- Bridge Over Troubled Water is available on Sheet Music Plus or Sheet Music Direct
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Words and music by Paul Simon
Arranged for SATB choir by M. Ryan Taylor
Few popular songs have become as enduring a musical expression of comfort, friendship, and selfless support as Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Written for Simon & Garfunkel and released in 1970, the song became one of the defining recordings of its era, with Art Garfunkel’s soaring vocal carrying a message that has continued to resonate across generations: when someone is overwhelmed by the storms of life, another person can offer a steady place of refuge.
This sensitive and singable SATB arrangement brings that message naturally into the choral setting. The vocal writing builds gradually from intimate, conversational passages into the broad, soaring climaxes that make the original so powerful. Rather than simply reproducing the famous recording, the arrangement allows the choir itself to become the source of the song’s emotional arc, with carefully shaped harmonies, dynamic growth, and opportunities for individual voices to emerge from the ensemble.
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The piano accompaniment is designed as a practical reduction that retains the harmonic language, rhythmic character, and dramatic sweep of the original. It provides enough of the distinctive accompaniment to evoke the familiar song while remaining playable and supportive of an intermediate-level mixed choir.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” is especially well suited to programs exploring hope, compassion, friendship, service, resilience, or the ways people carry one another through difficult seasons. It can serve equally well as a concert centerpiece, a pops selection, a graduation or commencement piece, or a reflective closing number.
Choirworks Radio Singers recorded this performance as an example of the arrangement’s intended sound: a warm, expressive mixed choir with the emotional weight of the text and melody kept at the center.
CHOIRWORKS RADIO SINGERS
Choirworks Radio Singers is a recording ensemble founded and directed by composer and choral conductor M. Ryan Taylor. Rather than functioning primarily as a concert choir, the ensemble focuses on creating expressive, human-sounding choral recordings of music old and new.
Featuring:
M. Ryan Taylor, director
Amy Carlin
Lauren Harrison
Matthew Carlin
Matt Lees
Mikayla Batschi
Taci Miner
Share Your Performance
I would love to hear your choir perform this piece! Please consider sending me a recording, photos, a copy of your program, or a link to your performance at ryan@choirworks.com.
With your permission, I may share selected recordings, photos, or performance information through Choirworks’ website and social media to help introduce your ensemble to other singers and conductors—and to help other choirs discover this piece. Thank you for giving this work a life beyond the page!