Vocal Arranging for Composers

Description

When vocal arranging, what are the best voice ranges to write within? What clefs do you use to write vocal parts? How many parts are appropriate?

Carmel Dean, New York based composer and Broadway vocal arranger, walks you through her techniques and tips for creating the most artistically satisfying (and achievable!) vocal arrangements! Using vocal arranging examples from her own work (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Hands on a Hardbody, Renascence) and other inspiring Broadway scores, she will break down what makes a great vocal arrangement, and how you too can get the most out of your cast (large OR small!).

Zoom recorded Masterclass is 1 hour, 35 minutes long.

This class is session 4 of the 2020 Fall Songwriting Masterclass Series

CARMEL DEAN is a Composer, Arranger, Musical Director and Pianist. Her first musical, Renascence, was recently produced Off-Broadway by the award-winning Transport Group, and was named Best New Musical at the 2018 Off-Broadway Alliance Awards. The Original Off-Broadway Cast album is available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Her song cycle Well-Behaved Women, starring Broadway stars LaChanze, Bonnie Milligan, Liz Callaway, Barbara Walsh and Andrea Burns, among others, recently premiered to two sold-out performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City. An album and licensing is forthcoming.

As a Musical Supervisor and Arranger her upcoming projects include The Notebook with music by Ingrid Michaelson. Carmel was Musical Director for the Broadway musical If/Then, starring Idina Menzel, and was Music Supervisor of the subsequent National Tour. Other Broadway credits include Hands on a Hardbody, American Idiot, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway credits include Everyday Rapture, Vanities and Elegies by William Finn. International credits include Chicago in Hong Kong and the 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Sydney. Carmel has also served as Chita Rivera’s Musical Director for many national and international appearances, and she performed with Green Day on the Grammy Awards in 2010.

Other compositions include the YouTube series Project: Song Blog; music for the Disney TV show Johnny & the Sprites; and Songs of Innocence & Experience (co-composed with William Finn, Deborah Abramson, Vadim Feichtner & Gi-hieh Lee.)

Carmel is a native of Perth, Western Australia, and received a B.Mus. from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). In 2001 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States, and subsequently graduated from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program with a MFA in Musical Theatre Writing. She is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Workshop. www.carmeldean.com