Musical Arrangements

Course Description:

Music is exceedingly powerful.  It can lift the human spirit and revive a dead soul; it can also lead a person astray.  Even without lyrics, just music, just sounds, just rhythms, can alter the way a person feels and thinks.  There is a tremendous responsibility in doing the artful work of arranging music.  It is sophisticated work that involves nonverbal interpretations and reconceptualizations of melodies, harmonies, bridges and refrains.  To arrange is re-present.  In this course, students are shown ways to re-present existing compositions.  This is a graduate level practicum, a music class for well developed musicians.

 

Guiding Questions:

• What spiritual ethics are involved when arranging music?

• What does technology offer to musicians doing musical arrangements?

• How does a person learn to reconceptualize a melody?

• What are creative ways to change a song?