They Say It's Wonderful (from Annie Get Your Gun) (arr. Katie Farrell): SATB Choral Octavo

Katie Farrell's arrangement brings out the conversational warmth of this Berlin classic while preserving the humor and tenderness that make it a perennial audience favorite. The barbershop and jazz voicings sit comfortably for mixed ensembles without overshooting technical demands, allowing singers to focus on character and storytelling rather than survival.

Wistful and playful at once. The piece captures that particular Broadway magic where characters express genuine emotion through witty observation, creating moments that feel both lighthearted and sincere. There's an old-fashioned romance to the harmonic language that makes singers feel like they're part of a living tradition.

Any mixed choir looking to program a work that audiences recognize and singers enjoy learning. Directors building a concert around standards, musical theater excerpts, or American song repertoire will find this both musically rewarding and programmatically smart.

• Approach the text with conversational phrasing rather than pure legit singing; Berlin's gift was writing dialogue that moves naturally, so let the lyrics breathe and shape the musical line accordingly.
• Balance the parts so the soprano line remains clear without forcing; in a piece this dependent on lyrical charm, overdriven volume kills the intimacy.
• Lean into the barbershop sonorities where they appear; these chords reward slight emphasis on the locked voicings, giving singers immediate feedback about blend and tuning.

Pair this with other Berlin arrangements or Rodgers and Hammerstein selections for a golden age of musical theater concert. It works equally well as a palate cleanser between heavier works or as part of a pops program that celebrates American songwriting.

• Stylistic interpretation of jazz and barbershop idioms
• Lyrical phrasing and interpretive singing from text
• Blend and tuning in close barbershop voicings
• Part independence in conversational ensemble writing