One of my a cappella groups, University of Chicago Voices In Your Head, just put the finishing touches on the master of our latest album, Note To Self. The album will be available at our CD release concerts on 05.22.2008 and 05.23.2008. Subsequent releases on acaTunes, iTunes, and possibly a few other internet distributors will follow shortly thereafter.

This album includes recordings of two of my arrangements, Supermassive Black Hole, and Magic. I also studio edited all the other tracks (albiet somewhat conservatively) to enhance style, fullness, intricacy, and optimize the arrangements for the recording process.

Below is a preview of all the tracks on the album:

I am currently in the process of producing Men In Drag's next album, slated for release next spring. Along with tracking and editing the album, I am editing all of their arrangements to get the most out of the studio. Stay tuned for updates...

Magic (opb Ben Folds Five), arranged for The University of Chicago Voices In Your Head for 10 voices (SATB), has been completed.

Stylistically, this arrangement is much more choral than most, and deviates significantly from the texturing of the original. The arrangement begins with a free-form introduction, which leads into a an introduction similar to the original, and then with each verse and chorus develops in intensity and harmonic intricacy, ending with a quasi-free form restatement of the chorus, where each part has an independent melodic line that combine to maintain (something close to) the chord progression of the chorus.

The individual parts are generally more melodic than rhythmic, and utilize a combination of subtle differences in each to maintain flow. Although nothing is particularly complicated, it is decently long and there are no repeated backgrounds. Also a soprano that can float up to a Bb is required.

PDF and MIDI previews will be posted soon.

Just Hold Me (opb Maria Mena), arranged for The Northwestern University Undertones for 12 voices (SATB), has been completed.

PDF and MIDI previews will be available soon...

All At Sea (opb Jamie Cullum), arranged for The University of Chicago Voices In Your Head for 10 voices (SATB), has been completed.

This arrangement is not particularly difficult, and is an excellent song to feature a baritone or low tenor soloist. Musically speaking, the arrangement is more transcriptional due to the original song already consisting of intricate lines and complex harmonies. The arrangement preserves the texture of mostly piano during the verses, and a complex instrumentation during the choruses. Also, the arrangement preserves the extended "instrumental" ending of the original song.

PDF and MIDI previews will be posted soon.

Hey all,

So I just realized today that basically nothing interactive worked on this website. Originally, I didn't have a captcha module installed, so I required user registration in order to post a comment. However, I had the SMTP settings misconfigured, and therefore, no registration details could be sent to anyone. Furthermore, the contact form was also broken for this same reason.

Anyway, now I have installed a captcha system, enabled anonymous comments, fixed user registration, and fixed the contact me form. If you had previously registered an account in the past, you will need to re-register, because there were a ton of spam accounts also pending, thereby making it pretty difficult to discern legitimate accounts from fake ones. I'm sorry about this inconvenience, but things should be working correctly from now on...

My bad...

Chris

That Lonesome Road, arranged for my as-of-yet unnamed quartet is now available. Although stylistically drawing heavily from barbershop, the chord extensions, progressions, and voicings found more often in vocal jazz would make this totally uncontestable. The baritone part is also relatively challenging, with several fairly large consecutive interval jumps landing on somewhat dissonant extensions.

I'm starting to add MIDI previews of my arrangements, so now you can take a listen to an arrangement in its entirety.