Month: February 2010

Categories
Contests Demos

Astoria: An Adventure in Songs about Places I’ve Never Visited

As any loyal follower of this blog knows, I have an interest in song contests that borders on the obsessive. I’m drawn to them like a moth to the flame, and my latest flame is Astoria, Oregon.

Astoria is celebrating its 200th birthday and they advertised a song contest as part of the festivities. I’ve never been to the town, but an afternoon of research reveals that it’s quite a charming place with a colorful history. Did you know that Lewis and Clark spent a winter there? That it was the first major outpost of the Northwest? That Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and Free Willy were all filmed there? I tried to pack my new found knowledge into a song the town could call their own.

The fruit of my labor is a song named after their bicentennial theme, “Astoria: An Adventure in History.” Take a look at the PDF or listen to an MP3 demo sung by the Greg Quartet.

Categories
Church Demos Psalms

Patiently (Psalm 40)

Update 10/6/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.

Tonight at COS we’re throwing a big Lent party we call Ash Wednesday. (Not really, it’s just Ash Wednesday service.) As I chose music for the end of the service, I wanted to find music that was somewhat unobtrusive so that people could focus on the ashes and silent reflection. The song that came to mind is my setting of Psalm 40, “Patiently.” It’s one I’ve never used in a service before because it’s so long. But for music to accompany reflection its lengthy dialogue of verses and refrain fits perfectly. So come to the service tonight to hear it in context. To prepare your heart, sit at the piano with the music (see link above) or listen to the MP3.

Categories
Colin

Greg’s Internet Trumpet Debut

After a ripe hiatus, I just finished another song with Colin Gordon-Farleigh. Though I was mainly a trombone player in high school, I learned just enough trumpet and tuba to make myself dangerous. You can experience the danger in this rough demo of Dreaming. If you don’t have the guts to experience the raw trumpet power, you can take the easy route and simply look at the music: PDF.