A cappella arranging | Descants: When it gets high and loud!

A cappella arranging | Descants: When it gets high and loud! | Choir With Knut

Рет қаралды 5,897

3 жыл бұрын

You know that part of Christmas carols where the sopranos sing something that isn't the melody, and super high and loud? That's the descant, and it's become a very important part of Christmas choral music! So in this episode we'll look at what descants are, and how to write one yourself!
Choir With Knut is your number one resource for learning how to arrange for choral and a cappella groups! Through informative videos, you’ll learn about the voice types, how to structure a vocal arrangement or composition, how to go about arranging for voices/singing as opposed to other instruments, and all sorts of related topics, tricks and tips!
Singers:
Therese Ramstedt
Hilde Aas Nøst
Sylvia Schmidt-Silas
Knut Olav Rygnestad
Additional singers:
Olly Shelton
Marit Røkeberg
Liv Barath
Scripted, filmed, and edited by
Knut Olav Rygnestad
Music by
Knut Olav Rygnestad
Intro and credits graphics/animation by
Ingmar Kamalagharan
Pictures:
LCV (Guy Bell, Carsten Windhorst, AK Studios)
Pixabay
RoxRox
Special thanks
Anil Kamalagharan
Didier Rochard
Manuela Twrsnick
Marcel Hunziker
Marit Røkeberg
Therese Ramstedt
Produced and directed by
Knut Olav Rygnestad
#choir #acappella #arranging #arrange #choral #vocal #voices #acapella

Пікірлер: 15

@Cookster997 Жыл бұрын

14:14 Hairs stand up is definitely a way to say it in English! Sometimes people say "Hair on the back of my neck stood up" or things like that. Thanks for the video!

@lennartbjorksten707 4 ай бұрын

Are you familiar with Libera? Best boy choir in the world, and their use of descants is a key part of the "Libera sound". They use them a lot in almost every song, Christmas carol or not - and not just at the very end. Usually it's just one kid singing the descant part, not an entire soprano section. You might not even notice it if you aren't paying attention, but it really adds to the arrangement. Here's a sampler. Descant starts after the first verse. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/la-UrM6hmN6UlJs.html

@composingatnight 2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely wonderful, my friend. This is the very 1st time I saw one of your videos and it made my day. I just had surgery and I am bedridden at the moment so this brought joy to my heart. I am both a composer and trumpet player so descants are a part of my life. Great job explaining and composing yours for this demonstration. I love playing that Wilcocks every Christmas, and just this coming July I will have my version of Holy Holy Holy played in America.

@abagatelle 3 жыл бұрын

As ever, spot on 👍👏

@KnutsMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much! 🙂

@Michael-Bennett 3 жыл бұрын

Great video! And those lyrics really brought tears to my eyes. Very moving! 😊

@KnutsMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, I was crying while I wrote them because they were so heartfelt 🤣

@slvzegan 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I enjoyed the video. Kudos to the lyricist as well, who really captured that holiday spirit! 👍👍👍😉😉😉

@KnutsMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Hahah, I'll let them know! 😅 Thank you very much for your comment! 🙂

@Armando2609 3 жыл бұрын

Well put together and usefull as always! I would love to see a video about body percussion and/or percussion in general that works well with a capella music. I often find that with small groups, some typical percussion choices can seem too loud or out of place, and it can be tricky to create a fresh sounding body percussion part.

@KnutsMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment, and for the suggestion! I think I can do an episode on body percussion; lots of interesting stuff to do and talk about, and it can be a challenge to strike a balance between getting a cool rhythm part but also make it easy enough to sing and do body percussion at the same time! 😀

@ianfrancis3222 3 жыл бұрын

Loved this!!!

@KnutsMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I'm happy to hear that you liked it! 🙂

@cobyd8490 Жыл бұрын

Serious question. Is a guitar solo considered a Descant?

@KnutsMusic Жыл бұрын

Hi! I guess it depends on how and where it's played! A descant is usually a sung line that happens alongside a melody in counterpoint, though I suppose a case could be made that if this line is played on a guitar it would still sort of be a descant line, only not sung! That being said, if it's played solo, i.e. without another melody happening at the same time, it's not really a descant, since a descant is a countermelody! 😉