Month: June 2010

Categories
Demos Psalms

Rest in the Lord (Psalm 127)

My friend Dave Stuntz of Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC is planning to use my Psalm 127 song “Rest in the Lord” this Sunday and asked if I had a demo he could play his musicians. Indeed, I did not. I have a video of me yacking about the song in a Calvin new song chapel, and though I do play the song at the end of the video, it’s not something I would put my own musicians through, never mind Dave’s musicians.

So I decided to take the opportunity to record a quick demo of the song. It was going to be strictly a one-take affair, but you know how it goes:  a cord crackles, it feels empty without the bass, boy it could really use a shaker and some background vocals…

This is also a good opportunity to update the music. I’ve made a few small changes recently, so if you have an older version of the song destroy it without delay and download the new new PDFs of the leadsheet or vocal/piano score.

Then we’ll wait for a report from Dave about how it went, and maybe he’ll even be willing to share a recording from their service.

Categories
Church

Shout to the North – fugue intro thingy

I’m helping with worship at the WCRC event in G.R.usalem this week. On Wednesday morning there’s a band and a string quintet leading the worship service. I thought it would be nice to put them together at some point in the service. After all, the theme of the conference is “unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” Shouldn’t that include praise bands and string quintets joining together in sweet harmony?

So I wrote an intro for the Delirious song “Shout to the North” that bats the main theme back and forth between the strings in fugal fashion. Once they finish the intro, the band comes in. The strings come back with a more traditional pop string line when the refrain comes around.

I normally don’t post arrangements of copyrighted material, but this bears such little resemblance to the original that I thought Martin Smith would be okay with it. Martin, take a listen to the MP3 or look at the PDF score and let me know if you want me to take it down, okay?

Categories
Contests

Get out the vote!

Hey everyone,

Usually this blog is strictly reserved for tasty musical morsels in MP3 or PDF-size bites. But I’m breaking my own rule tonight to tell you about an opportunity for you to help push a recent post from also-ran obscurity into the limelight of contest success.

You’ll remember that I recently entered a remix contest, in which I turned a Celldweller (hard-hitting, angst-filled techno rock) song into a laid-back lounge version. Well, it seems that users of the FiXT Remix community found my rendition interesting enough to place it in the top 20 of 82 entries. But now the hard work begins. We have to get out the vote! If enough people vote for my song I will be included in a compilation, gain respect in the techno community, and most importantly I’ll win stuff.

So you need to put down what you’re doing. Right. Now. And go to http://www.fixtremix.com/news/v/vote-for-celldweller-quot-the-best-its-gonna-get-quot-winners/170/  to vote for the “Lounge Mix by Greg Scheer.” There will be extra goodwill for anyone who tweets this, tells a friend, or places an announcement in their church bulletin.

While you’re heading over to FiXT Remix to vote for my song, you can take a listen to the newly mastered version of the song.

Categories
Contests Production music

TopGolf Theme Song Contest

Faithful followers of this music blog know that I love nothing more than a good song contest. I’m not sure if it’s the thrill of the chase, the fun of donning a completely different musical guise for each contest, or the quirky satisfaction of adding “winner of the Robot Dance Song Contest” to my resume–but I can’t say no to a contest.

My latest entry into the ring is the TopGolf Online Game Theme Song Contest. Listen to my rousing entry: Bring It On! My goal was to create a 30 second spot that would sound good as a radio spot on a classic rock station. If it’s successful, I’ll move into writing music for beer commercials–where the real money is.

By the way, if you’re wondering about the brawny man who does the voiceover in the middle of the song–it’s me.

Categories
Uncategorized

If You’re Weary

Here is a simple little song based on Matthew 11:28 that I started in Uganda, finished when I got back to the US, and premiered in Singapore. Now I’ve finally recorded it.

The trick about recording is that it’s never good enough. This was going to be a quick and dirty demo, but I kept fussing with it as I’ve been learning more about mixing and mastering. Finally, I had to say “enough’s enough.” So here’s the gussied up demo of “If You’re Weary.”