The only thing I do is arrange the music and prepare the click tracks. (Well, that and record a part.) Marijke hosts the project and does all the video editing.

Over the years I've gotten better at handling tempo changes in particular. Big tempo changes are especially challenging in a virtual ensemble setting with no conductor. But there are certain tricks that can make them easier. For example, to ease the tempo change going into "Under the Sea", I wrote in a ritardando and had the click track slow to about half of the new tempo. That way it would simply feel like one beat becoming two.

Now that Marijke and I have been doing this for some time, we have a fairly consistent process. We usually discuss it and decide on both the overall theme and the selection of songs about a month in advance, I come up with a rough draft, and then make changes based on feedback from Marijke.

For the actual parts, I consider both difficulty and numbers of people. I try to make sure all the 1st and 2nd parts contain at least some melodic material. At the same time, I'm always aware that viola and cello numbers are smaller, so any main melody in viola and cello parts is always doubled somewhere else in the ensemble. Other important material is doubled if it's in 2nd viola or cello (which tend to have the smallest numbers), but I do sometimes put countermelodies in the 1st viola or 1st cello part alone. (I know I can rely on myself for at least one good 1st viola recording, and there have always been several 1st cello recordings.)