Author: Greg Scheer

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Art Music Commissions Demos

Grandfare

This summer, I was commissioned by the Grand Rapids musicians’ union to compose a fanfare for our 120th anniversary. The parameters were: a 2-minute (120 seconds–see what they did there?) fanfare scored for a mixed ensemble of brass, winds, and percussion not to exceed the instrumentation of Aaron Copland’s “Inaugural Fanfare,” which would also be on the program. I only had a month to go from blank page to completed score and parts, so I knew I had to get busy.

But first: what is a fanfare?

Intuitively, I understood a fanfare to be a festive, trumpety thing, but I started to second-guess myself. Was there a secret recipe that everyone knew but me? (I’ve been composing for forty years, and I am still susceptible to impostor syndrome.) After a good deal of research, I confirmed that a fanfare is, indeed, a festive, trumpety thing. It has no precise definition, but there are plenty of examples: Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” is something of a gold standard, as is John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme.” One of my personal favorites is Leoš Janáček’s “Sinfonietta.”

The challenge was to compose something regal and courageous, immediately accessible to listeners, playable by performers with a half hour rehearsal, and that says everything it needs to say in a very short time.

I gravitated toward a more-or-less tonal palette, but kept it from being obvious or saccharine by using lots of stacked fifths/fourths (for openness) and non-harmonic tones (for bite). Of course, I relied heavily on the trumpets, but every section is featured at some point. I also had a ton of fun with the percussion, including Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Tubular Bells, Brake Drum, Crotales, China Cymbal, Cabasa, Vibraphone, Tam-tam, Suspended Cymbal, Crash Cymbal, and Drum Set. Finally, I played with style. The GR music union is made up of musicians of all genres: classical, blues, jazz, rock, etc. So, I used drum set to establish a pop groove in the middle of the fanfare, with jazz style voicings on top of it.

I was really pleased with how it turned out–a tasty little slice of musical cake.

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Arrangement Commissions Demos Global Live

HSU MUU: Inevitable Adiós

The final arrangement for the Holland Symphony Orchestra’s “Music Unites Us” concert with Grupo Super Nova was a ballad called “Inevitable Adiós.” It is gorgeous and heartbreaking.

When Christian, the songwriter, first sent me this, I responded, “I don’t understand half of the Spanish, and I was still getting choked up!” With a song like this, the best thing to do is just stay out of the way. Let the song speak for itself; simply support and enhance what is already in the music. I did that with lush lower strings, regal horns, soaring violin lines, harp, and lots of cymbal rolls.

Of course, I needed to let the orchestra come to the foreground at some point. I did this with an oboe solo, a flugelhorn solo, and a trumpet/trombone duet. Just enough of a break to leave us wanting more.

I’m usually not one for modulations. They are so often used as a cheap way of inflating energy back into a mediocre song that I normally stay clear of them. But I made an exception here. I let the song wind down as if it were ending, but instead of the quiet tag of “Inevitable adiós” that we expect–BAM!–a sudden modulation into a new key with full orchestra. It’s glorious, if I don’t say so myself.

Below is video of me accompanying Christian on guitar at the concert.

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Arrangement Commissions Demos Global Live

HSO MUU: Escucha

The next arrangement for Grupo Super Nova and the Holland Symphony Orchestra was “Escucha.” This song, too, is in an upbeat Cumbia dance style, but the lyrics are poignant: “Listen! I want you to pay attention, just in case today is our last day together: I love you like I have never loved before.”

This arrangement is further outside the box than the others. I ask the violins to strum their instruments like ukeleles and play a melody on one string with one finger (to match the portamento of the synth line). Later is a duet between electric guitar and electric violin. Then I ask the orchestra to sing background vocals. All of these stretch the musicians out of their comfort zones, but since we had worked together previously, I decided there was enough trust for them to try these unusual effects with a minimum of grumbling.

One of my favorite sections is when all the motion stops and Hector sings a quiet refrain in English. I didn’t want the English-speaking audience to miss the poignant message of the lyrics. Too, a short silence makes what follows sound even more energetic.

I should make a note about how I created these demos. I use Dorico for my notation software. To make a demo of the arrangement, I play Dorico through orchestral playback software called NotePerformer. NP is unique in that it interprets the score as orchestral musicians would play it, with articulations, blend, and reverb as they would happen in an actual performance. (Who says AI is bad?) From there, I load my orchestral arrangement and Grupo’s original recording into Logic Pro. After a bit of tempo matching and splicing I can produce a decent demo of how the final performance might sound. This is really important when trying to get buy in from both note-readers and ear-performers. It allowed everyone walk into rehearsal with a very good idea of how it would sound.

Below are a few snippets of video from the concert. There aren’t a lot of composers who can say people dance to their orchestrations!

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Arrangement Commissions Demos Global Live

HSO MUU: Lo mejor de mí vida

I recently wrote three new arrangements for the Holland Symphony Orchestra’s “Music Unites Us” concert on August 9, 2025. In this outdoor concert, Grupo Super Nova, a Mexican Cumbia group from Holland, performed their original songs with the orchestra. My next three posts will be the arrangements from that concert.

Greg with the Garcia brothers.

The original “Lo mejor” (link below) keeps up a mid-tempo dance groove throughout. In each of these songs, I was looking for ways to create a dialogue between band and orchestra, rather than keeping the orchestra in a purely accompaniment role. So, on this song, I decided to begin with an extended, dramatic introduction before it kicked into its dance groove. Once the beat drops, the orchestra plays an accompaniment role, until…

Surprise! It’s a tuba solo. In the Mexican Banda style, tubas play a prominent role. I decided to tip my hat to that tradition by starting the mid-song breakdown with a tuba solo. Then comes a long build, beginning with the violin, moving through the strings, and then joined by all the bass instruments. After a quick recap of the chorus, the song concludes.

Sadly, I didn’t get a good video recording of the event. You will have to be satisfied with a demo of an early draft of the score. Email me if you’d like to take a look at the score.

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Art Music Choir Church Commissions Live Psalms

Let the Peoples Praise You

From 2000 to 2005, I worked at Northwestern College in Iowa, teaching music and worship in the music department, and leading chapel worship and overseeing worship teams for campus ministries.

In my second year there, a new president was inaugurated, and I was commissioned to compose a piece for the ceremony. I hadn’t thought about it much in the few decades since, but I recently found a recording from the inauguration and decided to clean it up and post it here.

I had forgotten how much I like it!

The lyrics are adapted from Psalm 67–a perfect Psalm of thanksgiving for a fall worship ceremony in the heartland of America. The meter is 7/8 throughout. I never strayed from a 2+2+3 rhythm; still, the choir hated me for the odd meter! The rhythmic vitality really drives the piece; it feels exciting and exuberant. The harmonic style is–I don’t know what to call it–pan modal? But I like it. There is a lot of bite in the harmonies, but they’re not so complicated the choir can’t find their notes or it leaves the audience scratching their heads.

It feels like it was an important step forward in my composing.

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Quirky

Rocky and Sandy Theme Song

Many, many moons ago, I worked at a church that insisted I take part in Vacation Bible School. I was frightened by children, especially large groups of them. I was even more afraid of people who enjoy working with large groups of children–those who assure you how much fun you’re going to have wearing a “Steamroller Scheer” hard hat and singing “Peace Like a River” every day for a week.

This was before Simon was born, so maybe around 1998. It was also before computers could process audio efficiently, so I made recordings on the 3×3″ screen of a VS880 using my one microphone, Finale playback, and a Roland keyboard.

And so, from the ooze of this primordial audio swamp, “The Rocky and Sandy Theme Song” was born. It is a hyperactive little musical bonbon that would have been a hit as the intro music for a Saturday morning cartoon. Alas, it enjoyed 42 seconds of fame in a hall full of screaming children, and was quickly drowned out by the sound of a go-cart one of the VBS leaders insisted on driving up to the stage.

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Jazz Psalms

Psalm 73: You, O God, Are Mine

I’ve worked with Linda Bonney Olin a number of times before. Her Psalm settings are always singable distillations of the original Psalm–direct and heartfelt. Psalm 73 presented her with significant challenges. It is essentially a Psalm of envy and complaint: “Why do I keep myself pure when I can see the wicked thriving all around me?” The Psalmist answers the question by the end of the Psalm: “My reward is a life spent close to God.” Linda turns this into the repeated refrain: “You, O God, are mine.” Beautiful.

I set the text as a jazz ballad because it felt like jazz’s harmonic tension, coupled with a soothing, introspective rhythm, could hold the tension of bitter thoughts and trust simultaneously. I especially like the lift into a new key half way through, following Linda’s structure of complaint/trust.

While I strive to make my hymns simple enough for the average church, this is right at the edge of what most congregations could sing. Maybe I’ll turn it into a choir anthem!

1. Bitter thoughts once filled my mind,
yet you held my hand.
You, O God, are with me still.
You, O God, are mine.

2. On your counsel I rely.
All your ways are good.
You, O God, will be my guide.
You, O God, are mine.

3. Faithless ones will be destroyed.
But I cling to you—
you, O God, my one desire.
You, O God, are mine.

4. Taking refuge in your arms,
I proclaim your deeds.
You, O God, have rescued me.
You, O God, are mine.

5. Though my body may grow weak,
though my heart may fail,
you, O God, will be my strength.
You, O God, are mine.

6. You my portion here on earth,
you my home in heav’n,
you, O God, are all I need.

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Demos Jazz

Upon Reflection

A new recording by Paul Langford, this time a ballad called “Upon Reflection.”

The Thinker (Le Penseur) by Auguste Rodin

The tune grew from the four-note motif that begins the song. The motif itself is stable, in that it outlines a D major chord, but unsettled, because it lands on an F# against a C major chord. This four-note theme–and the tension it creates–reappears in different guises throughout the tune. Perhaps the most striking use of the motif is where it extends up and up until finally landing in a completely different key for the B section.

But enough musical nerdities!

I love what Paul did with this piano ballad. I asked him to channel his inner Bill Evans for this demo. Specifically, my instructions were, “I’m imagining Bill Evans, with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a whiskey on this piano, playing to a mostly empty bar after his band has packed up and gone home. This one’s for him alone–a wistful improvisation with rays of hope; tender and inconclusive, like life itself.”

I have not verified whether the recording included cigarettes and whiskey, but Paul’s Bill Evans is on point!

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Demos Jazz

A Third of July

You’ll never guess when I wrote this song…

Yes, on July 3, 2022, I sat down at the piano and banged out this jazz tune. I really can’t remember the details. Maybe I was writing a tune for one of my Euro Bistro gigs? In any case, I know I completed the song quickly because I only put a specific date on music if it goes from idea to completion in one day. On the other hand, the file is named “a_third_of_july-1.1,” so I must have returned to it at some point to make revisions.

Wow. This is turning out to be a boring blog post!

I guess all you need to know is that Paul Langford transformed this from leadsheet to demo with style and class. He really captured the without-a-care-in-the-world lightness that I intended for the song.

Categories
Demos Jazz

Iguana

This tune has been a long time in the making. It began its life in May of 2022 as a bass line reminiscent of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon.” (Though the actual bass line went missing somewhere along the way.) Then it was an AABA head that was too complicated. Then it became an AAB head that was just right. Then the recording of the just-right version had technical problems that kept it from playing here on the blog.

Now, three years later, Paul Langford has stepped in to save the day, recording this bang-up demo of the song. Paul brings out its slinky smoothness, with an underbelly of funk. What do think? Would it sit nicely between tracks by Yellowjackets and Spyro Gyra?