Musical Arrangements

Who wrote that song? Have you ever noticed the words “arranged by” in our 11AM guide to worship? These words are used in relation to some of the music you hear in worship. A recent example is the Tune Weavers’ rendition of “It is well with my soul.” The song’s lyrics were written by Horatio Spafford in response to a personal tragedy. Philip Bliss wrote the music a few years after the lyrics had been written. If the Tune Weavers had simply sung the basic hymn, the worship guide would have given credit to Bliss and/or Spafford. As it is the quartet sang an “arrangement” of the hymn. That is, the arranger added new harmonies and new accompaniment to the basic structure created by Bliss. (In this instance there were no changes to the lyric, though that sometimes occurs.) Thus we give credit to the arranger instead of the creators of the original. In a perfect world, we would credit everyone involved in the final product, not just the arranger; but with print space at a premium, we give credit just to the arranger. Just so you know, JS Bach himself was an arranger, sometime of his own music. Many of his settings of chorales for organ are extensive arrangements of very straightforward hymn melodies! When you see that a musical selection has been arranged, you might choose to explore and discover the origins of the music. Very often this sort of information will appear on the music ministry blog.