All The Things You Are: SSA Choral Octavo

Mark Hayes brings the harmonic sophistication of this Kern classic into clear focus with his SSA voicing, creating an arrangement that sits beautifully for women's voices without oversimplifying the song's jazz vocabulary. The form remains intact enough that singers understand the architecture of a standard, yet the part writing remains accessible for high school and community choirs.

Sophisticated and warm. This arrangement captures the urbane, romantic quality of the original while making it feel singable and immediate for women's voices. There's an elegance here that doesn't depend on large forces.

SSA choirs looking for repertoire that feels contemporary and jazz-inflected without requiring a rhythm section or complex vocal percussion. Directors seeking a single-page piece that teaches harmonic awareness and phrasing in a familiar, rewarding context.

• Pay attention to the jazz phrasing in the melody line; rhythmic precision matters less than shape and swing. Let phrases breathe naturally rather than metronomically.
• Balance the harmonic colors in the middle and lower voices. Hayes likely uses them to support the jazz changes, so avoid letting them disappear beneath the soprano line.
• Work the bridge section with particular care. This is typically where the harmonic movement becomes most interesting in a standard, and it's your moment to showcase what the arrangement offers musically.

Pair this with other jazz standards or American songbook material for a concert focused on vocal jazz history, or use it as a sophisticated closer for a pops concert where the audience's familiarity with the melody provides immediate connection. Its single page makes it ideal for inclusion in a larger show choir or cabaret-style program.

• Reading and executing jazz phrasing and swing rhythms
• Voice leading through jazz harmonic progressions
• Balancing melodic and harmonic lines in a three-part texture
• Approaching the bridge section of a standard with structural awareness