Download work sheet here- Getting Started At Midi Arranging
Listen to MP3 examples here- MP3 musical examples
1. Access material for project
Open your Internet Browser and paste this URL in the box at the top.
http://www.barbershop.org/document-center/category/19-free-music-for-printing.html
2. Print sheet music
Print out sheet music for “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, second song from the bottom of the page.
Page #1 of downloads
3. Set up score in Finale-
Start your Finale program and set the Wizard for SATB. Set it up for cut time, four flats, half note pickup and 69 measures in length.
4. Enter individual parts to SATB lines
Change Alto line to bass clef (click on clef tool at top of page, double click on pickup measure and when option box comes up, double click on the bass clef sign- fourth from the left. Repeat on the first full measure). Manually enter all of the notes from the Tenor, Lead (Alto), Baritone, Bass lines on the corresponding lines of the score into Finale (Song Writer). For this exercise, you need only to transfer the first page. If you want to complete this number for future use, continue as far as you wish.
Important Comment: At this point you may wonder what arranging midi file has to do with your first four instructions for we have not yet modified any midi files. I wanted you to be able to enter notes from an existing printed score before we start on cutting and copying midi information. Many of the tunes that you will want to arrange may already be in hard copy form and with this post, you will understand how these printed sheet can be modified for your use.
Now that you have entered each note from the original score into your four lines in your Finale program, make sure you save this material before continuing on to the next instruction.
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5. Sustaining notes
Combine every repeated note to give more of a more choral sound rather than a choppy, mechanical sound. This is much more instrumental than the first version.
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6. Adjusting Range
Alto and bass lines are changed to treble clef and both are raised an octave. The Tenor line is also lowered an octave and now becomes the third part. The fourth part is checked to make sure that all notes are playable. If fourth part is below the playable range of the instrument, the whole chart must be transposed so that it fits within the range of every instrument.
Page #4 of downloads
7. A Simple Arrangement
To illustrate how this material can be altered to resemble a real arrangement, I began with the original melody of eight measures and then added the soprano or the third part for the next eight measures. After that I added the bass part, again for eight measures and finally added the alto part for the last eight measures. To give it a more interesting close, I just copied and pasted the last four measures in as a tag.
