Category: Arrangement

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live

God Is So Good

Update 10/2/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.

Here’s a little something I arranged for the October 7 BES Combo service at COS.

Everyone knows “God Is So Good” and everyone hears it in a Black Gospel style (don’t they?), but hymnals only have a boring four-part version. I took it upon myself to right this wrong. Opinions varied on the worship team whether this was just right or so wrong (it’s a fine line). I’ll probably do another draft in the near future, so contact me if you’re thinking of using it; I’ll get you the latest version.

God Is So Good: MP3, (see link above for PDF)

Categories
Arrangement Choir Church Congregational Songs Demos Finale demo

One Generation, orchestra demo

Today’s post swerves from the musical valley of last week’s deacon dance ditty into the higher ground of a majestic orchestral arrangement. Aesthetic whiplash? You betcha.

One Generation is one of my big hits. “Big,” “hit,” and perhaps even “one of” are relative, of course, but it has been published a few times and even sung at weddings, so I count it as my “Freebird.” In any case, there are a few events coming up where they plan to sing One Generation and have large ensembles on hand, so I thought it was time to orchestrate it. I wanted to dress it up so that it felt more majestic than the everyday praise song, so I added a fanfare and splashes of color throughout. Also, knowing that most people won’t have full orchestra, I created multiple options (choir/piano, congregation/strings/piano, etc).

Here’s a rough demo as performed by Finn Alley: MP3. If you want the score and parts, just let me know.

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs

God Himself Is with Us, violin descant

Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Just a quick post to show how mean I am. When I found out I had two really fine violinists lined up for our Sunday services a few weeks ago, I decided to give them a little challenge. I wrote a descant for the hymn “God Himself Is with Us” so that they could provided counterpoint to the congregation’s a cappella singing on the last verse. It turns out they had to *practice*, which made me feel really bad when I found out about it later…

Eventually, I’ll turn this into a full-fledged orchestral arrangement–perhaps a theme and variations with violin solo. For now, listen to how it sounded in worship: MP3.

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Global

Arabic Lord’s Prayer, piano arrangement

One of the songs I arranged for Global Songs for Worship was the Arabic Lord’s Prayer (aka “Abana Alathi Fi Ssama,” also know as “Abana in Heaven”) from Egypt. For a song that I was told “would never be sung in North American churches,” it’s done pretty well for itself, appearing in Psalms for All Seasons, the forthcoming Lift Up Your Hearts, and churches and conferences across the country.

For those collections I arranged it with a drone that made the haunting melody sound even more, well, haunting. But Egyptians are more likely to sing it accompanied and in more of a folk style, so I decided to write a piano arrangement along those lines. We sang it a few weeks ago at COS, and it went swimmingly. Because this version has a stronger rhythmic backbone, it helps the congregation stay together. Take a listen: MP3. If you’re interested in seeing the music, just email me.

Categories
Arrangement Quirky

Spring Cleaning: Camp-of-the-Woods Grace

I told you I was going to air some dirty laundry. Here it is: an early iteration of The Choir of Gregs. In this instance, we’re singing a song that I assume is called “Grace.” We sang it before every meal at Camp-of-the-Woods, where I worked for three summers. At some point, I wrote a barbershop arrangement of it for some of the male waiters to sing, and I later recorded it on my little Fostex four track cassette recorder.

Categories
Arrangement Congregational Songs Finale demo Global

Soft Rains of Spring (Korea)

I am neck deep in the Holy Week flood of services and feeling pretty overwhelmed. What does Greg do when he’s feeling burned out and cranky? He writes music.

Today I was reading through a packet of Korean songs given to me by Paul Huh, and I came across this beautiful tune written by Paul and Seung Nam Kim. I wasn’t satisfied by the arrangement that accompanied the tune–though it was written by a composer with a far greater reputation than me–and so I wrote a new one. Although my version may not look especially simple on the page, it takes a direct, chordal approach to accompanying the melody, whereas the other one was quite “noodly.” To my ear this clarifies and strengthens the beauty of the melody. Added bonus: it will sound good with guitar, too.

This is part of a project that Paul and I are working on to translate and arrange some of the core repertoire of the Korean church.

Look. Listen.

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 125: All Those Who Trust

Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

A while back, I was looking for a musical setting of Psalm 125 to fit with our church’s series on the Psalms of Ascent. Like any good researcher, I went to YouTube. There, I found a video of two Brazilians playing a song called Proteção. I had no context for the music, but I couldn’t get the song out of my mind.

A little poking around brought me to a treasure trove of newly composed songs in Portuguese, written primarily by Rubem Amorese, but often co-written with others, most notably the other man in the video, Toninho Zemuner. Toninho has also recorded many of these songs. The man has golden ears and works with extremely talented musicians! You can hear the studio recording of Proteção at Amorese’s website or at their church’s website.

I wasn’t able to finish a translation in time for the sermon series that first led me to the song, but recently returned to it. A few days ago I completed a translation and piano score, and yesterday recorded a demo.

I hope to work with more of these songs in the future, and have been dropping hints at the CICW that a trip to Brazil would be an appropriate–no, necessary–part of my work. For now I’ll have to settle for this being a long distance collaboration, bringing more of Rubem’s songs to English speakers and making my presence in Brazil felt only through “Povo do senhor,” the Portuguese translation of my song “People of the Lord.”

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live

WALY WALY: O Blessed Spring

I’ve loved the folk tune WALY WALY for years. I used to sing “The Water Is Wide” with guitar and violin back in my coffeehouse days. I’ve annoyed congregation members by using the tune with the text “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” (It’s a better pairing, but people don’t seem to care about the facts when it comes to church music.) More recently I arranged the tune for piano and used it with the text “As Moses Raised the Serpent Up.”

But my favorite so far is Susa Palo Cherwein’s text “O Blessed Spring.” The wistfulness of WALY WALY brings out the seasons-of-life theme of Cherwein’s text beautifully. The added strings and Erin De Young’s solo are icing on the cake. If you can listen to it without crying, you need a heart transplant.

Categories
Arrangement Choir Church Congregational Songs Live

Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed

This Lent, Church of the Servant is using a different version of Isaac Watts’ text “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed” each Sunday. Kauflin, Benedict, Governor–we’re doing them all. My own humble contribution to the collection is an arrangement of the traditional tune MARTYRDOM. Check it out.

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs

SALVATION

What’s with all the songs in D minor?

I’m still stuck on the tune SALVATION. It’s a Kentucky Harmony tune that’s not used nearly as much as some other early American tunes. And that’s a shame. I am trying to single-handedly right this imbalance by using it every other week at my church. This time it’s paired with the Herman Stuempfle text “You Strode into the Temple, Lord,” and accompanied by the COS Guitarchestra. Take a listen to the MP3. Of course, the problem is that I’ve used the tune so much that now people in my church are beginning to ask,

“What’s with all the songs in D minor?”