I'm NOT an arranger but often make changes and feel guilty about it, even though I KNOW the changes will work better for my singers! Thanks for taking away the guilt!
Our Sweet Adelines chorus sings an arrangement where the arranger wrote that it was arranged by him, but then underneath wrote "Inspired by a three-part version by Deke Sharon." I thought that was cool. And, I can think of one arranger who doesn't share Deke's attitude about making changes to his work, and he puts a statement about it at the end of his arrangements. Maybe others who don't want this could just say so, and we can assume it's OK to make some changes and interp to the rest. :)
yesss now I just need to find a bunch of compelling, square, contest-suitable barbershop pieces arranged FOR WOMEN to noodle with, so we dont have to sing "if ever I would leave you" for another 4 years running
I'm so glad you brought this up!!! The subject crossed my mind multiple times and I never wanted to be disrespectful to what the arranger meant to do. Everything you said makes sooooo much sense and clarifies sooooo many things. Thank you for talking about it and for giving us permission to adapt your music to our groups.
Amen! So many TTBB arrangements are not suited for my middle schoolers. Some years, I don’t even have basses, so I have to modify the arrangements to make it better for those ever changing voices. Flip side is, because I do have unchanged voices, sometimes those really high tenor parts are right down our alley! So glad that you see it the way that you do! Thanks!
Definitely have changed some of your arrangements in my day to fit the groups I was working with and it's nice to know you encourage it!! Furthermore, I feel like if I'm spending money for a custom arrangement from a really good arranger, as an arranger myself too, I know to put trust in their creative process but they more than likely will trust mine too. If I need any big adjustments at first draft, I'll have them edit the arrangement, and any other changes after that once the "____finalcopy.pdf" is in my hand are very minimal.
Hello. I saw you have a book about how to do an arrangement. Could you tell us about it? And Could you show us some pages? I would like to buy it but I'am not sure because I'm new in a cappella topics... What would i find in it?
^^This!!! To clarify… so we know that we must own the correct number of original arrangement copies to cover the copyright aspects… how do we deal with the additional copies created by the adaption copies? My understanding is that you must have one copy per singer, but does this mean you would have to have one copy of the original AND a cleared for copyright version of the adaption? (I am not suggesting clearance for performance changes and small things, but if you significantly adapt the music, shouldn’t you clear the adaption for copyright and purchase that number of copies?). My understanding is that it’s the number of copies that must be cleared???
I'm no copyright attorney, but if you legally purchased enough copies for your chorus, you can make changes, share copies with your singers, and perform legally. There are online programs like Noteflight that let you enter the changes in before you print, or you could buy a site license for 50 copies, only print out one, make changes on that, and then make 49 copies of your edited version. Bottom line: no one is going to chase you down for this, it's all in good faith.
I'm NOT an arranger but often make changes and feel guilty about it, even though I KNOW the changes will work better for my singers! Thanks for taking away the guilt!
Love the model of thinking of an arrangement as a road map that you can follow loosely! Gonna use that one in the future
Our Sweet Adelines chorus sings an arrangement where the arranger wrote that it was arranged by him, but then underneath wrote "Inspired by a three-part version by Deke Sharon." I thought that was cool. And, I can think of one arranger who doesn't share Deke's attitude about making changes to his work, and he puts a statement about it at the end of his arrangements. Maybe others who don't want this could just say so, and we can assume it's OK to make some changes and interp to the rest. :)
yesss now I just need to find a bunch of compelling, square, contest-suitable barbershop pieces arranged FOR WOMEN to noodle with, so we dont have to sing "if ever I would leave you" for another 4 years running
Love this! Even as an arranger myself.
I'm so glad you brought this up!!! The subject crossed my mind multiple times and I never wanted to be disrespectful to what the arranger meant to do. Everything you said makes sooooo much sense and clarifies sooooo many things. Thank you for talking about it and for giving us permission to adapt your music to our groups.
Thank you Deke. Great advice.
Amen! So many TTBB arrangements are not suited for my middle schoolers. Some years, I don’t even have basses, so I have to modify the arrangements to make it better for those ever changing voices. Flip side is, because I do have unchanged voices, sometimes those really high tenor parts are right down our alley! So glad that you see it the way that you do! Thanks!
Definitely have changed some of your arrangements in my day to fit the groups I was working with and it's nice to know you encourage it!! Furthermore, I feel like if I'm spending money for a custom arrangement from a really good arranger, as an arranger myself too, I know to put trust in their creative process but they more than likely will trust mine too. If I need any big adjustments at first draft, I'll have them edit the arrangement, and any other changes after that once the "____finalcopy.pdf" is in my hand are very minimal.
LOVE this! So much mis-information out there. Thank you!!!!
#lovemesomedeke
Hello. I saw you have a book about how to do an arrangement. Could you tell us about it? And Could you show us some pages? I would like to buy it but I'am not sure because I'm new in a cappella topics... What would i find in it?
check it out here: www.amazon.com/Cappella-Arranging-Music-Pro-Guides/dp/1458416577
@@DekeSharon i saw that and it just show 2 pictures. :/
^^This!!! To clarify… so we know that we must own the correct number of original arrangement copies to cover the copyright aspects… how do we deal with the additional copies created by the adaption copies? My understanding is that you must have one copy per singer, but does this mean you would have to have one copy of the original AND a cleared for copyright version of the adaption? (I am not suggesting clearance for performance changes and small things, but if you significantly adapt the music, shouldn’t you clear the adaption for copyright and purchase that number of copies?). My understanding is that it’s the number of copies that must be cleared???
I'm no copyright attorney, but if you legally purchased enough copies for your chorus, you can make changes, share copies with your singers, and perform legally. There are online programs like Noteflight that let you enter the changes in before you print, or you could buy a site license for 50 copies, only print out one, make changes on that, and then make 49 copies of your edited version. Bottom line: no one is going to chase you down for this, it's all in good faith.