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"That thong th-thong thong thong"

This week I arrange a song from Dru Hill frontman Sisqo, who created one of the most memorable, and successful, pieces of music of the past decade. When I heard it recently, I wanted to see if my arranging style could grab the structure of the original, while adding a bit more drama and tension to it.

Adding to a piece is always difficult for several reasons:

1.) Anything you add shows off your orchestration ability rather than the song, which is wrong. It's like writing a piece of music to a movie -- John Williams writes music that adds to the film, not take away from it. The rule is "a good movie score is one that adds to the film but isn't noticed". And I tried to capture that with this orchestration.

2.) It sounds less like the original. Having violins playing a tremolo in order to create drama is sometimes incredibly powerful, like I did in my Slayer piece, but you have to be careful not to ruin the original. Xylophone runs, flute trills, and trumpet fill-ins allow great color, but too much color takes away from the original beauty.

After the memorable violin intro from Wes Montgomery 'Eleanor Rigby', I wanted the brass to play a big part in this. The trombone crunch, the horns create color leading into the chorus, and the trumpet triumphantly sings a verse.

When arranging, many people think adding more instrumentation creates drama and power, but for me, I feel the opposite is true. I wanted this piece to be powerful and intense, so rather than add parts, I took many away, which is something I experimented with Rihanna's 'Only Girl In The World'. The flutes 'release the tension' when only coupled by the drums, the clarinets add mystery here when I harmonize them with the flutes, and the timpani adds power at the right time to keep the piece progressing into the chorus.

I love this piece, and can remember watching it on TRL after school like it was yesterday. One part that always sticks out to me is the glow-in-the-dark part to the video, which I just thought was the coolest, and then to see the idea resurface as a tour was neat. A lot of music lends itself to Dru Hill and Sisqo's work, and everything about this piece is amazing: the melody, the simplicity of the chord progression, the memorable lyrics, the video, and of course -- the timing of it's release.

Released in 2000, 'The Thong Song' was the second single off of Sisqo's breakthrough Unleash The Dragon. Sisqo and Dru Hill have recently released InDRUpendence Day, so I'm excited to see what stuff they come up with next. The Thong Song was recently even covered by Glee, and remains a staple in our culture. I hope this orchestration adds to the perfection of the original, while still developing a new feel to it.

More music at http://fororchestra.com

Arranged By Walt Ribeiro
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Original Song = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oai1V7kaFBk