The Best Things in Life Are Free: SATB a cappella Choral Octavo

Michele Weir's treatment honors the song's jazz heritage while creating something fresh for contemporary a cappella singers. The contrapuntal interlude and sentimental solo passage give your ensemble space to showcase real musicianship beyond the melody, and the variety of textures across these eight pages keeps the arrangement engaging from start to finish.

Warm and reflective, with genuine heart. The piece unfolds like a conversation among friends, moving from straightforward statements of the melody through intimate harmonic textures and into a moment of vulnerable solo singing. There's both nostalgia for the song's classic pedigree and freshness in how Weir reimagines it.

Serious a cappella choirs with solid sight-reading skills and the vocal blend needed for jazz harmony. This arrangement asks singers to navigate jazz voicings and rhythmic sophistication while balancing eight pages of thoughtful, contrapuntal writing.

• Shape the dynamic arc carefully through the rubato sections. Rather than holding back, lean into the expressive freedom and let the melody breathe naturally, especially leading into the newly composed interlude.
• Balance the contrapuntal writing in the interlude by rehearsing each voice line independently first. Once secure, blend the lines so listeners can follow the harmonic conversation without any one part dominating.
• Prepare your solo vocalist well in advance. The sentimental passage demands confident intonation and expressive phrasing; isolate this section for focused coaching.

Program this as a centerpiece in a set devoted to Great American Songbook standards, or use it to open a concert that balances classic jazz with newer repertoire. The eight-page length and reflective character make it ideal for mid-program positioning, where it can settle an audience into deeper listening.

• Reading jazz voicings and extended harmonies (sevenths, ninths, alterations)
• Balancing independent melodic lines in contrapuntal writing
• Interpreting expressive rubato and phrasing in a non-metered style
• Singing with stylistic authenticity in the jazz idiom
• Ensemble blend in complex harmonic textures