Embraceable You: SSAA Choral Octavo

Jay Althouse's arrangement captures the essence of Gershwin's melody while creating a texture that sits naturally for women's voices, and the harmonies hint at jazz without overwhelming singers still building their jazz vocabulary. The octavo length keeps it manageable for ensembles with limited rehearsal time, yet the arrangement demands enough musical maturity to land its expressive moments convincingly.

Warm, intimate, and gently swinging. The melody wraps around you like a familiar embrace (the title tells you exactly what Gershwin intended), and the arrangement keeps things conversational rather than grand. There's elegance here, but no pretension.

Women's choirs looking to expand beyond traditional repertoire into the American songbook will find this arrangement both accessible and rewarding. It works for intermediate ensembles that have solid blend and basic jazz vocabulary; advanced high school or college groups will appreciate the harmonic sophistication beneath what appears simple on the surface.

• Shape the opening phrases with a gentle rubato; Gershwin's melodies breathe, and a straight reading will feel stiff. Let your singers find the natural lean into each phrase.
• Balance the harmony voices so the counterline supports rather than obscures the main tune. In a jazz standard, clarity of melody is everything.
• The harmonies contain jazz sonorities that won't sound right if the intonation is sharp or the blend is scattered. Tune the chord moments with particular care, especially the 7th and 9th chords.
• Record a reference track and use it only sparingly in rehearsal. Your singers should build independence and develop an ear for the changes rather than leaning on the accompaniment.

Slot this into a concert alongside other standards or American songbook selections to show your singers' range beyond classical choral repertoire. It also pairs beautifully with a concert that explores twentieth-century American music or serves as an accessible introduction to jazz harmony within a more traditional concert setting.

• Reading and performing jazz harmony (seventh chords, jazz voicings)
• Balancing melody and harmony voices in a sectional texture
• Singing with swing feel and subtle rhythmic nuance
• Expressive phrasing in a song-like context rather than choral-formal style
• Blend and tuning in tertian harmony specific to jazz sonorities