Does your arrangement really hold your interest? This is the first question you want to address when critiquing your work. If you find yourself falling asleep at first listen, never fear! We can help you break it down.

Here are some questions I got from the Arranging 1: Rhythm Section course which helped me improve my arrangements drastically!

• Do you like your intro?
• Does it draw you into the tune the way you wanted it to?
• Do you like the first eight measures of your “A” section?
• Did you make any variations in the following eight bars of your “B” section?
• If not, are you really happy with hearing the same exact thing again, if the music repeats here?
• If you’re doing a song, and you have a transitional bridge next, is it really effective moving into the chorus?
• Do you feel you’ve achieved a climactic point in the chorus?
• Do you feel that your arrangement overall has effective ebbs and flows—an “emotional contour?”
• Do you really like your ending?
• Is there any part in the arrangement where you get bored and want to be hearing the next section already?

Here is an assignment I worked on in this course. I have included the “before” version—

—and the “final” version which was recorded after going through these questions.

Beyond changing some of the samples and slowing the piece down, I made some variations in the B section, built on the transitional bridge, added a unison chorus with a descending bass line, and wrapped up with a bluegrass “tag” ending. All in all, this arrangement holds my attention more than the first one.

Although much could still be improved, this process plus feedback from my instructor Sarah Brindell and my peers helped a great deal!

What do you think?

A tritone is a musical interval of three whole steps, or 6 half steps. The interval is also known as an augmented fourth, a dimished fifth, or the ‘devil’s interval’ due to it’s dissonant sound.

This interval has been and continues to be utilized in music of all styles and can be found in tunes like “Maria” (from West Side Story), “Purple Haze, “and even Rachmaninoff’s famous Prelude in C# minor.

Tritone substitutions in chord progressions use the same concepts used to build tritones, but the focus is on the harmonic level, not melodic. These substitutions can be used in 12 Bar Blues, ii V I progressions, and many more complex changes as well.

Let’s take a standard ii V I progression in the key of C major to show a tritone substitution in action.

The typical progression would be as follows…

The chord substituted in the progression will be the dominant 7th, the G7 chord. Three whole tones above the note G is the note Db, which will be our new root for our dominant 7th chord.

The new progression would be as follows…

Musicians use tritone substitutions to vary the feel of repeated chord progressions and to facilitate stepwise motion. Re-harmonizing is one of the more interesting advanced topics taught here at berkleemusic and is covered in Getting Inside Harmony 2, which is authored by esteemed Berklee Professor and Assistant Film Scoring Chair Michael Rendish.

Interested students should either complete Getting Inside Harmony 1 or have equivalent experience.

• Listen to a Tritone Example MP3
• Explore Berkleemusic’s online Music Theory courses and certificate programs

Being an international student of Berklee College of Music, I remember wasting a lot of time translating note values, and accidentals while in class or speaking to other musicians. As I believe this to be a common issue, I decided to put together a few guides to help international students learn musical terms used in the United States.

I wanted the guides to be as user friendly and as professional looking as possible, I went to fellow staff member Jonathan Feist for his advice. Jonathan is not only the managing editor of Berklee Press, but he is also a composer, writer, author, and instructor. He authored and continues to teach our Music Notation Using Finale course, so I was thrilled when he offered his help in assisting me with this project.

Feel free to click on the guides below if you want to print them out!

Accidentals and notes.

Measure, staff, key signatures etc.

Note duration, quarter note, half note, whole rest etc.