Get Happy: SoundTrax Digital Audio Download

Philip Kern's arrangement captures the swagger and rhythmic snap of the original without sacrificing singability. The piece gives your singers a genuine taste of jazz phrasing and swing feel while remaining accessible to high school and community choirs. Programming "Get Happy" signals to your audience that you're mining the real repertoire of American popular song, not settling for generic pop covers.

Buoyant and infectious, with a melody that practically bounces off the page. The harmonic palette has real jazz color without straying into harmonic complexity; the piece radiates the optimism of 1930s American songwriting. Singing it should feel like joining a conversation between Arlen's melodic gift and the rhythmic sophistication of swing.

High school and community choirs seeking substantive jazz repertoire that audiences recognize and singers find genuinely fun to perform. The piece works equally well for show choir and concert choir contexts, provided your ensemble has some experience with swing feel and jazz vocabulary.

• Establish a clear swing feel from the first rehearsal. Have your singers listen to Arlen's original recording or classic interpretations so they internalize the rhythm section's pocket and the characteristic syncopation of the melody.
• Work the jazz articulation as a discrete skill: emphasize how rhythmic values shorten and lengthen in jazz phrasing, particularly on repeated figures. Don't let the piece settle into straight eighths.
• Use the recorded accompaniment strategically. Once the choir knows the harmony, sing with it to refine blend, balance, and your collective sensitivity to the accompaniment's rhythmic energy.
• If instrumental parts are available, adding rhythm section (piano, bass, drums) or horn soloists transforms the piece into a true ensemble experience and deepens your singers' understanding of the jazz idiom.

"Get Happy" works superbly as the anchor of a jazz or American songbook concert. Pair it with other Arlen settings or place it among other standards to build a thematic program around the Great American Songbook. The piece also fits naturally into a pop or musical theatre show, where it can sit comfortably between more contemporary arrangements.

• Swing feel and jazz articulation
• Syncopated rhythm reading and execution
• Phrasing and expression in the jazz idiom
• Listening to and responding to recorded accompaniment
• Blend and balance in a jazz harmony texture