HOW TO: Create an a Cappella Arrangement - Jodi Kirkner

Now, I understand that this may or may not be possible for someone with no familiarity of music, specifically a cappella music, but I don't want to go look through 30 something blog posts and I'm fairly certain nobody else will be writing on this particular topic. So, without further ado I give you:

HOW TO CREATE AN A CAPPELLA ARRANGEMENT

Disclaimer: This method will not work if you don't have a sense of how music goes together. You may need to employ the help of a musically talented friend or teacher.

Step 1: Learn what a cappella music is.

Since it's simple, I'll just explain it here. A cappella music is music sung without instrumental accompaniment. This can be simply humming the melody of your favorite song when it's stuck in your head, or something a little more grandiose. Think Pitch Perfect.

 Now, ideally you would have an a cappella group to sing your arrangement, but you can also try individual methods like the "A Capella" app.

Step 2: Choose a song. Your song should be something that has a clear melody and bass line. This will be necessary when structuring your arrangement. If you have a group, make sure you have a soloist who is able to sing this song's melody. If not, make sure you can do it yourself.

Step 3: Develop the bass line. The bass line consists of the lowest tones in the song. The ones that vibrate your butt if you crank the sound up in your car. Typically, you should identify the bass line of the song and try to duplicate it or do something similar, as the bass tones lay down the foundation that you build on o fill out the rest of the song.

Step 4: Identify or create a rhythmic motive. A rhythmic motive is anything with rhythm that isn't a continuous sound. For example, doo-wops, ha ha has, or even lyrics of the song made into a rhythmic pattern. This step is the most complicated, but once you develop your rhythmic motive the rest will fall into place more easily.

Step 5: MY FAVORITE STEP! This step you are creating the pad. The pad is just what it sounds like, padding to go between your bass line and rhythmic motive. The pad consists of longer, more continuous tones like ohs, oohs and ahs. Typically you build these from the basic chord structure of the song. Once you have the basic chords in, you can add clashes or harmonies that are popular in a cappella music.

Step 6: Put everything together. At this point you revise and tweak your work until it sounds the way you want it to. You can try dropping parts out at certain times, adding in extra accents, changing notes, and you should always show variation between the sections of the song to keep it interesting for the audience.

Now you're done! You can arrange a cappella music! If you've already mastered this technique, you can try forming mashups. Good luck! Happy singing!