Category: Church

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Arrangement Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs Global Live

Abana at Southwood Lutheran in Lincoln, Nebraska

One of the most satisfying things about writing music for the church is to see how different songs migrate. “Abana/The Arabic Lord’s Prayer” is quickly becoming one of the most popular global songs I’ve translated and arranged. It was already a beloved song among Arabic-speaking Christians, and it strikes a deep chord with Western churches that are trying to embrace the communion of saints in an age of division.

My friend Denise Makinson at Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln, NE recently sent me this fine recording of her choir and instrumentalists introducing “Abana” to their congregation. Wonderful!

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Choir Church Live Psalms

Psalm 96: A New Song in Lansdale, PA

One of the things that makes me feel downright legit as a composer is stumbling across a video of one of my pieces online–a video that I didn’t upload, performed by musicians I don’t know. In this case, it is the Daybreak Choir at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, PA. They did a great job with it. I love the addition of the drums!

If your choir wants to follow in the footsteps of the Daybreak Choir, you can order “A New Song” from Augsburg Fortress as part of the GladSong Choirbook.

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Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs Finale demo Live

Make Us One within Your Spirit – choir, brass, and organ

Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for this song (including this arrangement) can be downloaded here.

“Make Us One within Your Spirit” has a history that includes rejection, revision, and revival. But then, don’t we all?

https://www.facebook.com/ken.hitchens.3/videos/10211667814882778/

It began its life in Fall of 2008 as a tune for another person’s hymn text. After my musical gift was ignored, scorned, and forsaken (Seriously? How many more hymn texts need to be paired with NETTLETON?) I wrote the text, “Make Us One within Your Spirit” to go with the tune. I submitted it to a contest. I lost. After a number of revisions I still believed in its potential, and two years ago wrote on this blog, “Maybe someday someone will commission me to turn this into a regal choral anthem with brass and timpani.”

That day has come!

Last Sunday, it was premiered at River Road Presbyterian Church, commissioned for their 60th anniversary and in honor of their retiring music minister, Larry Heath. Though it didn’t include timpani, it did include choir, brass, and organ.

You can enjoy the MP3 (played by Finale) or video (in which I conduct the musicians of River Road Presbyterian Church) above. If you want to go to the next level, you can download the one-page hymn version or the full score (see link above).

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Adopt-a-Psalm, 2017 Church Commissions Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 46: O Lord of All, You Are Our Home

Update 10/6/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.

You will no doubt remember that during my Adopt-a-Psalm composing frenzy, I wrote a setting of Psalm 46 in 4+6/8 time. Yes, it worked. Yes, it was kind of catchy in its own asymmetrical way. But realistically, it would have been quite difficult for a congregation to pick up. And that’s the point, right? I want congregations to sing the Psalms, so I need to make them as accessible as possible.

So I wrote a spanking new setting of Psalm 46 for my Psalm adopter. Though it shares the same text, it is very different from the previous one. I think it came out so different because when I sat down to write it, the old song’s rhythms were still in my head; I had to expunge them by coming up with a song that had an entirely new character. 

I began with the most unique aspect of the text: the stressed/unstressed endings of each couplet. (“Refuge,” “rescue,” “with us.” What they used to call a “feminine cadence.”) That suggested to me an appoggiatura. One thing led to another and those downbeat appoggiaturas became the song’s primary personality. It’s not unlike “Eagle’s Wings,” come to think of it. 

In any case, this harmonic language gives the song a sweet and gentle feel. I like how it draws out of the text a sense of contented trust, whereas the previous tune or EIN FESTE BURG highlights strength, confidence, and completion. Listen to the above demo or play it for yourself from the leadsheet (see link above).

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Church Commissions Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 118: Give Thanks to the Lord

Two weeks ago, I was artist-in-residence at Western Theological Seminary at the invitation of Prof. Dr. Rev. Ron Rienstra. Part of my work was to plan chapel services with students. We chose the theme “Psalm Echoes,” each day pairing a Psalm with a New Testament passage that quoted the Psalm or resonated with its themes. It was pretty splendid if I don’t say so myself.

Friday’s chapel (a weekly communion service) paired Psalm 118 with Matthew 26. In this retelling of the Last Supper, it is thought that “When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” refers to the singing of the last Hallel Psalm, Psalm 118. Ron was planning to preach on the texts, letting them lead him right to the communion table. Brilliant.

On Thursday evening, I got a text:

(7:17 pm)
Ron: Hey Greg – you want a challenge?
Greg: Maybe?
Ron: At the beginning and end of the sermon can we sing [picture of “Feed Us, Lord” melody with Psalm 118 text] I was gonna ask you to write a quick new song to exactly those words – but then I thought: hey, this would work, too.
Greg: What style and tempo are you looking for?
Ron: Joyful and thankful without rocking out.
Greg: I’m baking fresh bread and might want to add a loaf of fresh notes to the oven.
Ron: Hey if that’s what you wanna do… you are most welcome to do so! If you are up to the challenge, that is. (7:34 pm)

Of course, Ron knew exactly what he was doing. Baiting me with a challenge. Getting me firmly on the hook with a song that would get the job done but wasn’t inspiring or new. And then reeling me in with “If you are up to the challenge…” Naturally, I couldn’t resist. Between baking bread and driving kids various places, I wrote a few drafts. None was quite right. I was just about ready to admit defeat but gave it one last look before heading to bed. Things clicked and I finished it a few minutes later. The night ended with an email to Ron:

(10:47 pm) This is all you’re getting from me tonight: [PDF of new song]

We sang it in chapel the next morning and it worked beautifully. Simple, but fitting. In the recording above I interspersed the refrain with a reading of Psalm 118 in its entirety.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Live

Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory, strings

I 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!

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Arrangement Choir Church Congregational Songs Global Live

Lord, You Have Come to the Harbor

“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.

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Adopt-a-Psalm, 2017 Church Congregational Songs FAWM 2017 Live Psalms

Adopt-a-Psalm Sing, March 14, 2017

February’s Psalm songwriting culminated in the “Big Sing Liturgy Thing Psalm-Song Sing-Along” at Western Seminary on March 14, 2017. We sang all ten new songs, as well as a few old favorites. I am pleased to report that no one got hurt.

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Adopt-a-Psalm, 2017 Church Commissions Congregational Songs FAWM 2017 Psalms

2017 Adopt-a-Psalm Compilation

February is over and my Adopt-a-Psalm commissions are complete. The stats?

  • 28 days
  • 10 Psalms
  • 38:50 minutes of recorded music
  • 12 pages of completed music
  • 62 pages of drafts

Below is a link to an audio compilation of the all the songs. If you want to experience them live, join me at Western Seminary in Holland, MI on Tuesday, March 14 at 7 PM.

https://soundcloud.com/gregscheer/2017-adopt-a-psalm-compilation

 

Psalm 3: I Shall Rest in Peace
Neither Death nor Demon
Psalm 4: I Rest in You
May the Peace
Psalm 12: I Will Now Arise
Psalm 16: The Refuge of My Soul
Psalm 24: Lift Up Your Heads, O You Gates!
Psalm 33: A Symphony of Praise
Psalm 46: The Lord of All Is with Us
Psalm 125: Those Who Trust in the Lord Shall Abide
Psalm 145: My Mouth Will Speak the Praise of the Lord
Psalm 150: Hallel, Hallelujah!

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Adopt-a-Psalm, 2017 Choir Church Commissions Congregational Songs FAWM 2017 Psalms

Psalm 150: Hallel, Hallelujah!

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!