Colin and I are back at it with a new collaboration: Our Song Is Playing Still. Do you happen to know Lionel Ritchie? Pass the MP3 or PDF along to him with our regards.
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Author: Greg Scheer
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Happy Birthday, Susan!
My friend Susan (no last name, just in case she doesn’t want this broadcast to the whole world) just turned 60. Her birthday invitation said “Please do not bring a gift, but it would be nice to bring a short original verse, a song (that you would have to sing), or a picture to share.” Of course, I read this about 20 minutes before the party while I was looking for directions.
What could I do, but compose a little something in her honor? Now don’t get me wrong: I don’t expect this to go down in history with Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” Bach’s Notebook for Anna Magdalena, or the Beatles’ “Julia,” but it’s a little something to honor a fine woman on her sixtieth.
By the way, the last two measures need a little explanation. That unlikely cadence is clearly lifted from the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s, but is also somewhat of a signature. After all, what do they sing during those iconic 3 chords? “Billy Shears” Sounds an awful lot like my name, doesn’t it?
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Shine
Here I go again.
TV Commercial: Our client is looking to license a song that has lyrics based the idea of letting your light shine, or being a star (not in the sense of being a rock star). Looking for a song with a great chorus that conveys this idea. Needs to be something more on the contemporary side. Looking for something that is pop, rock, indie rock etc. It could have some electronic elements but it is not a requirement. No hip hop or country. Needs to feel new, fresh and have a great catchy hook. Genre: Various (Pop / Rock / Indie Rock / Something Unexpected
When I first read this, I did what I always do: I ran through a mental list of my existing songs or recordings that could work, then I started to brainstorm ways of approaching the project. In this case, it led to some free form guitar-playing around the song “This Little Light of Mine.” As I came up with new chords for the old Sunday School classic, it began to morph into something new. Late Friday afternoon I laid down all the tracks in two hours. (Kind of freeing to work that quickly.) Two more hours on Saturday and the tracks were clean and the basic mix was in place. Another hour of critical listening and tweaking early Sunday and then I sent it off between church services before the noon deadline. The life of a musician is so glamorous!
Take a listen to Shine.
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Bright Idea/Joy to the World
Here’s how it works:
1. Theo’s taking a bath. I’m playing the guitar. I happen upon a little lick that I like. I jot it down. Just in case. (bright idea MP3)
2. Read the following opportunity listing:
Just in time for the Holiday season, our client is looking to license music for an upcoming advertising campaign. They are looking for something that lyrically helps tell the story of spreading joy, being out and about, feeling groovy, friendship and smiling. The track can have a modern or an older feel, but should feel original as opposed to Jingly/ Commercial. Should feel positive, simple, honest, happy, and be mid-tempo. They really want a song that is unique! This could be a great way to end your year with a bang and start the new year with some nice cash in your pockets!
3. Did they say “cash in your pockets”? Re-tool “Bright Idea” to fit the opportunity listing. Make it holiday-y without being too Christmas-y. (Joy to the World, draft MP3)
4. Add a bridge. Make “joy to the world” literal by adding a Penny whistle from Ireland, choir from South Africa, Tablas from India. Time it out to 60 seconds. Spend lots of time mixing, polishing, obsessing. (Joy to the World, final MP3)
5. Send it in.
6. Wait.
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Catching up with Colin
I’ve had to put off writing new songs with Colin the last few months while I get everything in order at the church. But now that my Christmas planning is all in place, I’ve got a little time to write tunes for the lyrics that have been piling up in my inbox.
While Colin and I usually split duties–he’s the word guy and I’m the music guy–this time the lyrics he emailed me were accompanied by a recording of some melodic ideas. It was clear Colin was going for an old-time Gospel sound, and hey, I cut my teeth on that back at Apponaug Pentecostal Church in Rhode Island, so I just channeled all those childhood musical memories and out came “I Will Love You” (MP3, PDF)
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A Child Is Born
This is the time of year when I catch up on all the projects I’ve put off while preparing for Christmas services. Now that the services are basically planned and ready to go I give myself the Christmas present of sitting at the piano for long hours doing creative work. Here is the first to be completed: A Child Is Born (MP3, PDF), written with Colin Gordon-Farleigh. It’s a melodic Christmas song that makes a nice follow up to our Emmanuel Now.
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Incarnation
Christmas is a time of incarnation. Of course, the most important incarnation is the Incarnation in which God took on flesh in the form of Jesus. The most negative aspect of Christmas incarnation is when we step on the scale at the end of the season and see the results of all those holiday parties, Christmas cookies, and festive meals: too often we have incarnated in the sense that we have “taken on flesh.”
But this blogpost is about a different kind of incarnation. Two of my compositions went from being ideas in my head, to being notes on paper, and have finally “taken on flesh” in the form of performances and recordings. “A Mark of Grace” began it’s life last year around this time as a hymn of response for Neal Plantinga’s sermon and Cain and Abel at the 2010 Calvin Worship Symposium. “The God of Abraham Praise” is newly written, and was spurred on in part because of Adoro Music’s new series of instrumental arrangements for congregation singing, Everything that Has Breath.
These latest incarnations of my work took place at last Sunday’s Lessons & Carols service at Church of the Servant.
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Darren Mullan’s Forever Friend
A few years ago, I wrote a song with Colin Gordon-Farleigh called “Forever Friend.” Our Australian friend Darren Mullan has just turned it into a countrified classic. Take a listen to the low resolution MP3 here, or head on over to cdbaby where you can download a high rez MP3 for all your forever friends.
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The God of Abraham Praise
Church of the Servant’s Lessons & Carols service is this Sunday at 6pm. I usually try to write something special for the occasion, and this time it’s an arrangement of the hymn “The God of Abraham Praise” which is paired with the scripture reading about God’s promise to Abraham. I’ve been working like a crazy person trying to finish it in time for tomorrow’s rehearsal. Now I’m done and the strings get to work like crazy people practicing it for Sunday. For their, and your, edification is Maestro Finale conducting the Synthetic Orchestra in a rousing rendition of The God of Abraham Praise.
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Word of the day: fleeting
Simon and I were working on his Word Masters words yesterday, and one of the words he had to define was “fleeting.” We always use the words in a sentence, usually including potty humor. As we were deciding whether or not a fart could be fleeting I remembered the phrase “a fleeting tear rolls down her mind’s eye” from a song called “Maria” that I wrote in college using the poetry of a URI student named Claire Attracta Dugan.
In honor of Simon’s recent perfect score on a Word Masters test, in celebration of the word fleeting, and in memory of a youthful Greg who was more influenced by the Psychedelic Furs than he knew at the time, here is the Amphibians performing Maria.