The Musical Diary of Greg Scheer

Last week at gregscheer.com I introduced the Advent song “The King Shall Come.” Actually, it was a reintroduction, as the song has been available at my site for a few years, but I recently made substantial changes to the lyrics (what we call improvements in the business) and wrote a piano accompaniment. Of course, the whole thing is based on a hymn by John Brownlie written in 1907, making it a re-reintroduction. (And Brownlie is said to have based it on a Greek Orthodox hymn, which would make it a re-re-reintroduction, but I digress…)

Hurry! There are only two more weeks in Advent to enjoy The King Shall Come.

This Sunday at Church of the Servant we sang a brand new song of mine, Psalm 114. I was really pleased with the way it turned out, especially in light of the fact that I had studied the Psalm for quite a while before I really connected with it.

The Psalm tells the story of the exodus in poetic form. Once I latched onto the idea that Israel’s history is not just the events of a long ago people but part of the living story of all of God’s people, I quickly arrived at a way to represent this musically: the first half of each verse tells Israel’s story as it appears in Psalm 114, the second half of each verse reflects on ways in which God continues to work in similar ways today, and the refrain answers with overarching them of the Psalm: “The hills and mountains tremble, the rivers stand in awe, for in this pilgrim people is the presence of the Lord.”

Listen to the recording of the service or email me for the score.

Here’s a recording of “Creator of the Stars of Night” from last year’s Lessons and Carols service at Church of the Servant. The choir processed from the back of the sanctuary singing this beautiful 9th century chant, while the strings interjected tropes that I had composed a few weeks before. Now that’s ancient/future!

I just finished converting my Live and Thinking cassette of 1986 (ish) to digital format. Much of it you will never be allowed to hear, but one song still holds up fairly well. “55 Feet” was born from a convergence of two fears: a fear of heights and fear of drowning. Here’s how the two came together. I was offered a job painting houses with a guy from my brother’s church. He made it clear from the start of the day that he was…unstable. For one thing, he forced us to listen to Christian radio the whole day. But that’s not all. He also never offered my coworker and me a break, even though we were climbing up and down rickety ladders from 8am until well past noon. As I stood up on the ladder painting, I thought of how quickly I would die if I fainted and fell off the ladder. With that thought, my mind turned to other gruesome deaths, specifically a story I had heard about two divers losing their way in the immense network of underground rivers that run below the ground in northern Florida. In my song, the story is told from the point of view of the rescue diver who found their bodies. He is so jolted by what he finds that he loses all hope in humanity, and is standing at a precipice preparing to jump to his death.

Gruesome? Yes. But it makes for a riveting story. Take a listen to “55 Feet.”

By the way, the day ended with crazy Mr. Painter guy asking if we could take a “quick stop” at his house on the way home. He proceeded to take a shower and get ready for a date. I sat in his house for about an hour with nothing to do, exhausted from my near-death painting experience, waiting to finally get home. I declined the next time he offered me a job…

In 1987, when I was just a fresh-faced lad attending the University of Rhode Island, I wrote a piano piece called “River.” I had the good fortune of living in a very small state, so it was chosen to be performed the following year at the Rhode Island Composers Festival at URI and Brown. The main thing I remember about the performance is that I was very excited and felt a bit like a real composer. I also remember that in one of the performances the page-turner turned a page too early, but the pianist Arlene Cole flipped it back without missing a note. I thought that was pretty impressive.

So here on its 20 year anniversary is a recording of River.

I just received a recording of my choral composition “Spring and Fall: to a young child” which was performed at the Iowa Choral Directors Association in July. It’s being performed again today in Bettendorf, Iowa by the Chamber Singers and University Chorale of  St. Ambrose University under the direction of Keith Haan. So send out your good vibes to Maestro Haan and take a listen to the MP3 while reading the text below.

SPRING AND FALL:
to a young child

Márgarét, are you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Àh! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins

As I finally get serious about putting together Christmas music at the church, I came across a recording from Christmas past. On this recording Charlotte Kerce and the men from the Wildwood church choir sing “Peace in the Valley.” It’s a beautiful song that fits perfectly with the traditional Lessons and Carols reading from Isaiah 11:1-9. Charlotte is not only unique in her ability to wrap her rich alto voice around this lovely melody, but also bears the distinction of being the only person I know who has run over her own foot with her car.

About a year ago the Linn-Mar High School Chamber Orchestra premiered my string orchestra composition “5.” You can read a press release or listen to an MP3 of the recording of the concert. Or you can email me and tell me that you’d like to program it for your orchestra. That would make my day.

We sang the new setting of Psalm 30 this Sunday at COS and it went surprisingly well for a new congregational tune. People picked it up quickly and gained momentum each verse. Listen to the recording from the 11am service or download the final version of the PDF file.

One person remarked that he wouldn’t have known that it was a Psalm if it hadn’t said so in the liturgy. I didn’t know if he meant that as a good thing or a bad thing. Jack, COS’s pastor thought the words were great. He thought he was paying me a compliment until he realized I had only written the music. My wife Amy pronounced the song “okay.”

Even in the face of such ambivalent reactions,  I remain undaunted! My calling in life is to fill up the world with so-so music, and I intend to do it with gusto!

Yesterday, we sang a new setting of Psalm 5 that I composed for two narrators and congregational refrain. I was quite pleased with the way it sounded, though I’ll probably raise the key and make a few minor changes. If you want the music, just email me. Otherwise, take a listen.