This is, literally, my musical diary–notes fresh from my pen and recorded in a few hours. You can find my finished works elsewhere; here, it's all about capturing the moment!
A few years ago, I helped write a song called “Refugee King (Away from the Manger).” This year, I used it in a service accompanied by The All Saints Orchestra (St. Sinner’s holier half), so I decided to write a string arrangement for the ensemble. It’s very difficult to avoid gilding the lily on a song like this, but I think this arrangement strikes a good balance of background “string halo” and foreground string writing. I was especially pleased with the “running” figure in the instrumental verse.
Enjoy the dulcet tones of Lindsey Burkey singing with the All Saints Orchestra at Rosewood Church, Jension, MI.
Edit: I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make the video play from a particular spot, so if you’re interested in hearing “Refugee King,” go to 30:30 in the video below.
As the year ends, I’m going to try to catch up on blogging 2023 compositions. Posting them in 2024 will seem…stale.
This arrangement of the classic Christmas carol, “Once in Royal David’s City” is a collaboration between me and my old friend Carlos Colón. (That is not to say he’s elderly–we’ve just been friends for a long time.)
The arrangement began its life as a violin and piano duet written for Sarah York. Carlos used it in one of his Christmas services at Baylor University. Since he also had a cellist available, he had the cello double the bass line of the piano part. It worked splendidly. This Christmas he turned it into a full-fledged arrangement for strings and flute. Bravo!
Sorry I haven’t been posting regularly lately. Sometimes the music business gets in the way of the music itself…
I’m back with a new Psalm. This draft has been in my idea folder since 2020 when I read that Psalm 136 was something of an addendum to the Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). You’ll remember that I set all 14 of those Psalms to music in my Pilgrim Psalms project. At the time I jotted down some ideas for the song, put it in my idea folder, and promptly forgot about it. But this week I stumbled across it and decided it was time to complete it.
You’ll remember that Psalm 136 is a long Psalm with the repeated refrain, “His love endures forever.” That suggested to me a call-and-response style song, with a leader singing the bulk of the text and the people responding. While “his love endures forever” gets the job done, the Hebrew is much richer. The word “love” encompasses loving-kindness, grace, mercy, and compassion. I arrived at a repeated refrain of “The gracious love of God will never end.”
The Psalm is divided into five sections: a prelude of thanksgiving, creation, salvation (from Egypt), leading (through the wilderness), and final praise. This is represented in the song’s five verses. (Purists beware: I left out the bits about God killing Og, king of Bashan, etc.)
Musically, it is similar to many of my Pilgrim Psalms; it is a simple call-and-response that could be led without music. It is music for the journey. And we could all use a little encouragement on the journey, couldn’t we?
Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord. The gracious love of God will never end.
1. Give thanks to the Lord. Our God is good! Give thanks again to the God of gods– the God of gods and Lord of lords– for God alone works wonders.
2. The heaven’s expanse was God’s design. God’s hand rolled out earth o’er the ocean wide; created the sun, marking days with its light; the moon and the stars, keeping watch over our nights.
3. Our God visited us in our misery, and broke the chains of captivity. God’s mighty hand pushed back the sea, and led us through. God set us free!
4. Through weary years in the wilderness, the light of God shone upon our path. Dangers and foes, without, within; God’s love became our promised land.
5. The humble and poor are God’s delight. God sees our need and hears our cry. All creatures are sustained by God’s loving-kindness. All earth gives thanks to our God on high!
I’ve got to admit: it’s almost depressing reading Psalm 15. Not only is it works righteousness, but it sets the bar impossibly high. Who may dwell in God’s sanctuary? No one…
I believe that if we’re going to take God’s Word seriously, we have to begin with what the text actually says. Too often, we’re quick to explain away something as allegory because we don’t like its primary message. (Song of Solomon, anyone?). Having said that, we also need to dig beneath the surface if we’re going to let the Spirit speak to us through scripture.
Psalm 15 initially struck me as a spiritual checklist for those who want to be close to God: be blameless, speak honestly, don’t take bribes, and hate the wicked. I thought to myself, “How in the world am I going to write a song based on this Psalm?” Perhaps recast it as a confession? (“Forgive us for not living up to these godly traits.”) Or answer the question “who may dwell?” with the answer “Jesus–the only truly perfect One.” “How can we dwell? Only through Jesus.”
In the end, I decided to turn the Psalm into a prayer of devotion. The chorus is a prayer of aspiration, “Lord, may I dwell with you?” and the verses pray for the strength and guidance to live the godly life outlined in the Psalm. The music is in a simple, Taizé-like style, with verses chanted over the chorus. This also allows the chorus to be used independently as a scripture song, focusing on the deeper message of the Psalm: a desire to dwell in God’s presence, knowing God as a refuge and our true home.
Lord, may I dwell with you? Lord, may I dwell with you? Lord, may I know your refuge, my home. Lord, may I dwell with you?
1. Who may remain in your presence? Who may live in your holy place? The blameless, the righteous, and those who speak truth. Lord, may I dwell with you?
2. Lord, may my tongue speak no ill; let me do my neighbor no wrong, pay no heed to the proud, but honor the just. Lord, may I dwell with you?
3. Lord, help me keep my word. Let me be generous and honest. Keep me secure in your perfect will. Lord, may I dwell with you?
I’m posting this Psalm two days after the Superbowl, which has given people 48 hours to register their disgust at Rihanna’s halftime show. Clutching their pearls and a bag of chips, they have declared it indecent. Perverse. I really don’t have an opinion about that. (Except maybe you shouldn’t be watching the Superbowl if you’re that easily offended.)
I just realized I’m posting Psalm 14 on February 14. Happy Valentines Day!
At first blush, Psalm 14 seems almost as catty as the Rihanna haters. The Psalmist comes out swinging, calling the godless “fools,” “abominable,” “perverse,” and “evil.” Ouch. However, this vitriol is not aimed at random unbelievers (or entertainers who sing suggestive songs), it is reserved for those “who eat my people as they eat bread” and who would “confound the plans of the poor.”
This is a good lesson for those who would engage in culture wars. God gets angry, but not with people who simply don’t believe. No, God gets angry with those who harm the ones he loves–especially the poor. And beautifully, we don’t have to get angry or fight these people; we just have to run to God for refugee.
RiRi, I’ve got your back. I just hope one day you’ll stand under God’s umbrella (ella, ella, eh, eh, eh)*
In times of disbelief and doubt, corruption and alarm, the Lord looks down from heaven to judge the human heart.
The strong devour the innocent like gluttons gorge on bread. O God, have mercy on the weak– give refuge, once again.
We wait for you, our Savior, to rescue us, once more. Restore us to your favor; renew us in your joy. Renew us in your joy.
Whenever I get the chance to work with Kate Bluett, I jump at the opportunity. She has a knack for writing hymns that are fresh and insightful, yet draw a worshiper’s attention to the subject rather than the words.
In this case, I told her I would welcome any new Psalm songs she’d like to send my way. Within three days, there was a new rendering of Psalm 108 in my inbox. As I told her in my reply, anyone who rhymes “thrum” and “done” is okay in my book. (Please, let’s call a moratorium on God/sod, sin/within, and died/crucified!)
Since this is a Psalm of morning praise, I wanted the music to be bright and airy. The melody leaps and dives like a brisk ride through a hilly landscape at sunrise. The harmonies float under the melody until finally coming to rest in the interlude. It is a short, simple song, but beautifully satisfying. (If I don’t say so myself.)
1. O God, my heart is ready to rise and sing your praise. My soul in you is steadfast; my song will wake the day. My pulse reverberating your name in every thrum, so I will tell the nations the wonders you have done.
2. For I have seen your mercy that towers to the skies, and I will know your justice at last when you arise. But is my hope now fading? Shall I not see your love? O God, my heart is waiting: When will you shine above?
3. The earth is but your footstool, and heaven is your throne: Then save your earth from misrule, whose hope is you alone! When human strength is helpless, our hearts turn back to you. O God, come and defend us who triumph in your truth!
There are many, many ways to set the Psalms to music. Some of the most popular choices include metrical, responsorial, and verbatim Psalm settings. Each approach has its merits and I try to use a variety of approaches from Psalm to Psalm and sometimes even mix and match within a Psalm. What I really want is an approach that honors the original Psalm text–including its form–while making the song understandable to the common churchgoer.
When I began working on Psalm 11, I quickly ruled out a word-for-word lyrical setting. Some of the Psalm’s meanings are obscure (scholars can’t agree who is suggesting that the Psalmist flee like a bird, for example), some of it is archaic (arrows are not high on my list of fears), and some is vitriol that probably shouldn’t be included in group singing (“the wicked…he hates with a passion; fiery coals, burning sulfur, and scorching wind will be their lot”).
The Psalm’s primary message seems to be that there are a lot of scary things out there; even some of what you thought was a firm foundation is no longer reliable, but God is still in control. I decided to use verse 4 “The Lord is in his holy temple” as the primary chorus image: “Our God is still on the throne.” From there I fleshed out the verses using as many of the images in the original Psalm as I could. I’ve included a side-by-side comparison below so you can see how the original Psalm was transformed into a song.
VERSE 1 When my heart tries to sing in the shadow of your wings, but my fear’s all I hear: fly away, fly away.
And when doubt fills my soul, feel I’m losing control, and even friends want to know why I stay.
CHORUS Our God is still on the throne. We are not alone, for God sees us, God hears us; we are not alone.
From the heavens, our God reigns, and his children see his face. While the ones who’d do them violence fade away, fade away.
Oh, our God is bringing justice, holiness, and love. Our God is still on the throne.
VERSE 2 When the night closes in and the shadows grow thick, and I don’t know what dangers await.
When the foundations I had start to crumble where I stand. And everything feels like sinking sand.
An Indonesian friend introduced me to this setting of Psalm 23, which he’ll use in his ordination service. It’s simple, lovely, and has some interesting melodic twists and turns. Since I was learning it anyway, I decided to translate it into English so that those of us outside Indonesia could enjoy it. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds, because Indonesian uses many more syllables than English to say the same thing!
While there are many Psalm 23 songs to choose from, this one has a gentle spirit that cuts right to the heart of the Psalm. The song really helps us feel the complete trust the sheep feels for the shepherd. It makes the metaphor personal, so we can offer the words of Psalm 23 as our own prayer.
One of the great joys of composing is when a fine musician performs one of my pieces in a way that really makes it come alive. In the case of this recording, there were three fine musicians: Hunter Morris on violin, Kathy Johnson at the piano, and Chris Martin on cello.
This was the prelude at a recent Baylor University Advent service, and I couldn’t be happier with how it sounds!
If you need a last minute instrumental piece for your Advent or Christmas services, you can find the music at www.gregscheer.com. The original was written for violin. I recently completed a version for cello solo.
Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
February 2022 proved to be too short to achieve my goal of 14 Psalm collaborations. (You can hear a concert of the 12 songs I completed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBiORFbDulE) However, I’m trying to make things right by completing two more songs that I left as drafts earlier.
This one is a hymn Doug Gay wrote on Psalm 54, a prayer for salvation from enemies. It is the kind of Psalm I once dismissed as petty and paranoid. But now that I am older (or more petty and paranoid?) I see that, indeed, life is full of people who get a thrill out of bringing others down a few notches: “Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me–people without regard for God.” (Turn the page to Psalm 55 and you’ll see that sometimes the worst foes are former friends!) Doug has done a great job of capturing the spirit of the Psalm honestly while focusing more on God’s salvation than the malice of the attackers.
Musically, I heard it as an urgent, yet confident prayer. It needed music that is vulnerable, but strong. My original version (which is retained in the SATB version of the music) sounds like an early music consort, with modal harmonies and a hand drum. But as I developed the song, I wanted to make it accessible to those who don’t have Estampie at their church, so I wrote a simple piano accompaniment. As I recorded it, it morphed from Estampie into Malicorne or Steeleye Span. One could do worse…
1. Save me, O God, save me by your great name. Uphold my life, by your almighty power. Those who despise me, pitiless and cruel, seek to destroy me, mock me to my face. Hear me, O God, draw near to hear my prayer. Draw near to hear my prayer.
2. Still I confess my faith, that God is near. God is my helper, God is my defense. And I believe my enemies will find God will not let their callous evil stand. Come, faithful God, and bring it to an end! Come, faithful God, be near.
3. In love and freedom, I will bring my praise. I will give thanks, O Lord, for you are good. You have delivered me and saved the day. Now I can see my enemies dismayed. Danger is past, my hope has been renewed. I will give thanks, O Lord.
