The end of August, I purchased a music arranging course by Greg Howlett called
Arranging: Seven Steps From The Initial Concept To A Polished Performance. I wanted to encourage fellow musicians to check out the course! There are many other courses on the website that look interesting as well and I hope you'll take some time to check them out. The website is:
www.greghowlett.com
Greg Howlett has many free arrangements and tips on how to play better, accompany, arrange, etc. posted on his blog. He has recorded many cds, published 12 music courses and offers an online music school. I enjoy his style of playing ~ not flashy or hugely difficult, but simple and flowing. There are a few pieces that are more difficult, but still sound good. As I like to play pieces that flow and aren't too difficult, the way he teaches fits well. If you enjoy playing music with huge chords or big runs up and down the piano, then his courses might give you some food for thought.
The course is very challenging and it's going to take me quite awhile to get through all the steps of arranging. The first step is to pick a song to arrange. This wasn't too difficult since I had quite a few in mind. The second step was to think about how you wanted the end result to sound and how you want the listener to feel after listening. The third step is deciding on the song form ~ the number and order of verses and choruses. Fourth is developing "the hook", which is a part of the song that repeats throughout. This is going to take me awhile to work on!
I'm working on arranging two pieces at the moment and when they're done I'll post them! These are the first two songs I've tried to arrange besides my own compositions.