What About Us (arr. Mark Brymer): SATB Choral Octavo

Mark Brymer's arrangement honors the original's driving urgency while making the piece accessible to developing SATB choirs. The arrangement doesn't soften P!nk's confrontational tone; instead, it amplifies it through vocal layering and rhythmic precision, giving students a contemporary song that rewards serious musical work.

Urgent and anthemic. The piece carries forward momentum from start to finish, with vocal lines that push upward and rhythms that propel rather than settle. Despite its modern pop roots, there's a plaintive undercurrent to the harmony that prevents the piece from feeling hollow or purely celebratory.

Choirs seeking contemporary repertoire that holds up to serious preparation without requiring extensive vocal maturity. This works equally well for high school choirs looking to expand beyond traditional repertoire and community choirs wanting current material with genuine substance.

• Nail the rhythmic unison sections first. The power of this piece relies on locked precision across all four parts, particularly in the frequently occurring blocks of homophonic text.
• Shape the dynamic arc deliberately. Start understated on the verse material and build toward the refrain without jumping immediately to full volume, letting the arrangement's architecture create impact naturally.
• Treat the alto and tenor lines with equal weight during divisi passages. Secondary vocal lines often carry harmonic independence that colors the overall sound, and neglecting them flattens the arrangement.
• Emphasize the repeated hook through committed diction and forward motion. The repetition is intentional and rhetorical, not filler, so bring that rhetorical purpose to every iteration.

Save this for a concert where you're programming pop arrangements or building a themed set around social consciousness and resilience. The piece gains momentum when performed alongside other contemporary work, allowing audiences to hear how modern songwriting stands up to formal choral treatment.

• Precision in rhythmic unison and homophonic sections
• Layering of independent vocal lines within pop harmony
• Dynamic shaping and textual phrasing in contemporary music
• Handling repeated melodic material with intentionality and commitment
• Balance between secondary vocal parts and primary melodic lines