Best Of My Love: SSA Choral Octavo

Brymer's touch with pop repertoire means this arrangement lets the song's warmth shine through while giving SSA singers genuinely satisfying parts to sing. The writing avoids the trap of oversimplification; there's real harmonic texture here without becoming unwieldy for a developing choir.

Intimate and tender, this arrangement brings the gentle, earnest quality of the original into a choral context. The SSA voicing creates a bright, open sound that honors the song's emotional directness.

SSA choirs at the high school level or upper middle school with some vocal control will find this accessible yet rewarding. It works especially well for groups developing blend and balance while building confidence on contemporary material.

• Shape the phrases around the vocal contours rather than the bar lines; this pop ballad breathes naturally when you honor the lyrical arc over metric regularity.
• Balance the harmony by tuning major thirds carefully in the slower sections; even minor adjustments to blend and intonation transform how the arrangement lands emotionally.
• Let the accompaniment breathe with the ensemble. Avoid rushing the tempo in moments where singers and piano can settle into the harmonic colors together.

Pair this with other pop or secular standards for a concert showcasing contemporary songwriting, or use it as a confidence builder midway through the season when singers are ready for mature material but not yet tackling complex classical texts.

• Balancing harmony within a limited voicing range
• Phrasing across bar lines in contemporary arrangements
• Tuning and blend in close harmony passages
• Connecting emotional expression to vocal technique