Dear Bruce,

 

I did some Beatles arrangements for a tour of Italy in the 1990s. If you are interested in some of them, let me know at smacmus(a)yahoo.com and I will send them to you.

 

Stuart McIntosh

Hello! My last concert was a British invasion Theme this past May! We absolutely loved Paris Rutherford's  SATB A Cappella Arrangement of The Beatles "Blackbird." If you have access to strings, I would highly recommend doing "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay by Mark Brymer. One of my students arranged it for strings because there is no arrangement to purchase.  Also Kirby Shaw's  A Cappella arrangment of "Here Comes The Sun" was a wonderful addition. You don't mention the level or type of group you are looking for? 

To start with, there are tons of great Beatles arrangements out there. I have a few favorites right now: Here, There and Everywhere arranged for unaccompanied SATB choir by Mac Huff (Hal Leonard - also available SSA); Ticket to Ride arranged for SATB choir (or SAB or 2 part) by Kirby Shaw - this is particularly fun for the layering of ostinato patterns that happens toward the end - really fun and easy to put together. The downside is that it is POP, so you would have to find a library that had it and/or get permission to copy if you have it; The King's Singers have several: Yesterday, Blackbird, Michelle for SATB unaccompanied, Penny Lane for SATTBB - all stunning (Hal Leonard); Also check out Mark Brymer's SATB arrangement of Got to Get You into My Life (Hal Leonard). This is an arrangement of Earth, Wind and Fire's cover, so it could give you a slightly different take, while still keeping with your theme. 

The Police: Walking on the Moon  - arranged for unaccompanied SATTBB choir by Phillip Lawson - this is fabulous (Hal Leonard). Fields of Gold arranged for SATB (also SAB and SSA) by Roger Emerson is also very nice (Hal Leonard).

 

Good luck and have fun with your programming.

 

Liz Pauly