THE COLLABORATIVE ARRANGEMENTS OF ALICE PARKER AND ...

he did…made the difference between a perfectly good musical idea and a beautiful thing to listen
to and sing. 42
Shaw’s guiding principles for this series, which he taught to Parker, are summarized in the
following points:
1. Almost all of the arrangements are for unaccompanied voices. Tunes were to be
taken from public domain sources and arranged for a cappella voices primarily for
financial reasons.
2. The scores are excellently edited and clearly marked – but not over-marked. It is
almost always possible to discern their expressive intent, but there is also room for the
conductor to interpret. Too many markings becomes tedious and the conductor is
inhibited; too few and the performance is left without sufficient guidance. These show a
wonderful balance.
3. The pieces are accessible to a good high school choir or community chorus, though they
were originally arranged for the professional voices of the Robert Shaw Chorale, and not
intended for sales to the choral market. Not one can be termed “extremely difficult.”
This is noteworthy, because in our own day, the spirituals of Moses Hogan and the
arrangements of Whitacre and Lauridsen usually require large accomplished choruses for
successful performance, due to frequent advanced divisi voicings. Most of the Parker-
Shaw works can be sung by a small a cappella ensemble.
4. Ranges are not extreme, but fall within the normal tessitura of the voice. Only a few of
the arrangements reviewed have the basses descend to a low D, and the sopranos sing no
higher than an A above the staff. (Basses in “Dere’s No Hidin’ Place” do descend to a
42 Mussulman Dear People, 176, 177.
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