The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerI was recently asked to write string parts to go with my choral anthem, “Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory.” It was great fun to revisit the piece, and I feel the strings add a dramatic dimension to the piece that makes it even more engaging.
This anthem was published by GIA in 2015. When I went searching for the link, I was pleased to find that they’ve just added a “bouncing ball” video version of the anthem. Feel free to sing along!
“Tu Has Venido a la Orilla” is a beautiful song by Cesareo Gabarain (1976 © admin. OCP Publications). It is a simple text about hearing Christ’s call, set to an almost perfect melody. I’ve long wanted to arrange the song. In fact, for a decade I’ve carried around a half completed arrangement for women’s choir and flute. This Fall I finally found the time to complete it.
When I contacted a few people who had requested it over the years, Connecticut conductor Sue Riley told me she no longer had a women’s choir but would love to sing it with her mixed church choir. So I got back to work and produced an arrangement for SATB choir, piano, and flute.
While I was at it, I created a new translation. The existing translations (Suppe: Lord, you have come to the lakeshore, Jabusch: Lord, when you came to the seashore, Marshall: You have come down to the lakeshore) all have awkward phrases and misplaced emphases that the draw attention away from the simple beauty of the song. I wanted a translation that was smooth as butter:
1. Lord, you have come to the harbor
Seeking neither the wise nor the wealthy,
But only asking that I would follow.
O Lord, you have smiled upon me.
You have sought me, and called me by name.
Now my boat lies on the shoreline behind me,
For with you I will seek other seas.
2. You know I’ve nothing to offer:
I’ve no treasure, just nets for fishing,
And two strong hands you made for working. Refrain
3. Lord, I will give you my labors,
Share my strength with those that are weary,
And share your love, your love unending. Refrain
4. You call me on to new waters
To seek those who are waiting and thirsting.
O my dear Jesus, I gladly follow. Refrain
Señor, me has mirado a los ojos,
sonriendo has dicho mi nombre,
en la arena he dejado mi barca,
junto a ti buscaré otro mar.
Lord, with you I will seek other seas.
Update 11/4/21: Sheet music for this song can now be downloaded at gregscheer.com.
Psalm 150 is the last, but by no means least of the Psalm settings I wrote this month.
Interestingly, it was the first one I drafted. The exuberance and repetition in the Psalm text gave me the idea of writing a Taizé style chorus, repeated and adding descants, but in a regal rather than meditative style. I wrote the basic chord sequence and some of the descants at the beginning of the month and then put it away. When I returned to it today, I saw that the basic form of the song was strong; I just needed to tweak the descants so that everything flowed.
You’ll notice that the song is built on a repeated 10 measure phrase. In some ways this is unusual; music is normally written in divisions of four. But the irregular phrase length keeps the repeats from feeling banal. Also keeping the song’s motion moving forward is the unresolved final chord.
Which brings me to my biggest dilemma: how do I end this song? On the recording I fade out, which is not possible in a worship setting. I guess I’ll have to treat it like a Taizé chorus and just let it flow until it seems like it’s done, at which point I guess I’ll just ritard into the final chord.
Take a look at the score at gregscheer.com (link above). Be thankful that I didn’t go through with my original plan of using 5 flats!
Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.
In this, my third-to-last Adopt-a-Psalm song, knowing I was writing something to commemorate the Reformation—and especially because Luther himself set Psalm 46 to music—I knew this needed to be special. I’m a huge fan of the lively rhythmic tunes from the Reformation. They dance in a way that their later, isometric descendants don’t. I had great success with a 7/8 setting of Psalm 78 for a Calvin commemoration (I won a contest and a trip to Berlin), so I decided I’d build on that by writing this setting of Psalm 46 in 4+6/8.
The mixed meter makes this a little more difficult than the average hymn. It may be wise to sing it in unison to start with. (My understanding is that Calvin and Luther’s congregations would have sung in unison.) Once February is done and all my Adopt-a-Psalm songs are written, I’m going to return to this and write an accompaniment that will fill in some of the rests and support the congregation. If all else fails, the text can be sung to EIN FESTE BURG. (Another tip of the hat to Luther.)
Get some practice reading mixed meters (see link above), or simply listen to me attempting to sing all four parts.
The song text is in three verses, which correspond to the sections of Psalm 46. Each ends with, “The Lord of all is with us”–a boiled down version of “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” which ends each section of the Psalm. Whereas Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” concentrated on the citadel aspect of the Psalm, I chose to focus on the theme of city. In fact, early drafts of the song used the phrase “city of refuge” and “sanctuary city.” What was fascinating to me as I studied the Psalm was how it resonated with the vision of the heavenly city in Revelation 21 and 22. Read them side by side; you’ll be amazed. In any case, I borrowed a good deal of language from Revelation and was even able to sneak in a reference to Emmanuel, “God with us.”
1. O, Lord of all, you are our home,
our strength, and our sure refuge;
our only hope in fiercest storm
to whom we run for rescue.
The ground beneath our feet
may slip into the sea,
but still we will not fear;
in you, we rest secure.
The Lord of all is with us.
2. A river flowing from God’s throne
brings life, and joy, and healing.
God’s splendor, shining like the sun,
gives light to all the people.
For though the nations roar,
soon comes a glorious morn.
Our God will come and dwell
as our Emmanuel:
The Lord of all is with us.
3. Come see the marvels God has done.
Behold with awe and wonder.
Hear how the battle’s deafening sound
falls silent at God’s thunder:
“I AM your God, be still.”
Let all the nations kneel.
Exalt the Lord of all,
your refuge, strength, and home.
The Lord of all is with us.
I recently completed a full choral arrangement of Wendell Kimbrough’s “Rejoice in All Your Works.” (Which reminds me that I’ve forgotten to post it here on my blog.) Paul Ryan led it at Sunday’s LOFT service at Calvin College with a full band and the Campus Choir. Pretty cool. It starts at 13:28 minutes into the video below.
Update 11/4/21: Sheet music for this song can now be downloaded at gregscheer.com.
As I was working on Psalm 4, one of the commentaries I read mentioned the connection between Psalm 4’s deep peace amid distress and Philippians 4:7 “May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” I decided this would make a good musical coda to the Psalm.
While tracking down recordings of my arrangements from this year’s Calvin College Lessons and Carols service, I was also able to locate a recording of “Pentecostal Splendor” from the service in 2014. The vivid imagery of the text by John E. Speares and the rugged melody by Dale Wood gave me plenty of material to work with. It sounded splendid with a huge choir, pipe organ*, and brass quintet. You can email me for a score or read the full program here: http://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/a-pentecostal-christmas
*I should mention that the organ sounds splendid in part because of how well Norma Malefyt played it, but also because she spent a good deal of time with me working on how to write well for the instrument.
The second piece I was asked to arrange for Calvin College’s 2016 Lessons and Carols service was “What Adam’s Disobedience Cost.” This hymn text by Fred Pratt Green (V5 Carol Bechtel) is not all that well known, but it fills an important niche in the church year, matching the reading about the fall of humanity in Genesis 3.
It is also a wonderful tune, DETROIT, which I fist learned from the amazing early American hymnal The Southern Harmony, 1835. Part of the difficulty with arranging this tune is that I had already arranged it once before in a very different context. In the end, I was able to conjure up an entirely different approach which fit the choir, organ, and reverberant LaGrave sanctuary well.
You can see the whole program here or email me to see the score.
This Christmas I had the honor of contributing to Calvin College’s Lessons and Carols service. They commissioned two pieces. The first was a musical collage paired with the scripture about Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven. I was asked to set the Negro Spiritual “Jacob’s Ladder” with numerous Glorias: Taizé’s, “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and Pablo Sosa’s. For three choirs and organ. That was not enough of a challenge, so I threw in the verse about Jacob’s ladder from “Nearer My God to Thee.”
You can see the whole program here or email me to see the score.
I’ve been making my music available online for two decades; in fact, I was one of the first church music publishers online. And Richard Janzen was there from the beginning. Richard directs the choral program at Rosthern Junior College in Saskatoon where he has been programming my pieces every few years since before his students were in diapers. Indeed, he has the distinction of premiering more of my works than anyone else in his country. The latest is his choir’s recent rendition of my “We Three Kings.” Thank you, Richard and others like him who support independent artists!