Peace in the Valley, the understudy

Posted on December 26, 2011 by gregscheer

Chris Smit was such a hit singing “Peace in the Valley” at Church of the Servant’s Lessons & Carols service a few weeks ago, that a repeat performance was demanded for the Christmas Eve Service. Sadly, he lost his voice a few days before the service, so his understudy–me–filled in. I felt ill-equipped to follow the footsteps of those who have sung the song in my churches in the past–Chris and Charlotte Kerce–but I stepped in and did what I could. Here’s the recording.

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The First Nowell

Posted on December 25, 2011 by gregscheer

What better time to premiere a new arrangement than on Christmas Eve just before the stroke of midnight? Indeed, last night saw the unveiling of an arrangement of “The First Nowell” for solo, guitar, strings and piano.

It’s been something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. “The First Nowell” is a classic folk tune, but the arrangement in most hymnals fetters the flowing melody with four part harmony. People, homophony is not the right solution for every song! But enough ranting. My approach was simple: let the melody sing itself and support it with an accompaniment that keeps things moving forward. After a brief string intro, I start small–just guitar and solo voice–and then build momentum over the song’s 6 verses. Take a listen to the MP3 from last night, then email for a score so you can premiere it in your town next Christmas.

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Silent Star, featuring the Allegro Quartet

Posted on December 20, 2011 by gregscheer

Joni Mitchell wrote the quintessential depressing Christmas song, River. (Also check out this beautiful new rendition by Herbie Hancock and Corinne Bailey Rae.) But there’s always room for one more, right? This is a recording of “Silent Star” from a rehearsal with the Allegro String Quartet: MP3. Perhaps next Christmas will see a proper recording of the song.

Strange angels in the sky
interrupt this lonely night
singing peace on earth
but what’s that worth
when they sing it from the sky?

No angel will never know
what it’s like living below
they sing of birth
but that just means more hurt
as another woman cries

Born under a silent star
Live under a silent star
Die under a silent star,
a million miles away.

2,000 years passed since that night
and the only light that fills the sky
are rockets red glare
and bombs bursting in air
under the gaze of satellite
above this maze with restless eye.

Born under a silent star
Live under a silent star
Die under a silent star,
a million miles away.
A silent star, while all the angels sing:

Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis Deo.

Posted in Demos, Rock and/or Roll | 1 Comment

Baby, You’re Not Wearing Pants Again

Posted on December 15, 2011 by gregscheer

My friend Kim over at Wazoo Farm has inspired me to complete a song that has been on the back burner for a long time. She recently issued a call for poems about high heels, and I immediately thought of my sketch “Baby, You’re Not Wearing Pants, Again.” Because, after all, what’s more ridiculous than a song about a woman who keeps forgetting to put on her pants before leaving the house? A song about a woman who goes to the trouble of dressing in high heels, but still forgets to wear pants.

So Eric Clapton, eat your heart out. Your woman may look wonderful tonight, but she’s wearing pants. And that’s just predictable and passé. Sammy Kershaw, maybe she don’t know she’s beautiful because she’s not. Or because she doesn’t have a good pair of high heels that will give her a little confidence.

Let the bottomless festival of ridiculousness begin!: MP3

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Benedict: Up from My Youth

Posted on December 3, 2011 by gregscheer

By now y’all are probably sick of hearing about the Psalms of Ascent series at Church of the Servant. Sorry…

A few weeks ago Psalm 129 came up. Now, if you search hymnary.org for, say, Psalm 8 or 40, you’ll get around 60 hits. And most of them will be viable options. But if you search for Psalm 129, you’ll get two hits. And one of them is “Those hating Zion have afflicted me.” That makes for some tough going if you’re a worship planner trying to plan a service around Psalm 129.

I looked in my bag of tricks (the “bag” in this case is my file folders and google doc of the 150 Psalms) and found a song Bruce Benedict had written using the words of Isaac Watts. The song really grew on me. Psalm 129 is not an easy sell, but this musical setting of it made it feel somehow like the timeless struggle of good versus evil. The Psalm is essentially saying “The MAN (and you know who you are) has pushed me down since the day I was born, but he’s gonna get his in the end, because God’s on my side.” That’s the kind of sentiment that we cheer in a film about a triumphant underdog, but it makes us uncomfortable when we read it in the Bible.

Bruce’s original version has an ethereal, lament vibe, whereas mine is more angry, fight the man take on the music. I don’t know if this is a reflection of the difference between Bruce’s and my character, but it just kind of came out that way. It also came out as a full-blown arrangement with string quartet, piano and guitar. Pretty epic stuff. I described it to my pastor like this: “Imagine a film directed by Clint Eastwood in which a man exacts vengeance on the murderers of his family. This is the music that plays as he walks slowly out of town, with his gun still smoking in its holster.”

Take a listen to the MP3 of COS singing it a few Sundays ago, or geek out with the PDF full score.

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Long-weary Earth

Posted on November 29, 2011 by gregscheer

I don’t know who Alexandra Fisher Willis is, but she’s written a beautiful Advent text, “Long-weary Earth in Darkness Groans.” From what I gather, she’s in Lester Ruth’s Theology of Songwriting at Duke Divinity, and she wrote this as one of her assignments. Dr. Ruth, give this woman an A+!

Alexandra wrote this text to the tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN (“All Creatures of Our God and King,” etc). This is a perfectly good choice. It is a tune that the Church has sung and cherished for many years–388 to be exact–but somehow I don’t feel the weight of history like perhaps I should.

I wrote a new one: MP3.

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How Can I Keep from Singing?

Posted on November 28, 2011 by gregscheer

“How Can I Keep from Singing?” is an odd hymn. The title phrase gives the impression of a wide-eyed universalist anthem of feel-good hope. This is probably the reason it didn’t make it past the eagle eyes of the Psalter Hymnal’s editors and that it has been sung by New Age artists like Enya.

But a deeper look shows a hymn that recognizes both the struggles of life and the hope of faith in Christ. It’s really a lovely text.

The music is a different story. It’s awfully sprightly, which is probably why my wife hates it. I don’t mind the tune’s happy energy, as long as it’s sung with some muscle and not too fast. But I’ve also been playing with a new arrangement of the song that brings out the lament of the verses with a minor harmonization, switching to a major key when the refrain proclaims confidently, “No storm can shake my inmost calm.”

I wouldn’t propose my version as definitive, but a fresh new reading of a classic is never a bad thing, right? PDF, MP3.

Posted in Arrangement, Church, Congregational Songs, Live | 4 Comments

SALVATION

Posted on November 27, 2011 by gregscheer

In an odd unfolding of Psalmic fate, my top choice settings for two Psalms in the last month were both set to the same tune: SALVATION. “In My Distress I Called to God” (Psalm 120) and “When God Restored Our Common Life” (Psalm 126). The tune had not previously gained my attention, though it’s common enough that I have probably have used it before. It’s from Kentucky Harmony, and like all great early American tunes it is rugged as the Appalachian mountains, yet as balanced a melody as Gregorian chant.

Shape note hymn tunes sound perfect in their original settings, with raw, static harmonies, sung with open-throated energy. However, they can sound like fish out of water when they’re set with more modern harmonies. That’s how I felt about the harmonization in the Psalter Hymnal. (Sorry Kenneth…) It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t bring out the melody’s charms.

Here’s what I like about my reharmonization: It puts a big fat accent on the pickup note to each phrase; to my ear that’s one of the keys to the tune’s character. It uses big block chords, with no harmonic fussiness distracting from the tune’s earthy modality. The broad harmonic movement is from D minor (i) in the first two phrases to Am (v) in the last two, which gives the melody a sense of movement. Finally, the deceptive cadence and short interlude gives the congregation a quick chance to breath before diving into the next verse.

Wow. I should be a used harmonization salesman… Would you like to take it for a test drive?: PDF, MP3.

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Lord God, Now Let Your Servants Depart in Peace

Posted on November 26, 2011 by gregscheer

When Bruce Benedict sent out a call for communion songs, I had originally intended to write a whole set of songs that would work in communion and a communion liturgy. There lots of moments—“Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again,” for example—that are just begging to be sung. As I posted a few days ago, the main song I finished by the deadline was “O Lamb of God.” But I also completed a Nunc Dimittis: “Lord God, Now Let Your Servants Depart in Peace.” These words, said by Simeon upon seeing the child Jesus (Luke 2:29-32), were a profound response to answered prayer. They are also words that are appropriately sung by a congregation, who at the end of a worship service can proclaim that they have seen Jesus, the Light of the world.

As I told Bruce, of the two songs, I think the Nunc Dimittis is the stronger melody. It’s definitely the weaker recording. (I’ve grown to despise my own voice, and my piano playing is…wanting.) It’s also short enough that it could be awkward in a congregational setting, although it could work as a seasonal benediction song.

I offer it to you, my dear readers, for your evaluation: MP3, PDF.

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Psalm 134: Come, You People of the Lord

Posted on November 25, 2011 by gregscheer

When Church of the Servant began its series on the Psalms of Ascents, I did some investigating to see which of these Psalms (120-134) could be used in a Psalm-based liturgy. It appeared to me that Psalm 134, with its calling and blessing sections, were a natural fit for the liturgy. Indeed, we ended up using this Psalm as offertory and benediction throughout the series, in a metrical version by Arlo Duba, with the OLD HUNDRETH tune arranged by Eelco Vos. But I had originally planned to switch halfway to a setting of the Psalm I first wrote during the summer.

The problem was that my setting was half-baked. It had some good ideas, but just wasn’t clicking. In fact, when I was at The Singing Church planning meeting in September we read through the song. The reception was tepid, whereas the group seemed to really like my Psalm 103 setting, “From the Dust.” (That, by the way, is why I try out not-quite-ready-for-primetime songs on occasions like this—it’s bad for my reputation, but gives me just the kind of feedback I need.)

Finally, it was do or die time. Jack was preaching on Psalm 134 on Thanksgiving morning, and I needed to decide whether to get my draft into fighting form or just give up on it entirely. (The Psalm is not in the lectionary, so this was likely to be my only chance to use it.)

I got to work: I cut a whole bridge-like section that provided a ramp up into the chorus but which also proved tacky and tedious; the double chorus became a single chorus with a tagged phrase; I trimmed the interlude back into a more manageable turn-around. The parts I cut were all good ideas, but they were getting in the way of the song. By the time I was done, I had edited it from three pages down to two, and it was now a reasonably good, get-to-the-point-but-don’t-wear-out-your-welcome song.

The key to great art, I always like to say, is what you leave out. I wouldn’t claim that this new song is great art, but it certainly took a step in a good direction when I gave it a rigorous editorial pruning.

Take a look (PDF). Take a listen (MP3, from the COS Thanksgiving Day service)

Posted in Church, Congregational Songs, Live, Psalms | 2 Comments