Staccato Spotlight: Tracy Kathleen Woodard
Tracy Kathleen Woodward
Tracy is an Atlanta-based violinist, arts executive, and composer and arranger of music for strings, chamber ensembles, and music for film. She has been an ArrangeMe member since 2018.
Tracy holds degrees from Georgia State University the University of Georgia, and serves as the Executive Director of the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble. She performs in several symphony orchestras in and around the state of Georgia.
Her greatest ArrangeMe success so far
Tracy’s Solo Cello arrangement of “Paint It, Black” was the top-selling ArrangeMe chart for the month of December 2022, and is on-track to be a top seller in January 2023 as well.
When Netflix released its series Wednesday, fans were delighted to hear instrumental covers of classic pop and rock songs, including the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black,” which is performed by Wednesday Addams on cello.
The series was released on November 23, 2022. By November 30, Tracy had published two arrangements of the song, as heard in the show, for Solo Cello and Solo Violin. They were among the first arrangements released anywhere in the world, and fans were eager to play them.
”My eleven-year-old daughter, Ada, plays violin and went nuts for the music in Wednesday, so originally I'd arranged it for her and other music-loving kids. I never thought it would be so popular! I trust my kids' taste. If they like it, others will too.”
“Too many classically trained musicians dismiss pop music, which seems a terrible waste.”
On her arranging process
Hear a sample of Tracy’s arrangement of “Paint It, Black” for Solo Violin on Instagram.
“I am a big fan of Iron Maiden and Apocalyptica, so I spent a lot of time analyzing the heavy metal genre in order to make sure the form felt right while keeping it within playing reach of intermediate musicians. So many people dusted off their home instruments during the pandemic and I want to encourage everyone, even folks who only took band class a little bit back in middle school, to feel that being a performer is fun and accessible.”
“I like being able to add a wider variety of songs to the string repertory. Too many classically trained musicians dismiss pop music, which seems a terrible waste. When I studied violin at the University of Georgia we had a Roll 'n Roll History department that gave classes on Bowie, Björk, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, etc., along with being in Athens which is still the indie music capital of the South. So writing pop arrangements allows me to explore a lot of wonderful songs I hadn't known about previously.”
“I'd say the most challenging aspect is when a pop song honestly doesn't translate to acoustic instrumentation, but the client insists. Brides will request arrangements of favorite songs from their high school prom, but when I play it they suddenly realize maybe a string quartet arrangement of Skrillex wasn't the wedding march they'd hoped for.”
How to be successful on ArrangeMe
“Don't arrange songs you hate. It's not worth the hours you put in picking out notes, and definitely not worth the hangover of having that song stuck in your head once it's done. There's so much to love out there, so don't be afraid to branch out.”
“Writing pop arrangements allows me to explore a lot of wonderful songs I hadn’t known about previously.”
Follow Tracy on Instagram and find out more about her original compositions on the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble website.
For more: Read this 2018 interview Tracy gave about her music and activism in the Atlanta publication, Creative Loafing.
