BIG Arrangement Problem Overcome In An Instant

One of the biggest challenges for any arranger of hymns for Sacrament Meeting is...

Attention span.

As our meetings are not concerts, we want to be careful about how long our musical numbers are.

And especially their pacing.

If an arrangement goes on and on and on...

Like a high council speaker who completely ignores the clock and forgets the other ward needs to get into the room to prepare for their meeting...

We wonder...

"When on earth will this end?"

Thus, it becomes a nuisance instead of a spiritual highlight.

And that's unfortunate...

Especially considering how much work it took to write your arrangement.

One of the most common reasons an arrangement feels too long is that it asks for more than 3 verses.

2 verses only is often too short.

4 verses is often too long.

3 verses is often just right.

So, if you really MUST have 4 verses in your arrangement, it's best to find a way to keep the pace moving along so we don't slip into boredom or wristwatch-whatching.

The choral version of the beautiful hymn "Behold the Wounds In Jesus' Hands" does a really good job of making 4 verses work wonderfully.

First of all, there is nice journey from the 1st verse all the way to the 4th.

The men begin a unison verse 1 to present the tune with clarity, as it's a newer tune.

The women follow-up with their own unison verse for verse 2.While it's a similar flavor to verse 1, the accompaniment is more sparse and in a higher register, giving us another flavor of this clear presentation of the tune, which is now becoming cemented in our minds.

Verse 3 moves us into a new realm with a full SATB mostly a cappella presentation.

And then verse 4 gets more intense and climactic. The organ gets beefed up. And the choir starts with a powerful SATB unison that breaks into a full 4-part texture, with a 5-voice descant in a few spots.

And then, there's a nice, natural, not too long-winded coda.

Still, even though there's a nice journey through 4 verses, it's 4 long verses.

So, the composer helps this move along with a wonderful pacing technique.

Instead of playing a full interlude between verses 2 and 3, he completely skips it and creates a wonderful verse elision.

That is, the full SATB verse 3 begins a couple of beats before the women finish the end of verse 2.

It creates a seamless transition.

And it almost feels as if verse 2 and 3 are one long verse with multiple textures.

It's a really wonderful technique.

When we sang it this past Sunday in Stake Conference, we ignored the "altos only" bit at the end of the 2nd verse phrase because having the sopranos rest created a noticeable drop in volume.

But you can see below marked in yellow, I have the ending of verse 2. And in green, I have the start of verse 3. They clearly overlap

You can listen to this magical moment here:

(Example begins at the 2:34 mark below.)

Of course, there are other ways of helping the pacing along when you have a longer 4-verse arrangement.

But this is a really good one.

We will discuss more excellent arranging techniques and put them to use in the upcoming 14-Day Hymn Arrangement Challenge.

To be sure you don't miss the fun, click below and add your name to the waiting list.

​https://latterdaymusiversity.kit.com/challenge-wait-list​

Tomorrow we'll look at some of the juicy harmony choices in the choral version of "Behold the Wounds."

See you then,

Doug "keep the pacing moving" Pew