Like, Totally '80s: Choral Instrumental Pak
As performed by Various / Arranged by Mark Brymer
Item: 35-PK00427637
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Description
An absolutely stuffed 1980s choral medley with Top Ten hits, head-banging choruses and radical harmonies throughout? No way! Mark Brymer's nine-song throwback to the music of the Reagan years is, like, totally righteous, dude. Features "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Take On Me, Goody Two Shoes, (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me, The Reflex, She Drives Me Crazy, She Blinded Me with Science, The Safety Dance" and "Walking on Sunshine."
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Additional Details
Publisher:
Hal Leonard
SKU:
35-PK00427637
More about this title
Why we love this
Mark Brymer strips away the synth excess and reconstructs these iconic tracks for voices and instruments, keeping the hooks intact while making room for genuine choral writing. Nine hits means you get recognizable material without sacrificing musical substance, and the arranging balances accessibility with enough harmonic sophistication to reward careful rehearsal.
What to expect
Pure '80s energy captured without irony. The arrangements pulse with the decade's melodic confidence and harmonic warmth, trading the original production gloss for ensemble texture that feels earned rather than nostalgic. Audiences light up recognizing these songs, but the real pleasure is hearing familiar melodies refracted through vocal harmony.
Who it's for
Directors seeking a full concert package that lands with audiences while holding singers' attention through rehearsal. This works for high schools with strong pop music traditions and mixed ensembles that thrive on contemporary material with immediate payoff.
How to get the most out of it
- Separate your rehearsals by song cluster rather than chronologically; group tracks with similar harmonic language or rhythmic complexity so singers internalize common patterns faster.
- Lock the instrumental parts first before layering vocals, since the grooves anchor every arrangement and prevent rhythmic drift during transitions between songs.
- Lean into the stylistic shifts: each tune carries its own personality, so coaching your singers to reset their approach between tracks keeps the energy fresh rather than flattening everything into a generic pop arrangement sound.
- Record isolated vocal parts and distribute them as rehearsal aids; these songs live in pop radio memory, and singers need concrete reference recordings to avoid defaulting to original melodies over Brymer's harmonies.
How to use it
Build a spring concert around this as your closer, letting it bookend a program of more traditional repertoire. The medley format also works beautifully as a showcase for your strongest singers during pops nights or community benefit concerts where audience familiarity matters.
Skills your students will build
- Shifting between contrasting harmonic styles and song structures within a single rehearsal unit
- Balancing pop sensibility with notated harmony in unfamiliar vocal lines
- Coordinating ensemble entrances and cutoffs across multiple short-form arrangements
- Responding to instrumental textures as structural anchors rather than accompaniment
- Quick retention of multiple melodies and organizing them into a coherent medley arc