What Baking Can Do (arr. Mark Brymer): SSA Choral Octavo

Mark Brymer's arrangement captures the warmth and intimacy of this song while making it genuinely singable for developing SSA ensembles. The piece maintains Bareilles' lyrical gift for connecting mundane moments to genuine human emotion, giving students material that feels both contemporary and emotionally substantive to perform.

Warm and grounded, with a reflective quality that invites listeners in rather than demanding attention. The arrangement has moments of gentle complexity that reward careful listening and singing, creating a sense of discovery rather than surface charm.

SSA or SSAA choirs seeking repertoire that speaks to contemporary audiences while remaining appropriate for intermediate singers. This works well for groups wanting to include musical theater that feels current and relevant without sacrificing musical substance.

• Treat the text with conversational naturalness rather than theatrical overstatement; the power comes from clarity and connection to the lyrics, not volume.
• Balance upper and lower voices carefully in the harmonic passages to ensure no part gets buried, particularly in measures where the arrangement thickens.
• Shape phrases around the punctuation and meaning of the text to avoid sounding choppy; let longer sentences breathe across bar lines.

Pair this with other contemporary pop or musical theater arrangements to build a concert section that demonstrates students' connection to modern songwriting. The piece also works as a standalone feature that showcases your choir's ability to handle current material with artistic maturity.

• Sustaining lyrical phrasing across longer melodic lines
• Balancing harmonic blend in four-part textures
• Interpreting text with emotional specificity rather than generic expression
• Reading contemporary musical theater notation and style markings