Product Description
Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room: Who on earth would have a need for an arrangement of a Billy Joel song with no piano in the ensemble?
Well folks, apparently somebody did. And as a result, here we have said arrangement licensed and available to you and anybody else who is looking to pay tribute to The Piano Man himself on your next orchestra concert.
The written instrumentation here is for string orchestra, male vocal + drum set. I have, however, included a lead sheet style chord chart at the back of the packet if your ensemble wishes to add any additional rhythm section instruments (like, oh... I don't know... PIANO?!). Additional instruments are not required to fill out this arrangement, although I will say that the drum set is pretty non-negotiable due to some fairly iconic parts that make this song what it is. The vocal solo could also pretty easily be performed by a wide range of instrumental soloists, or even by a competent alto considering Billy's vocal range.
The arrangement here is about as close to the original album version as you can get with a string orchestra, including being in the original key of C Major. The saxophone solo & cadenza have been adapted as a concertmaster solo, written as an ossia line on the violin 1 part. The only noticeable difference you'll find here from Billy's original recording is the opening, which I made into a bit more "string-friendly" moment, and a couple of fills that I took over the bar-line because why the heck not?
Bring the spirit of the city that never sleeps right into the concert hall for your next pops show and please enjoy my take on this classic tune!
Instrumentation - Vocal solo, Violin solo, Strings, Drum Set
Difficulty level - College/Professional. An experienced orchestra could probably sight-read this as long as the players are somewhat familliar with how the tune goes (with the exception of the violin solo). The "cadenza" that trades between violin & vocal does take a bit of rehearsal to work out.
Performance time - Approximately 5:30
Questions? Feel free to contact me via my website, www.kylepudenz.com/ or on the 'Insta @theviolinvagabond.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.