Can't Fight This Feeling: SATB Choral Octavo

Greg Gilpin's arrangement captures the song's signature power ballad quality while making it singable across four voices without sacrificing impact. The piece balances contemporary appeal (students know this song from Glee and beyond) with genuine musical work that rewards rehearsal, making it equally valuable as a performance showcase and a teaching tool. Programming this alongside classical or art song repertoire signals that your choir takes popular music seriously, not as filler but as legitimate artistic material.

A moment of emotional openness rendered in four-part harmony. The arrangement honors the song's vulnerability while adding harmonic depth, creating a sound that feels both intimate and powerful. Singing this captures the tension at the heart of the song: the hesitation and ultimately the honesty of admitting something you didn't expect to feel.

High school and adult choirs looking for contemporary repertoire that students genuinely connect with while offering real musical substance. Groups with access to recorded accompaniment will find this particularly practical for concert preparation and student confidence building.

• Build the emotional arc gradually through the first verse and chorus. Avoid the temptation to sing with full intensity too early; the power comes from restraint that opens into fuller sound as the song progresses.
• Balance the soprano line in the chorus so it soars without overshadowing the other voices. The melody belongs to sopranos, but altos, tenors, and basses carry crucial harmonic movement that gives the arrangement its richness.
• Pay close attention to vowel unification across the sections. The recorded accompaniment can help lock rhythm and pitch, but your blend depends on how consistently each section shapes words like "feeling" and "something" across measures.
• Let the text drive dynamic choices rather than applying uniform crescendos. Phrases like "I can't fight this feeling anymore" deserve emphasis that comes from the meaning of the words, not arbitrary volume increases.

This works beautifully as a closing concert piece, especially on programs that pair it with art song or musical theater selections. The familiarity makes it an excellent choice for family concerts or community sing events, where recognition draws audiences into listening more deeply. Consider programming it midseason when your group has developed ensemble security but still benefits from the motivation that a crowd-pleasing song provides.

• Balancing melody and harmony within a four-part texture
• Sustaining emotional expression across a full song form
• Blending vowels and consonants consistently across voice sections
• Using recorded accompaniment to strengthen rhythmic precision and intonation
• Interpreting pop and contemporary music with the same care as traditional choral literature