60 Ways to Make an Arrangement Richer

An effective arrangement can make a good song great. Music arrangement is like arranging flowers or being a gourmet chef: you take the existing ingredients, and put them together in a way that is interesting and satisfying. It is also like story-telling, you take the listener with you on a journey, and leave them on a higher plane.

An arranger takes existing lyrics, melody and rhythm, organizes them into a structure, chooses instruments to play the parts, and decides on how the parts are to be played. He may also compose new material. Like a chef, many of his decisions will be subtle. His aim is to add the right flavor to the song, to whet the listener’s appetite and leave them wanting more.

Here are 60 ways to make an arrangement richer:

1. Don’t alienate your listeners by giving them something too different to what they are expecting.
2. Don’t bore your listeners by giving them something too familiar.
3. Use repetition, development and contrast, making sure there is some variety in your repetition.
4. Spice up the melody with rhythm. Spice up the rhythm with melody.
5. Add interest to the song by using richer chords in places.
6. Avoid muddiness by balancing the musical parts/instruments over the octaves.
7. Build to a climax, then drop for an interlude, and build again to the finale.
8. Make sure the intro is interesting enough to keep the listener’s attention.
9. Use the intro to set the mood, groove, texture and tempo of the song.
10. Avoid too many verses – or repeating the verse too many times.
11. Make the chorus the most memorable and interesting part of the song.
12. The chorus or bridge are good places to have the climax of the song.
13. Consider having the musicians play the highest notes in the chorus.
14. Use the bridge to bring new musical material and sounds into the song.
15. Punctuate the different sections of the piece with effective breaks and fills.
16. Finish the song with a fade or an abrupt finish.
17. Use different instruments to play the melody at different times.
18. Use different instruments to play different parts of the melody.
19. Use a question answer scheme, where one instrument asks a question and another answers.
20. At some stage of the song, add a counter melody which plays along with the melody, supporting it or contrasting with it. For example, try to invert the primary melody.
21. Consciously give consideration to how you use melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, form and counterpoint in the different sections of the song.
22. Sketch out the structure of the song, and write down the instruments you intend to use, and the dynamics going from section to section.
23. Make sure there is a reason for every part to be there.
24. Use melody and harmony to create tension, then release the tension in the appropriate place.
25. Always be aware of the genre in which you are writing.
26. Allow some of your ideas to cross over from other genres.
27. Decide on whether the signature of the song (or section) is to be melodic or rhythmic.
28. Embellish the melody with trills, bends, slides, and passing notes.
29. Vary the embellishments from time to time.
30. Omit the embellishments from time to time.
31. Add a signature lick or hook that features at certain parts of the song, possibly including the introduction. This helps to make the piece more memorable.
32. Consider ending the song with the hook to keep it in the listener’s mind.
33. Add vocal harmonies to support the lead singer at key parts of the song.
34. Vary the number of singers and numbers of parts in the harmony.
35. Occasionally consider changing the time signature for different sections of a song.
36. Occasionally consider using an unusual time signature. One Irish arrangement I have heard follows a bar of 6/8 with a bar of 5/8, effectively making the song 11/8. It has an unusual, anticipated feel that is effective.
37. Change the key to highlight an important transition in the song, or take the song to a new level.
38. Transition the song from major to minor, or vice versa.
39. Consider the vocal range of the lead singer when choosing a key.
40. Consider not starting with the rhythm section, and bringing them in after the first verse or chorus.
41. Put the rhythm section first, especially for an up-tempo song.
42. Drop to half time at some point in the song (possibly the bridge), and especially at a time you are dropping the dynamics.
43. Carefully consider the tempo of the song. Some guidelines from Sound on Sound magazine: moody=80bpm, house=130-145, disco heaven = 137, jungle=165-170bpm, hardcore=170-175bpm.
44. Create a sense of urgency by slowly speeding up the tempo, say from 120 to 125 bpm over the duration of the song.
45. Use silence to add gaps and holes to the piece.
46. Use dynamics to create strong and weak sections of the song.
47. Feature one instrument or vocal by suddenly dropping the volume of the others.
48. Introduce additional instruments to build sections of a song, and remove them to bring it back down.
49. Vary the tone color by having the musicians use different playing techniques, for example, muting the guitar.
50. Allow different instruments and/or vocalists to take the lead.
51. Link the drums, bass and rhythm guitar (or other rhythm instrument) into a cohesive, tight unit.
52. Use different signature instruments for different sections of the song.
53. For each section, decide which instrument plays melody, harmony, rhythm, counter melody, pads, and are silent. You might like to draw a chart to keep track of this.
54. Choose the instruments you use according to suit the musical genre.
55. Consider adding some unusual instruments to make the song different and stand out.
56. Use combinations of instruments that blend or contrast.
57. Experiment with layering the sound to add interest, build and fatness.
58. Consider building the foundation first with drums, percussion and bass.
59. Write for and/or record the instruments you are most familiar with first.
60. Balance the instruments so you can hear the important parts: melody, bass line, and anything else that is interesting.