Category: Church

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Demos

Come to Me

As you know, I’m a song maven. I search high and low for good songs, and when I find them I make a point of creating accessible arrangements/editions and telling everyone I know about them. Here’s my latest find:

“Come to Me” (PDF, MP3) is a song that began it’s life at the turn of the last century when a woman by the name of Lizzie Akers wrote words for a hymn set to music by J.M. Black (best known for “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”). 109 years later Michael Bleecker and some folks at The Village Church in Texas wrote new music for Akers’ text and added a chorus.

It’s a simple song, and that’s one of the things I like most about it. Too many modern worship songs are difficult for churches who don’t rely on a praise team exclusively. This one is well-crafted and singable by a wide range of churches. It’s also heartfelt, but substantial. The Church needs more songs that combine the heart and mind.

I arranged the song in a four-part hymn-style. Nothing fancy–just enough to help the song jump the world of chord charts and enter into new church territory.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Live Psalms

One Generation in Vancouver

My friend Herbert Tsang and the stellar folks at Church Music Ministry of Canada held a Psalmfest in Vancouver late last year which included the orchestrated version of “One Generation Calls to the Next.”

Lucky for us, he recorded it. Check it out: MP3

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Finale demo

All of My Heart – piano score

Update 1/15/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Has it really been a month since I last posted something to my blog? Shame on me!

I hope the slower rhythms of summer soon kick in, but for now all I have time for is a quick post. Follow the link above for a piano accompaniment for “All of My Heart.” I’m really pleased that my congregation loves this song. We’ll be singing it throughout the summer months.

And here is a link to the composers leading the song in Brazil recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQJlrPNeNU

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Art Music Church Finale demo Hallel Psalms

Hallel Postlude

With a Hallel rehearsal looming in my near future, it’s about time I wrapped this thing up. And nothing wraps up a piece of music like a postlude, eh?

MP3, PDF

Categories
Art Music Choir Church Live Psalms

2013 Spring Cleaning: Open for Me the Gates of Righteousness

Before I became the music director at Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, I was just a lowly grad student in the composition program at Pitt. But the people of Bellefield were took pity and asked me to compose a choral anthem for a sanctuary rededication. I chose Psalm 118:19 as my text and wrote an extremely difficult anthem. Bellefielders must also be long-suffering folks; if I were the choir director, I would have pulled the plug on this after one read-through. I’m glad they didn’t, though, because it ended up sounding pretty good: MP3

Categories
Choir Church Demos Psalms

2013 Spring Cleaning: I Cry Aloud to the Lord

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

Sometimes spring cleaning can get downright dirty. In this case, my men’s choir composition based on Psalm 142, “I Cry Aloud to the Lord,” is sung by Greg, Greg, Greg, and Greg. I apologize in advance. On the other hand, it’s pretty fun to hear what I did 20 years ago when I got a hold of a 4 track cassette recorder.

Listen to the MP3. You may want to look at the score to have any idea of what the piece is supposed to sound like!

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms

2013 Spring Cleaning: Lead Me to the Rock

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

In preparation for the Cry Out to God! CD, The Choral Scholars and I read through hundreds of Psalms. Literally, hundreds. We’d read through 40 songs in an evening, making quick recordings as we went, and after many of these mammoth sight-reading sessions we eventually winnowed it down to the 22 songs that appeared on the final CD.

One of the songs that didn’t make the CD was “Lead Me to the Rock,” my setting of Psalm 61. It’s just a first read through, so go easy on us. If you want the leadsheet, piano accompaniment, or a different demo, see the link above. If you want the MP3, click on the word “MP3.” (That’s how the Internet works, you know.)

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

2013 Spring Cleaning: As the Deer

I can’t believe I’ve never uploaded my setting of Psalm 42/43, “As the Deer,” to this blog. It’s kind of my big hit, appearing on the Greg Scheer Songbook CD, as a choral anthem in Augsburg Fortress’s GladSong Choirbook, on the Choral Scholar CD Cry Out to God, and even available in Chinese translation.

Sorry for the oversight. Here’s an MP3 to make it up to you.

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Arrangement Choir Church Finale demo Global

Abana – SATB & Piano

Like “Kwake Yesu,” the Arabic Lord’s Prayer is something I’m really proud of. It just seems to capture people’s spiritual imagination. This is especially satisfying, given the fact that a hymn expert (who shall remain unnamed) declared that congregations would never sing it. A half dozen hymnals and recordings later, I think we can safely say that hymn experts don’t always predict what congregations will and won’t do!

But enough gloating. The version that appears in hymnals is an arrangement by me that makes heavy use of a drone in a hymn texture. That’s lovely, but not like the recordings I’ve heard of the song from Egypt. This SATB and Piano arrangement is more along those lines: almost Klezmer-like use of the harmonic scale, a rhythmic accompaniment with lots of rubato, and vocal harmonies that tend to move in thirds.

It’s stale Finale playback, but it’s the best I’ve got for now: MP3

Categories
Arrangement Choir Church Congregational Songs Finale demo Global

Kwake Yesu for SATB/piano

My dad tells me that there’s a Spanish proverb that says something to the effect of, “Write a book. Have a son. Plant a tree.” I’ve done the first two and figure I’m covered on the third, because I have two of the second.

When I take stock of things I’ve done that I’m proud of and that are likely to outlive me, the song “Kwake Yesu Nasimama” is pretty high up on the list. I didn’t write the song–just translated it–but there’s no better feeling than finding a great song from Kenya (or elsewhere) and making it available to the larger Church. This Kenyan heartsong has already become the heartsong of lots of people in the English-speaking world.

In any case, the next step was to make choral arrangement of the song. And that’s just what I did. I’m not going to upload the score, because it’s under consideration by a publisher. And though this publisher rarely answers my email, I want to give them first crack at rejecting it before I blog it. But I’m sure I could be convinced to send you the PDF score if you ask me nicely via email…

For now take a listen to this sterile Finale playback, and imagine a heartfelt performance: MP3