Choral Choir,Choral (SATB divisi) - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1310999
By Elton John. By Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Arranged by Roy Rashbrook. 20th Century,A Cappella,Contest,Festival,Singer/Songwriter. 7 pages. Silverbright Music #899973. Published by Silverbright Music (A0.1310999).
One More Arrow originally featured as the closing song of 1983's album Too Low For Zero.
It's a perfect song to include in a programme on the subject of life and remembrance. Bernie Taupin's beautiful lyrics present an elegy for a departed friend or father figure who now lies in the soft brown earth that holds him, forever always young. The lyrics drew from Elton John one of his most gorgeous melodies and I have kept much of the harmony intact in this arrangement, although the second verse gets a bit more ambitious. In addition, the melody is shared out between the various vocal parts, meaning that the basses don't have to spend the entire performance going doo doo!
Scored for Soprano solo, SATB á capella, this moderately difficult arrangement involves frequent splits in the Soprano and Bass parts, occasional splits in the alto and none at all in the tenor! In my arrangements, I like to go one step beyond simply presenting the original song for choir, so in the second verse there's the gentlest of subtle nods to Paul Simon's The Boxer at the mention of he could have been a boxer and the lyric knocked me down provides an opportunity for a choral cascade from top to bottom. And just before the final chorus, the choir's vocal lines represent the trajectory of an arrow, shooting up to a top F in the soprano solo part before descending into the new key of B flat major for the closing section.
For medium to advanced chamber choirs.
