It’s Almost Here…

Forgive me, readers, for it has been eight months since my last confession…I mean Blog Post. Where has that time gone? And more importantly, what was I doing with that time?

Well, among other things, I was completing the writing of an instructional book on choral arranging,  And I’m happy to say that it is now at the printer and should be available soon. (I’ll make the official announcement as soon as it’s truly available, trust me.) The book is called, simply, Principles of Choral Arranging. It should prove useful to the novice, the semi-pro, and even the professional arranger.  It contains a lot of basic information, and a wealth of wisdom from the likes of Joe Martin, Mark Hayes, David Clydesdale, Phillip Keveren, and others. There are 200+ music examples in it, demonstrating everything from the effective range of an SATB choir, to how to write a rhythm chart (for you pop choral arrangers), to the “Drop-2″ writing method, to piano accompaniments.

There are chapters on the basics of music theory, writing for mixed voices, extended chords, chord substitutions, piano accompaniments, and even the print music publishing business.  It comes in a large (8.5 x 11”) format, and is coil-bound (so it will lay out on a piano for easy reference to the many examples).

To begin with, it will be available exclusively at my website.  But I intend to make it available at Amazon, as well.

So, I apologize for the lapse in blogging.  (I’ll probably write another blog post addressing the weirdness of the past year and how it affected us musicians.) But, I wasn’t napping. Really. I really was working the whole time.  And there will be more to come on the book, new music, and other positive things in the near future.