Humorous A Cappella Arrangements

Andy Beck : A Cappella Overtures

Review: Six world-famous opera overtures arranged for SATB choirs with a sense of adventure. Sung entirely on nonsensical "dops" and "bops," this fast-paced musical collage is guaranteed to both entertain and educate! Includes snippets from: Fidelio, The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, and William Tell.

Bobs : The Bobs Songbook

Review: Primarily A Cappella is proud to bring you the first ever songbook from the Bobs. "A Cappella Songbook, Vol. 1" features 10 original Bobs songs with arrangements by Richard Greene, Gunnar Madsen and Joe Finetti, with adaptions and transriptions by Deke Sharon and Anne Raugh. Now you too can "Sing the Songs of..." the Bobs.

Songlist: Bus Plunge, Trash, Through The Wall, Helmet, Johnny's Room, Share A Load, Spontaneous Human Combustion, Drive By Love, When We Start To Sing, Elwood Decker

Bobs : The Bobs Songbook Vol 2

Review: Here's another 10 terrific original songs as sung by the Bobs. This songbook covers the decade of unforgettable tunes, from "My Shoes" and "Pounded on a Rock" to "Kill Your Television" , "Late Model Love" and "There's a Nose Ring in my Soup" Sing them if you dare!

Songlist: Pounded on a Rock, My Shoes, Angels of Mercy, Forty Seven Reasons, Rainbird, Kill Your Television, Stranger Than Love, Late Model Love, There's a Nose Ring in my Soup, 50 Kilowatt Tree

Bruce Sled : Fun and Nonsense

Review: "Jing-ga-lye-ya" has been an instant success for everyone who's tried it. Using nonsense words, it is rhythmic and upbeat, and uses cyclical repetition in the parts creating an incredibly catchy groove! A must-see. "La-ba-lin-da" - This gentle, lilting song is flirtatious, with a swinging Latin beat. "Simba Samba" Here we go! This is a Latin-style romp. Women will be swinging their hips and men will be looking ever so suave! (At least that's the theory.) "Binga Bango" is another up-beat and exciting piece from Bruce. Perfect for High School or community choirs.

Songlist: Bingo Bango, Jing-ga-lye-ya, La-ba-lin-da, Simba Samba

Eric Whitacre : Animal Crackers

Review: Here are six whimsical settings of Ogden Nash poems that are perfect for a lighter portion of your program or as an encore. They are easily-learned and fun to perform!

Songlist: The Panther, The Cow, The Firefly, The Canary, The Eel, The Kangaroo

Frank Bridge : Peter Piper

Review: Here is a delightful extended arrangement of the classic children's nursery rhyme. The tongue-twister becomes a fun and challenging piece to sing. It also helps with annunciation, teaches alliteration and a useful teaching tool as well as a great deal of fun for both the performers and audiences alike.

Gordan Hamilton : The Facebook Song

Review: Made popular on Toy Story 3 = Awesome this humorous piece simultaneously ridicules and celebrates user-generated content. The lyrical main theme rolls around in vibrant familiarity, always rocking between the major keys of C# and E. This tension between genuine and mock exuberance is the central irony of the piece.

Gyorgy Ligeti : Nonsense Madrigals

Review: First premiered by the King's Singers in Queen Elizabeth Hall these compositions are a delight and will be a welcome addition to your repertoire. English text by William Rands and Lewis Carroll. Difficult.

Songlist: Two Dreams and Little Bat, Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree, The Alphabet, Flying Robert, The Lobster Quadrille, A Long, Sad Tale

Irving Fine : McCord's Menagerie

Review: Subtitled "Four Vivariations", Irving Fine's McCord's Menagerie, are settings of humorous poems by David McCord. With the bumbling "loo's" accompanying the tenor melody, Fine's setting of Vultur Gryphus implies a harmless creature. Instead of the movie western's ominous bird associated with death, Fine's animal seems too lazy and stupid to get his own food! Jerboa, classified as the genus jaculus jaculus, is as active and scary in Fine's world as Vultur Gryphus is laid back and friendly. Fine agrees with those to whom a darting (the translation of the Latin jaculus) small rodent is sinister and creepy, attributes he conveys through abrupt entrances and minor tonality. In Mole McCord compares the over-soul of man, a Unitarian concept put forth by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with the limited capacities of the mole. In Clam, Fine and McCord give in to their silliest selves. McCord observes how man the diner and clam the dinner (in chowder no less) both evolved from the same ancestor; man is saved from the clam's fate, according to McCord, by his own initiative and work ethic. Fine has a lot of fun with the sounds suggesting insouciance, which explains why the clam never got ahead! Lots of fun here.

Songlist: Jerboa, Vultur Gryphus, Clam, Mole

James Fankhauser : Risky Encores

Review: A collection of folk songs arranged as encores by Jim Fankhauser for his University Choir - very suitable for "non-encore" use. They are fairly simple but do require a moderate amount of rehearsal to sing well. Lots of fun here!

Songlist: Mr's Murphy's Chowder, Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl, Good Fish Chowder, Shootin' With Rasputin, Viva Tutte Le Vezzose, On Mondays I Never Want to Go to Work

Norman Luboff : Much Ado About Nothings

Review: With the sub-title of "13 Paradoxical Pithy Paraphrases for Punaccompanied Pchoir" these very short pieces are a delight. Some of the texts are from epigrams, proverb, signboards etc. most of them however are completely manufactured nonsense. Lots of fun here.

Songlist: Something Lovely, Punctuality, Prayer, Age Before Beauty, Mother, A Fool, Two Heads, The Centipeded, My Aunt, Love, Tally Ho, Air Pollution, That's All

P.D.Q. Bach - Peter Schickele : Madcap Madrigals

Review: A whimsical collection of original madrigals written by the maestro of classical mirth. Your ensemble will have as much fun singing them as the audience does listening.

Songlist: My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth, Four Curmudgeonly Canons, The Queen to Me a Royal Pain Doth Give, O Little Town of Hackensack, Throw The Yule Log On, Uncle John, Good King Kong Looked Out, Two Hearts, Four Lips, Three Little Words

Paul Carey : Play With Your Food

Review: This clever, lighter concert number for more advanced choirs is a three movement set featuring humorous texts by poets May Swenson, Sid Hoddes and Grey Held, inventively interpreted for choirs by composer Paul Carey. A challenging performance piece, but a lot of fun! Movement titles: Summer's Bounty, Mashed Potato/Love Poem, Vending Machine. Total Duration: ca. 7:00. (Movements may be performed separately.)

Songlist: Summer's Bounty, Mashed Potato / Love Poem, Vending Machine

Peter Schickele : Go For Broke - A Comedy For Chorus

Review: Around the turn of the 17th century of small group of Italian noblemen and composers, seeking to re-create classic Greek tragedy as they understood it. invented the opera. A somewhat earlier, simpler, and less revolutionary form of musical storytelling was the madrigal opera or madrigal comedy developed by Vecchi and other composers. These works, which were not necessarily staged, consisted of a series of madrigals that told a comic story; unlike opera as we have come to know it, however, this was basically choral form, with vocal ensemble playing the part of a narrator as well as that of each individual character.

Go For Broke is patterned on this model. It consists of six madrigals, that tell the story of a man who find out that good luck is not enough. Sometimes the chorus' words are those of a narrator (Prologue: "Here's John Q. Public..."), and sometimes they are those of our hero himself, or his friend the bartender, or the host of people who descend upon him when good fortune strikes (the middle numbers: Taxes, Charity, and Company at the Bar). The Finale even has a moral. The piece may be done as a concert work or it may be staged in a variety of ways. Although some of the sections may, at the discretion of the performing group, employ solo voices, GO FOR BROKE is basically a story told by a chorus.

Songlist: Prologue, Taxes, Charity, Kin, Company at the Bar, Finale

Stephen Hatfield : Three Ways To Vacuum Your House

Review: These original pieces incorporates a multiplicity of multicultural influences, from Peru to Scotland. The text is a sequence of nonsense syllables, imitating the humming and muttering one does during housework. The first movement explores various hemiola patterns culminating in vocalized drum patterns modeled on Arabic and Indian traditions. The second movement, whose slow groove is derived from Reggae, incorporates tonalities and scale structures from Brazil and Lebanon. The final movement starts in Peru, and works upward through Latin America only to discover a hitherto unexplored Mexican/Scottish border. Lots of fun to both teach and sing!

Songlist: Three Ways To Vacuum Your House - Part I, Three Ways To Vacuum Your House - Part II, Three Ways To Vacuum Your House - Part III

Various Arrangers : A Novelty Christmas for Childrens Choir

Review: We all love the traditional carols however how about livening up the Christmas concerts with some humor with these unique novelty songs. "An Elvis Christmas" - Santa is definitely in the building with this fun 4-minute medley of Christmas songs identified with the King of Rock & Roll . "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake" by the esteemed Roger Emerson is a hilarious holiday spoof that everyone will enjoy! "All Because of Mr. Santa Claus" is a light-hearted song by Hal David and John Cacavas is sure to put everyone in the holiday spirit! Lots of fun here.

Songlist: Grandma's Killer Fruitcake, The Chipmunk Song, All Because of Mr. Santa Claus, An Elvis Christmas, Skateboardin' Santa

Various Arrangers : Fun Sounds!

Review: These songs gives your choir the chance to sing something different and have lots of fun while doing so! "A Song Of Rain" gives your chorus a chance to play with sound: tone clusters build, and the choral wind machine cranks up, to herald the storm. Then the choral "pitter-patter," using hocket and overlapping rhythms, portrays the rain falling on parched Australian towns. Elizabeth Barrett Browning meets Mae West in this swing setting of the immortal love poem "How Do I Love Thee?", paraphrased by the composer. "Boh-doo" and "wah-wah" scat passages put an original spin on this text, and bring the house down when it is performed with gusto. Winner of the Diva Complex 1996 Composition Contest. The utterly silly text free-associates from "Tango Dada" ("A tutu and also a tattoo") as the chorus sings sultry tango rhythms. With castanets, of course! Written for Diva Complex. With pentatonic tunes backed by syncopated repeated patterns "Make Melody", in 4/4 throughout, recalls Alice Parker's leading of improvisatory sings.

Songlist: A Song Of Rain, How Do I Love Thee?, Tango Dada, Sing and Make Melody

Various Arrangers : Novelty Christmas

Review: Add some fun to your Christmas shows! "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas" - If you've been looking for a fresh, playful holiday song to put a big smile on everyone's face, look no further! This forgotten classic from the late 1950's big, bright, brassy, and sassy, with the melody shared by all four voice parts, and even a section where the group becomes a (vocal) brass band. It is a Dr. Demento Christmas staple. "Up on the Housetop" - "Bring me an iPhone with lots of apps" - this jazzy update to the traditional Christmas song really connects with the good little boys and girls of the wired generation! Easily customized with your own personal gift list, this will be a perfect holiday novelty song for concerts and caroling gigs alike! The impeccable Michele Weir touch is clearly evident in this warm un-accompanied arrangement of the Charlie Brown classic song "Christmas Time Is Here". Bells are associated with the holiday season as well as celebratory and inspirational tributes and events. "Ding-a Ding-a Ding" will be your favorite choral imitating the ring and sound of bells. Polyphonic and homophonic sections play off each other and add to the diverse sound. Based on Chopin's Minute Waltz, this lighter arrangement called "Christmas In A Minute" will lift any group to a new level. An excellent encore!

Songlist: Christmas In A Minute, I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas, Christmas Time Is Here, Up on the Housetop, Ding-a Ding-a Ding

Various Arrangers : Real Men A Cappella!

Review: Have some fun with your male voices with these clever and humorous arrangements! "Manly Men's Chorus Extravaganza" is a light-hearted choice for men's choir, the "extravaganza" pokes gentle fun at the male chorus singing tradition. Echoing themes well-known to most men's choirs, this is a singer's song. Moderately easy. From the Real Group's Anders Edenroth "The Modern Man" is great fun for choirs and their audiences. It's a 'tongue-in-cheek' piece on the meaning of being 'a modern man.' Fine selection for festival and concert. Written expressly for the three men of Swedish vocal jazz phenomenon The Real Group. Great entertainment!

Songlist: Manly Men's Chorus Extravaganza, The Modern Man

Various Arrangers : Reindeer Songs

Review: Yo! Santa! Tell us about those reindeer! Dealing with the Reindeer - "Eating and eating, always feeding. We need a haystack the size of the Superdome." It's a part rap, part song and 100% fun! Sure to bring down the house at your Christmas concerts. Features a rappin' Santa and singing elves who complain that the reindeer are "eating us out of house and home." Santa's reindeer are bringin' down the house this year with their funky music, rhythmic rap, and hip-hop moves! Wake up, I think I hear Santa and his eight reindeer. And they're rocking out to the jolly sounds of this 1950s inspired tune by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse. You won't need to spend much time learning these simple voice parts, clever words, or fun choreography, but the audience at your holiday concert will really put their hooves together for this runaway hit. You may even get a standing "Hoove-ation!". These are all fun arrangements that will liven up any Christmas concert.

Songlist: Dealing with the Reindeer, Hip-Hop Reindeer, The Reindeer Hop, The Reindeer Twist, Reindeer on the Roof, The Reindeer Rap

Various Arrangers : Six Silly Songs of the Season

Review: Wonderful and Wacky Holiday Chorals for 2-part Voices. The Alfred Top Pop collections feature outstanding arrangements of songs from the popular music genre. These publications provide exciting contemporary, and educationally-sound arrangements for singers of all ages, from elementary through high school, to college and adult choirs.

Songlist: Born To Shop, Merry Christmas to Me!, The Reindeer Rap, S.A.N.T.A., Snow Day!, The Twelve Groovy Days of Christmas

William Schuman : Mail Order Madrigals

Review: William Schuman's hilariously entertaining Mail-Order Madrigals, the words taken straight out of an 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog.

Songlist: Superfluous Hair, Dr. Worden's Pills, Sweet Refreshing Sleep, Attention, Ladies