Just a curiosity—do most groups use written arrangements when they learn a new song or do all the singers simply “hear” their parts automatically?

I’ve had the opportunity to visit with a couple of groups in the studio and they needed a little help picking out their parts.  The producer made each group member a separate CD with only their individual part, so they could learn from that.

A lot of singers on the road today cannot read music, so they have to “hear” it or learn the part.  Some groups do still sing by the note, but percentage-wise, not very many.  Back in the day when groups used convention-style songs from the books on the road, a large percentage of them could sight read.

Any kind of written arrangements in professional SG music are EXTREMELY rare, for singers or musicians either. They would be really of no use. The exception would be lyric sheets in the studio and studio charting which is primarily numbers, slashes, symbols and words.

Some SG groups are still creating new songs and music in the studio.  There are no arrangements until the song is created. Some of the best projects come when there is ample time to brainstorm and create.  That is one problematic area in SG.  We typically cut tracks in a day, then send out for orchestration if needed, and then spend a few days on vocals.  Other genres spend weeks in the studio and we typically spend days, mostly due to budget constraints.  Naturally, we get a lot of intros, riffs, and outros that sound strikingly familiar.

Sheet music notation began as a way for someone else to reproduce another artists creation.  Many of the A session Nashville players don’t read “sheet” music.  They use the Nashville number system and improvise fills and rifts.

I’ve had the chance to observe a few pro level groups in the studio, and I have yet to see a singer look at a piece of arranged sheet music.

I do know of one such session, though. When Mosie Lister produced a CD for the Dove Brothers a few years ago, he wrote out all the vocal parts in advance. McCray said it took a while to learn them.

I agree with FamilyMan on the point of creativity. I’ve been around some groups that brag about how fast they can do a vocal session. If you listen to the music those groups turn out, it may be good in terms of tone, blend, etc., but it’s the usual run-of-the-mill in terms of the overall sound.