Arrangement I

So far, we focused on one instrument or singer. One melodic line. To finish this guide, we need to take the obvious last step: how to combine multiple great melodies? What should support instruments play? What instruments should there even be?

This is the territory of music recording and mixing. If you want to go really in-depth, research those topics. But it’s also clearly a part of songwriting—and that part will be discussed here.

This is called an arrangement: you arrange multiple parts and melodies into one final song.

Often, when you buy sheet music for a song, the it’s written for piano. The right hand plays the actual melody, the left hand plays the accompaniment. You should view what you learn in these chapters like that. Ways to accompany the main melody you have, to make it sound as full and professional as possible.

I’ll talk about how to combine each element across multiple melodies / instruments,

• Rhythm
• Pitch
• Lyrics

In my view, the melody should inform the instrument to use. If your support melody is filled with only low notes, a bass guitar seems the obvious candidate. If your support melody has quick high notes, a violin or a flute seems in order.

But like before, in reality it’s more a “tug of war”. Sometimes the melody comes first and you look for instruments. Sometimes you have a band and want to write a specific song for that band.

Read the tips below that way: they are general ideas that can be applied in both directions.

Rhythm

Like before, rhythm is the most strict of the three elements. In any song, all the instruments will follow the same tempo and time signature. They all have the same “beat”. That’s pretty much a requirement.

Besides that, you can vary rhythm. But not by much (before it sounds like chaos). In general, I see three layers: slow, medium and fast.

You can fill each layer. But after that? I’ve never heard something with more simultaneous rhythms that still sounds good. Maybe you’ll be the first!

Medium

This will be your regular rhythm. It’s neither extremely fast nor extremely slow. Hence, medium. In a band, this is what the drum plays.

Slow

This is used by instruments just playing chords or long notes. They only hit them once in a while, perhaps once per measure (or even slower).

This means they never interfere with the medium rhythm. They are more of a background noise that sometimes changes.

Fast

This is used by instruments playing rapid notes. (Usually the same note, or a pingpong between two notes, or scales.)

It adds tension, excitement, energy. It also quickly sounds overwhelming, so don’t use this all the time. (Contrast remains key!) Because they go so fast, they usually follow a rigid structure. Usually all these notes are exactly the same length.

We have three melodies with wildly different timings. But by combining medium, fast and slow, this usually works out great.

Pitch

The pitches from multiple melodies will follow the same scale. But you have more freedom here than with rhythm. You can place melodies far apart in pitch. You can add a few “wrong” notes here and there.

Remember that pitch is relative. A pitch can sound different if the support is different. You’ll hear that in the examples below.

Even though you have more freedom, it’s still recommended to have the same three layers: low, medium, and high. I already hinted at their relationship with the examples above. Here it is in words.

The higher your pitch, the faster your rhythm can be. Busy rhythms in the low end should be reserved for when it stands on their own and gets the attention (like a drum or bass solo).

Medium

The one that’s sung. The one that is memorable and leading, if it’s a instrumental piece. They are around the middle pitches of the piano.

The best instrument for these is, therefore, the voice :p Besides that, a piano or guitar is fine. Strings are usually a great complement in this range.

Low

These are your bass guitars, your kick drum, your low cello or piano. (Even the lowest guitar note is still more “medium”.) The lower pitched wind instruments can also work great here.

They are similar to the “slow” rhythm, and usually combined with that. They are support. They provide a foundation that supports the leading melody. As such, they usually just play the root notes of the chords. Sometimes the add transitions or “licks” for interest.

High

These are your high pianos and guitars, your violins and percussion. The higher pitched wind instruments are great here.

More high notes = more excitement and more space.

This means they are similar to the “fast” rhythm. You can go absolutely wild here, and it will just add flavor to the leading melody. In many pop/rock songs, you’ll also see the guitarist/pianist switch to a higher version of the same chords during the chorus.

Lyrics

Lyrics are put on an existing melody, so they follow the same ideas.

In musical theatre, you often have three different melodies (if an ensemble sings together).

• The main vocal from the lead singer
• People singing long, drawn-out “aaaah” and “oooh”
• People singing another lyric entirely, but rapid fire and on a strict rhythm

Create contrast. Either all the voices start a new syllable at the same time, or they switch at clearly different times. Otherwise, it just sounds like stuttering, or like the song is getting stuck.

Hopefully you notice what’s happening here.

• The leading melody is at a pitch to which we’re attuned: speaking and singing range. It’s a balance.
• The other melodies clearly provide support. Either by having a lot of silence or drawn-out notes, or by being extremely structured so we’re not surprised by them. That’s how they fade into the background.

Overlapping lyrics is probably best heard through examples. You might listen to …

• “One Day More” from Les Miserables. (The best example ever, really.)
• “Pretty Women” from Sweeney Todd. (They start singing together somewhere halfway.)
• “The Balled of John McCrae” by The Other Favorites. (In the chorus, they do a neat trick with overlapping lyrics.)
• Artists like First Aid Kit, Simon & Garfunkel, or any group with multiple singers will showcase these techniques in all their songs.

As always …

You can break these “rules”. Have five different rhythms. Let four singers sing entirely different lyrics. Anything goes, as long as it fits your purpose and you manage to make it sound good.

What I’ve explained is a simple way to avoid all those issues and start with solid instrumentation and layers.

Layers are nice. But knowing that you need to add a “low support layer” is half the battle. How to write a melody for that layer? How to do more than just “repeat the root notes”? Any tips and techniques?

As expected, our last chapter will be about that!