They Say It's Wonderful: SSA Choral Octavo

Mark Brymer's SSA arrangement captures the warmth and charm of this Berlin standard without oversimplifying it. The voicing allows strong second sopranos and altos to carry meaningful material rather than defaulting to background harmony, and the orchestration stays lean enough that even smaller ensembles can execute it with polish.

Genuine affection without sentimentality. The melody radiates optimism and romantic contentment, with harmonies that feel like a natural conversation between friends rather than a formal pronouncement. Audiences respond to its sincerity and warmth.

Choirs with confident second sopranos and solid alto sections will find this octavo rewarding. It works equally well for concert choirs seeking accessible Broadway material and for ensembles building programming around the Great American Songbook.

• Treat the melody line as you would a solo vocalist. Even when all three parts move together, the top voice should sing with the legit projection and line control of a trained performer.
• Anchor the middle voices early in rehearsal. The success of any close-voiced SSA texture depends on consistent harmonic support from altos who aren't distracted by the soprano melody.
• Shape the phrasing around the lyrical content rather than the bar lines. This song's strength lies in its conversational warmth, not metric precision.

Position this alongside other mid-twentieth-century popular standards to create a cohesive set, or pair it with concert works that explore similar melodic sensibilities. It lands well in spring concerts when lighter, more uplifting material balances heavier repertoire from earlier in the season.

• Sustaining lyrical lines across longer phrases
• Balancing blend and independence in close-voiced harmony
• Interpreting and executing swing and rubato in popular music contexts
• Diction in American vernacular songwriting