arrangement

The distinctive way in which musical parts are written and performed in support of a certain melody or theme. A composer creates an original melody and often arranges the supporting accompaniment and countermelody parts, instrumentation, percussion parts, etc. An arranger does all of this except for creating the original melody. In some instances, two equally great but completely different arrangements exist for different automatic instruments, such as Swanee Smiles for the Seeburg G (arranged by Victor Arden) or the Weber Maesto (arranged by Gustav Bruder).