One of my favourite roles on keyboards is to play the horn section (trumpet, saxophone and trombone) parts on synthesizer. I don't know why, but over here in Singapore there aren't that many keyboardists who know how to create cool horn section arrangements. And as a result, we don't really hear a lot of that in churches over here.
Anyway, this post is to try and explain some simple concepts you can use to create horn section arrangements to fit into the songs you use in church. To start, listen to the following song, Halle, by Casiopea.
Now listen to the following arrangement of the same song, this time with a horn section included:
Notice the following points on this track.
Intro 0:00 to 0:26 – the horn section was doing short fills. The intro riff done by the rest of band filled up a lot of the rhythmic space, so there wasn't a lot of space left for the horn section to do fills longer than one and a half counts (crotchets).
Verse 0:26 to 0:50 – The verse had more held notes and lasted 6 bars in an 8 bar phrase , so the horn section had more space to do extended fills. You can hear that the fills for the horn section are about two bars long here, and they are done when the melody has a rest.
Pre-chorus 0:51 to 1:13 – The horn section did rhythmic fills here (repeated eighth notes/quavers) to fit into the held notes of the melody. Simple and punchy.
Chorus 1:14 to 1:31 – The horn section did more of an echo-thing here. In the held notes of the melody the horn section was doing a call-and-response interaction to the melody.
Guitar Solo (to chords of verse): 1:32 to 2:19 – The horn section didn't play here. When you are planning your keyboard parts, you don't have to play all the time either!
Pre-chorus 2:20 to 2:44 – The horn section kept to what they played in the earlier pre-chorus. There's no need to get too complicated or think that people get bored. Oftentimes we musicians get bored way before the congregation does, so let's not use the congregation as an excuse.
Chorus 2:44 to 3:15 – Again, they kept to the same horn arrangements as the chorus. The chorus structure is slightly different here because it is the final chorus, and that is all that is done to cue the audience that this is the grand finale. It's not done by the horns.
Ending 3:15 to 3:39 – The horns did the same thing as they did for the intro. This helps give the song a sense of finality and closure, by bringing the people back to where they started from.
The main points I want to emphasize are that horn section parts are:
1) simple
2) repetitive, because they are primarily playing a supportive role.
So the next time you have to come up with a horn section arrangement for an upbeat song, see where you can tastefully use short fills, more extended fills, repeated rhythmic patterns and call and response. And remember to keep your arrangements simple and structured at the same time!
Be blessed!
Anyway, this post is to try and explain some simple concepts you can use to create horn section arrangements to fit into the songs you use in church. To start, listen to the following song, Halle, by Casiopea.
Now listen to the following arrangement of the same song, this time with a horn section included:
Notice the following points on this track.
Intro 0:00 to 0:26 – the horn section was doing short fills. The intro riff done by the rest of band filled up a lot of the rhythmic space, so there wasn't a lot of space left for the horn section to do fills longer than one and a half counts (crotchets).
Verse 0:26 to 0:50 – The verse had more held notes and lasted 6 bars in an 8 bar phrase , so the horn section had more space to do extended fills. You can hear that the fills for the horn section are about two bars long here, and they are done when the melody has a rest.
Pre-chorus 0:51 to 1:13 – The horn section did rhythmic fills here (repeated eighth notes/quavers) to fit into the held notes of the melody. Simple and punchy.
Chorus 1:14 to 1:31 – The horn section did more of an echo-thing here. In the held notes of the melody the horn section was doing a call-and-response interaction to the melody.
Guitar Solo (to chords of verse): 1:32 to 2:19 – The horn section didn't play here. When you are planning your keyboard parts, you don't have to play all the time either!
Pre-chorus 2:20 to 2:44 – The horn section kept to what they played in the earlier pre-chorus. There's no need to get too complicated or think that people get bored. Oftentimes we musicians get bored way before the congregation does, so let's not use the congregation as an excuse.
Chorus 2:44 to 3:15 – Again, they kept to the same horn arrangements as the chorus. The chorus structure is slightly different here because it is the final chorus, and that is all that is done to cue the audience that this is the grand finale. It's not done by the horns.
Ending 3:15 to 3:39 – The horns did the same thing as they did for the intro. This helps give the song a sense of finality and closure, by bringing the people back to where they started from.
The main points I want to emphasize are that horn section parts are:
1) simple
2) repetitive, because they are primarily playing a supportive role.
So the next time you have to come up with a horn section arrangement for an upbeat song, see where you can tastefully use short fills, more extended fills, repeated rhythmic patterns and call and response. And remember to keep your arrangements simple and structured at the same time!
Be blessed!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment