Category: Arrangements

“In Christ Alone” is a popular modern Christian hymn, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Composed in 2001, the lyrics of this song are credal in nature, speaking about the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

This arrangement is an adaptable arrangement suitable for many uses. The first, repeated section contains a basic hymn tune arrangement that is easy and able to be played by all players. If accompanying singing, then you can just repeat this section for the four verses.
Following this, the arrangement explores the text musically. A short shift into the tonic minor expands the words “There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain” before a sudden shift back to the tonic major with the words “Bursting forth in glorious day.” The accompaniment becomes a triplet ostinato which helps bring out the victory theme in the latter part of this verse, invoking a feel of a snare drum in a marching band.
The music then starts preparing for a final verse, taking a small melodic motif and passing it around the quartet as it modulates up a tone to E major. The last half of this verse is repeated, with the second violin accompanying part mirroring the melody an octave lower to provide a base for the soaring melody of the first violin high on the E string.

This arrangement would be suitable for church accompaniment (first section repeated), or for special performance. The first violin part is quite advanced, ranging to G#6 (sixth position), however the remainder of the parts would be playable by intermediate players.

Sunflower (from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) is an atmospheric, glitchy, soulful track that perfectly captures the movie that it’s from. Walking the line “between hip hop and dream pop” (Patrick Doyle, Rolling Stone), this arrangement for String Quartet attempts to capture that essence in a style that is still enjoyable for the players.

The glitchy, sample driven nature of the track means that the inner parts have a fair bit of repetitive parts, while the melody – influenced by hip hop, is rhythmically complex, yet melodically simple and repetitive.

Coming from Avril Lavigne’s sixth studio album, Head Above Water was Lavigne’s first single since 2015. The song details her struggle with Lyme disease, writing “I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down. I felt like I was drowning. Like I was going under water and I just needed to come up for air. Like I was in a river being pulled in a current. Unable to breathe. Praying to God for Him to help me just keep my head above the water. To help me see through the stormy weather.”

“Head Above Water” is a “powerful, spiritual epiphany” (Marina Pedrosa, Billboard), with a “highly personal note” (Robin Murray, Clash). A pop rock ballad that could just as easily fit as a praise and worship song.

This arrangement for String Quartet has the melody mostly in the Violin 1 part, with one section with the melody taken into the Cello – where it goes into the Treble Clef to a C above Middle C. 

Arrangement for String Quartet. Starts in Db and modulates to D major. Melody passes through all instruments.

“People Get Ready” was written by Curtis Mayfield, and was first a hit for the Impressions, with noteworthy covers by Bob Marley and the Wailers, Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck, and Human Nature. Rolling Stone magazine named it the 24th greatest song of all time, 20th in their list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks, and has been included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The lyrics draw on the religious messages Mayfield was hearing from his church, but also draws on the tradition of African American freedom songs. As such, this song is useful in a wide variety of situations.