Tyler is the founder of Tyler Henderson Arrangements and current director of choirs at Sullivan HS in Illinois. Previously he served as the combo director of the Crete-Monee High School “Cavaliers” in Crete-Monee, IL and served as director of “Girls in Heels” at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, IL. He has a BM in Vocal Music Education from Millikin University.
1. Please describe your basic setup. (Your technical setup as well as the physical space that you work in.)
2. What is your process for brainstorming or inspiration-seeking as you start a new arrangement?
I listen to the originals a bunch of times and each time I try and come up with something new I could write, maybe a new horn lick, or a harmony part. Then I go and try to find covers of the song, to see maybe someone else’s point of view and how they interpreted it to see if I like any of their interpretations. But mostly it’s just me listening to the song over and over and memorizing it before I write it.
3. What is your go-to snack and/or drink when arranging?
I cannot eat when I arrange, I would get so off track so easily. I usually just have a glass of water next to me to stay hydrated.
4. What is one thing you wish you would have known when you started arranging?
5. What is your favorite shortcut or time-saving trick in your notation software?
I cannot take full credit in finding this myself, Brock Keiper showed me this, but in Sibelius, if you type an A, it will play input an A, might not be the right octave, but you can click command up arrow, or command down arrow to put it in the right octave. So I guess that’s two. Here’s a third, if you have a note highlighted, you can press any number and it will put that interval above the note. So if you have a middle C highlighted and press the number 3, an E will appear above the middle C.
