Music Is My Aeroplane

It's been a few months since I've arranged any songs for a cappella.  Apparently it's one of those skills that go away if you don't use them frequently, because it took me two whole afternoons to churn out Bruno Mars' Just the Way You Are.  Not because the song is hard: it only contains three chords (Fmaj, Dmin, Bbmaj9, and then back to Fmaj).  The problem was making the same chord progression which repeats 12 times sound interesting and different each time.

Well, I don't believe in the impossible, so here's a sneak peek at the first page of my arrangement.  I struggled a lot with getting the depth of sound I wanted.  The best solution I came up with was to give each section different syllables to sing.  Hopefully the multiple layers of vowel sounds will give the song a fuller, rounder sound.

If I could have it all my way, I would have tried to make a mash-up of this song and Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are.  Alas, I am still a medical student after all, which means it is time for me to hit the books.  Or is it the hay?  I always get those two confused...