What is your favorite acapella chorus piece?

Question:I want to choose a good harmony sheet music for satb, sab, or possibly all guy barbershop. It needs to be very fun to sing and sound cool when correctly peformed, but not super super difficult. Any suggestions?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I want to choose a good harmony sheet music for satb, sab, or possibly all guy barbershop. It needs to be very fun to sing and sound cool when correctly peformed, but not super super difficult. Any suggestions?

both the King's Singers and the Swingle Singers have wonderful acappella arrangements. Many of their charts are also scored for unusual combinations.
the King's Singers have a book devoted to only the Beatles, one for folk songs, etc. I like to shop with an on-line store: acapella.com which is centered in Maine. They have the best selection I have come across, and reasonable prices. they also have every combination you can think of, from simple two-part for kids all the way up to 16 part for humungous chorus. they also have an on-line desk where you can get spot-on info and recommendations. ( hey, I live in europe, so this is not a paid advertisement)

THE ONE WHERE ALL THE PEOPLE SING WITHOUT MUSIC .

Music store has collection books of barbershop basics. Don't remeber titles. But some of the peices are easy to sing, and so makes it fun.
If you want classic, get an old hym book and practice a short simple one you are familiar with, so you can follow the parts easily.
Then branch out to classic stuff from there.
If you want pop, remember most is NOT made for accapela
ASK the music store guy, that is why he is there.
good luck have fun

The fact that you say "satb, sab, or possibly all guy barbershop" is a little frightening. What personnel do you have? Do NOT make the mistake of trying to re-assign parts in an SATB arrangement to four guys -- it doesn't work. Simlarly, don't try to give an all-girls chorus SATB or TTBB material and re-assign parts.

Now, that said, if you've got guys, barbershop music is still some of the most beautiful music around but it is VERY exacting. Done correctly, it will literally stop people in their tracks. I was in a barbershop quartet that performed at an interval (not an intermission, more like a brief pause) in the middle of a play, and people would get up to get a drink and as soon as we started, they'd stop where they were and listen, often missing the chance to get their drinks or go to the bathroom. It is also a lot of fun to do when you "bust" a major or minor seventh chord. The hair just goes up on the backs of your arms. And if you have all-girls, there is Sweet Adelines music for SSAA that is better for a girl chorus than trying to do TTBB music.

The best SATB a capella stuf is transcribed from recordings of The Manhattan Transfer -- "Operator," "Tuxedo Junction," "Ray's Rockhouse," that sort of thing. Again, this is very exacting ( and always best when done with 4 people instead of 40) but with different chord structures.

"Goodbye My Coney Island Baby"

Here's a link to the lyrics

http://www.htmlism.com/mark/archives/000...

I first heard it on "The Jetsons" when George was in a barbershop quartet but they used the words "Goodbye My Hot Orbit Baby"

It's a really catchy tune
HGere's a really good video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424IAb1KP...

I agree completely with "actormyk" above. If you end up choosing a barbershop piece, it will impress the audience, but it will take quite a lot effort, especially if your singers aren't experienced in it.

But if you're looking for fun stuff, seek out the Manhattan Transfer stuff. Then again, they did little unaccompanied songs.

The majority of my acapella experience is in classical music, but I won't mention any pieces because I surmise you're not interested in those genres.

The morrow plots you can even put little movement things
It's by "the other guys" they are a man's acapella group from university of illinois it was hilarious!!!!!! They have a bunch of cd's on their site and could also give you ideas for other songs. Here's their site!
http://www.otherguys.org/