming the arrangement for yourself and paying a licensing fee out of your income? I wouldn't want young arrangers to think that it's legal to just use other people's music without complying with copyright laws.
Hey bro, keep doing your thing. I see great potential in what this can become. Many young musicians out here don’t have people who is even willing to show them the basic because of fear of being bettered. This can at least start a conversation between a student and teacher on what a chord is, what is a chord progression, transposition, and so much more. I wish you best of luck with the series and can’t wait to see more. Also keep repping the “A” C/O 2006 Stone Mountain HS C/O 2014 & 2018 Alcorn State
J King Media yessir! You’re right about that man; our fear of being bettered is what’s holding “us” back. We should always want the generations after us to be better and more prepared and we should give them the tools to learn how to do so. Thanks for the comment bro! ✊🏾
Antoine , can you educate those on the styles of HBCU arranging as it relates to region. Voicing and Orchestration is different in the HBCU culture pending on region.
Ik it’s been 3 years since you made this but if you could answer this question I would appreciate it. How do I write euphonium and mellophone parts better? I feel like they bring my arranging skills down so much
For me, writing for the middle brass is akin to “get in where you fit in” lol. Honestly it all depends on the style and instrumentation of the band. I see it as enforcing the alto or tenor voices. I’ve seen mellos double the saxophones, playing luscious countermelodies. I’ve also seen mellows play as a 3rd or 4th trumpet. If the band has a solid altos and horns, and trombones that need help, you could write the baritone as a third trombone part. Whichever route you take, try to add moving lines. When adding moving lines, put them in the spaces of the trumpets and trombones. By space, I mean if they’re (trumpets and bones) on a sustained note and nothing else is happening at the time. An example of this would be if you write two whole notes (Bb-D), write a half note Bb, then two quarter notes (C, C#) to connect it to the D. Hope this makes sense lol the sky’s the limit with horns and baritones. Get inspiration from FAMU, SU, TnSU, and JSU lol that’s what I do. They all use the horns and baritones differently and it fits their styles perfectly.
KiaOp 1906 you’re right, it’s WAYYY more to it, but the foundation is there. Most arrangements have baselines, chords, counter melodies, melodies, and transitions. This was nothing more than an exercise to show a young arranger how to start the process of extracting said baselines, chords, etc. from songs such as Laffy Taffy and making sense of it.
For beginning arrangers, I appreciate it. I'm a high school band director, and I'm showing this to my kids. My only critique would be to slow down just a little in your explanation. Other than that excellent job.
Kuan Mitchell yea bro thanks! That was my critique of myself as well, I have a bad habit of rambling sometimes 😅. Thanks for the feedback! I’m going to do a slower, more in-depth video as well.
My arranging journey started back in high school when people started asking for new (less boring) music. I never really got the chance to have anyone judge my skills or arrangements and give me feedback (I guess it should have been a sign that everyone in the band always liked what I wrote and I got the approval from the staff and directors, but alas 😂), so I just kept creating arrangements as my music theory and ear training skills kept growing. I'm a junior in college now and I write music for my university, and watching this video, I was just nodding every time you brought up a method of arranging, because those are all things I taught myself to do as well 😂
I keep coming back to this video every couple years, whenever I feel like I'm "losing the point" in my arranging. Thanks for this awesome guide.
Great! I see that you are in the ATL. I am a band arranger myself. I used to write for a lot of the metro area bands. I just retired from teaching orchestra - 36 years in Dekalb County Schools, all in the McNair Cluster. I was determined to teach my students music they like from the radio so that we could keep up with what bands are doing. I still write for orchestras especially because I have a youth orchestra called Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia. I sort of taught myself how to arrange as a freshman at Morehouse. Back then (in '73) I wrote everything by hand. There was no music writing on computer. I didn't get computer-literate until about 1999 or 2000. Then I learned to write by computer a few years after that beginning with Encore, then Sibelius. My structure is like this: flute, clarinet, and trumpet on the melody line most of the time. The inner harmony (three parts) is horn and alto sax 1, alto sax 2 and trombone 1 with baritone B.C., and tenor sax and trombone 2 with baritone T.C.; then the tuba below. Depending on balance, baritone B.C. could play either the 1st or 2nd bone part. I learned the ranges of the instruments. Since I have perfect pitch, I really did not need the piano. I would pick a key according to the range of the instruments. Early in my teaching career, I worked a security guard job. I walked around with a Walkman cassette player and a clipboard with music manuscript paper on the overnight shift (or whatever shift). When I got off, I had a complete arrangement...or two. I went around to some of the high schools. I still have a lot of these arrangements deep in my junkie garage that I want to convert to Sibelius. I wish you the best. We should meet sometime. Please join the Minority Band Directors page on Facebook. They need to see your presentation.
Mr.Robinson we miss you dawg - flat shoals family
As a musician this video just inspired me to start doing this
Thank lord there’s more HBCU exposure and videos! I love your arrangements bro.
Irk much love bro! Many more videos coming.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!! This is the exact style my school has and so far I have found no videos on how to arrange our style. Thank you for making this :^)
Bro this is an awesome tut! Thank you for making it! It's very informative and cohesive, and not many out there that are as helpful as this, so thanks!
Wish there was a video like this when I started lol, good work though!
This is a good tutorial for beginners. Some of my colleagues ask me how to arrange music but I try to tell them the biggest challenge is ultimately learning how to use the software.
You did your thing bruh...salute from 1 ATLien to another
Seventy year old guy in PA... I have a lot to learn from you in particular I want to learn how to get the drum and percussion section to cook. Get a great rhythm to drive the marching band and audience to stand up, clap and listen.
Thanks so much Antoine! As a fellow Atlanta arranger, I love learning from you. In my view, the HBCU style is becoming more prominent - and it's really fun in the stands! I'll be using these tips for my high school band. Thanks! PS. And always care about your woodwinds LOL ;)
Great demo with some good pointers 😎
Nice video bruh. I never though of using the double barline like that.
MajPayne yea man it compartmentalizes things for the reader as it breaks the music into sections. Subliminally, the reader prepares for something to change without realizing it, thus making them more prone to catch that accidental or bring out the new idea, etc.
This is awesome, I want to write some charts for my school Memphis State during basketball season
Excellent teaching Antoine
Wow this is Amazing , Hopefully I can be writing band music soon ! You got a new Subscriber
This really helped me out
Glad you've found something you love and feel good about doing.
What about copyright laws? You're taking someone else's intellectual property and arranging it. Who pays for the rights? Is this a work-for-hire where the group that hired you pays the royalties? Or are you claiming the arrangement for yourself and paying a licensing fee out of your income? I wouldn't want young arrangers to think that it's legal to just use other people's music without complying with copyright laws.
HECK YEAH bro!! Keep up the work!
Great job!
I’m a Music Major I appreciate that
🔥🔥 Great work King🔥🔥
Thank you Antione for refreshing my mine on arranging! This is great! I'm a SU HUMAN JUKEBOX ALUMNI 🎷
Hey bro, keep doing your thing. I see great potential in what this can become. Many young musicians out here don’t have people who is even willing to show them the basic because of fear of being bettered. This can at least start a conversation between a student and teacher on what a chord is, what is a chord progression, transposition, and so much more. I wish you best of luck with the series and can’t wait to see more.
Also keep repping the “A”
C/O 2006 Stone Mountain HS
C/O 2014 & 2018 Alcorn State
J King Media yessir! You’re right about that man; our fear of being bettered is what’s holding “us” back. We should always want the generations after us to be better and more prepared and we should give them the tools to learn how to do so. Thanks for the comment bro! ✊🏾
Awesome Job!
This is good stuff, I peeped this long ago….
Antoine , can you educate those on the styles of HBCU arranging as it relates to region. Voicing and Orchestration is different in the HBCU culture pending on region.
Still amazing I see. 🙂
Ik it’s been 3 years since you made this but if you could answer this question I would appreciate it. How do I write euphonium and mellophone parts better? I feel like they bring my arranging skills down so much
For me, writing for the middle brass is akin to “get in where you fit in” lol. Honestly it all depends on the style and instrumentation of the band. I see it as enforcing the alto or tenor voices.
I’ve seen mellos double the saxophones, playing luscious countermelodies. I’ve also seen mellows play as a 3rd or 4th trumpet.
If the band has a solid altos and horns, and trombones that need help, you could write the baritone as a third trombone part.
Whichever route you take, try to add moving lines. When adding moving lines, put them in the spaces of the trumpets and trombones. By space, I mean if they’re (trumpets and bones) on a sustained note and nothing else is happening at the time.
An example of this would be if you write two whole notes (Bb-D), write a half note Bb, then two quarter notes (C, C#) to connect it to the D.
Hope this makes sense lol the sky’s the limit with horns and baritones. Get inspiration from FAMU, SU, TnSU, and JSU lol that’s what I do. They all use the horns and baritones differently and it fits their styles perfectly.
@@MutaliMusic I completely understand thanks for responding
can you try a more complex song
cool
i lke it mr please
Let’s see what’s going on
It’s figuring out the rhythms for me do you have any pointers?
Sing the lyric and just subdivide the syllables
Shit I live in Ellenwood
Do yourself a favour and skip to @16:14 for the best part!
Bruh lol its way more than that because each hbcu sound and arrange different. If that was the case everyone would sound the same
KiaOp 1906 you’re right, it’s WAYYY more to it, but the foundation is there. Most arrangements have baselines, chords, counter melodies, melodies, and transitions. This was nothing more than an exercise to show a young arranger how to start the process of extracting said baselines, chords, etc. from songs such as Laffy Taffy and making sense of it.
Antoine Gibson thank you helped a lot thanks for the nugget mr g
IAM Darrez nuggets 😂. No prob man, more coming.
You bout to either inspire arrangers or piss them off, lmao We gotta wait and see now
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 now we play the waiting game 😂😂😂
For beginning arrangers, I appreciate it. I'm a high school band director, and I'm showing this to my kids. My only critique would be to slow down just a little in your explanation. Other than that excellent job.
Great video
Kuan Mitchell yea bro thanks! That was my critique of myself as well, I have a bad habit of rambling sometimes 😅. Thanks for the feedback! I’m going to do a slower, more in-depth video as well.
What college did you attend?