You’re better off taking the gig and figuring it out. “Are you going to say, ‘No?’ Or are you going to take a shot at it and figure it out? Even if you don’t know the style really well. “If somebody calls you and says, ‘I’ve got this writing gig, I need it done in four days and I’ve got a $1,000 budget, can you do it?’” says Gates.
#MUSICAL ARRANGER HOW TO#
It is, however, possible, to become a quick learner so that if you are asked to arrange a piece of music into a specific style that you’re not familiar with, you know how to listen and recreate the musical components that constitute a certain genre of music. It’s not possible to become intimately familiar arranging all genres of music.
“If you don’t have a good understanding of how to use the technology to make a good sound, then you’re in trouble.” “The client wants to hear demos of your work before you make the final versions, and that’s stuff you usually have to gather yourself,” says Gates. Recording and electronic music composition is an entire career in itself, but arrangers must have enough tech-savvy to convey to a client what a final piece will sound like. Clients want to hear nearly-finished-quality samples, which can only be produced if you are savvy with music composition technology. Music composition no longer involves simply sitting at a piano with a blank sheet of music and a pencil. Jerry Gates on the importance of a good arrangement Click To Tweet 4. The client is usually right in the sense that they’re paying you.” We need to look at music as a language, and to be able to speak it efficiently, cohesively, and with anybody. They’re probably looking for something pretty simple. “But, if that’s for a client, that’s probably not what they’re looking for. “At Berklee, you’re learning so many cool, extended, complex concepts, and the first thing you want to do is put them into the first piece of music you work on,” says Gates. As an artist, you need to gather as much information as possible about what the client wants and practice restraint in order to create what the client is looking for with the least amount of back-and-forth. Though you might have a great idea to take a project in an interesting direction, most often clients are looking for something specific. With some projects, you will be able to exercise creative freedom, but for client work, most often you are asked to carry out a specific vision for a piece of music.
“Arranging music is organizing many bits of information into a coherent whole,” says Gates.ģ. The arranger’s job is to fit these puzzle pieces together to achieve the sound that the client wants. There are intros, verses, choruses, bridges, transitions, endings, and more. While you don’t necessarily need to be an organized person, you need to be a methodical thinker to be an arranger. Gates says that arranging music can be summarized in one word: organization. “When you get into the studio situation, where time is money, you’ve got to be more efficient and that’s where being able to speak the language to the players, engineer, producer, whoever, is really important.” “I think we need to look at music as a language, and to be able to speak it efficiently, cohesively, and with anybody,” says Gates. Additionally, a music arranger must be able to convey music theory concepts to others. It helps if you are proficient at one or more instruments and have experience writing music. Have a Deep Understanding of Music Theoryįirst and foremost, arrangers must know music theory inside and out. If you want to become a music arranger-for yourself, or for others-Gates has some advice for what it takes: 1. Working as an arranger as well as a composer, producer, educator, and orchestrator, some of his credits include commercials for Scope mouthwash, Marlboro cigarettes, Bank of America, Log Cabin maple syrup, and television shows like The Dennis Miller Show, as well as working with jazz great Bill Holman, and film composers Jack Smalley and Richard Band.
#MUSICAL ARRANGER TV#
Over his 35-year career, Gates has arranged and written for TV and radio. Gates conducts his piece titled “Waiting For The Call” with the Poetic Jazz Symphonic at Berklee Performance Center in 2018.
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