Category: Church

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Church Congregational Songs Live Psalms

Psalm 134: Come, You People of the Lord

When Church of the Servant began its series on the Psalms of Ascents, I did some investigating to see which of these Psalms (120-134) could be used in a Psalm-based liturgy. It appeared to me that Psalm 134, with its calling and blessing sections, were a natural fit for the liturgy. Indeed, we ended up using this Psalm as offertory and benediction throughout the series, in a metrical version by Arlo Duba, with the OLD HUNDRETH tune arranged by Eelco Vos. But I had originally planned to switch halfway to a setting of the Psalm I first wrote during the summer.

The problem was that my setting was half-baked. It had some good ideas, but just wasn’t clicking. In fact, when I was at The Singing Church planning meeting in September we read through the song. The reception was tepid, whereas the group seemed to really like my Psalm 103 setting, “From the Dust.” (That, by the way, is why I try out not-quite-ready-for-primetime songs on occasions like this: it’s bad for my reputation, but gives me just the kind of feedback I need.)

Finally, it was do or die time. Jack was preaching on Psalm 134 on Thanksgiving morning, and I needed to decide whether to get my draft into fighting form or just give up on it entirely. (The Psalm is not in the lectionary, so this was likely to be my only chance to use it.)

I got to work: I cut a whole bridge-like section that provided a ramp up into the chorus but which also proved tacky and tedious; the double chorus became a single chorus with a tagged phrase; I trimmed the interlude back into a more manageable turn-around. The parts I cut were all good ideas, but they were getting in the way of the song. By the time I was done, I had edited it from three pages down to two, and it was now a reasonably good, get-to-the-point-but-don’t-wear-out-your-welcome song.

The key to great art, I always like to say, is what you leave out. I wouldn’t claim that this new song is great art, but it certainly took a step in a good direction when I gave it a rigorous editorial pruning.

Take a look (PDF). Take a listen (MP3, from the COS Thanksgiving Day service)

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms Retuned hymn

Psalm 132: Arise, O King of Grace Arise

Update 12/29/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

At Church of the Servant, we’re doing a series on the Psalms of Ascent. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are certain Ascent Psalms which are slim pickings from a congregational song point of view. Psalm 132 is one of these, as was made abundantly clear last night as I was rushing to prepare music for a Guitarchestra rehearsal that was rapidly approaching.

As I searched hymnary.org, I found a good text by Isaac Watts called “Arise, O King of Grace, Arise,” that teases out Christological imagery from the Psalm in a way that only Watts can do. I valiantly tried to finish setting music to it by rehearsal time, but I was thwarted by making copies, unlocking doors and other mundane tasks.

But today I completed the song, and I want to make sure the good folks of the Guitarchestra have a chance to familiarize themselves with it before the next rehearsal. See the link above for scores. So put down your turkey and get practicing! (People who aren’t Gstra members are also welcome to try it out.)

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Church Congregational Songs Contests Finale demo

A Gluttonous Feast of Rejection, Fourth Course

Update 3/22/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Our fourth course, a dessert of dismissal and dejection, is a tune for Stephen Starke’s text, “Jesus, Greatest at the Table.” This 8.7.8.7.8.7 Maundy Thursday text was the last one of the batch I wrote, and  at first I felt it was the weakest. It sounded too similar to a tune in Sing! A New Creation (I’ll never tell which one) and just wasn’t grabbing me. But this is was a situation in which experience and perseverance outweighed youthful enthusiasm and raw talent. I kept fussing with the draft over the course of a few days and now, though perhaps not the most beautiful belle at the ball, it is quite a pleasant, singable tune.

Pleasant and singable, or just a really nice personality? You be the beholder: MP3.

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Church Congregational Songs Contests Demos Finale demo

A Gluttonous Feast of Rejection, Third Course

Our third course of anticipated rejection is a new tune for “Blest are the Innocents” by Sylvia Dunstan. This text is about the Slaughter of the Innocents, when Herod killed every male under two in the hopes of killing Jesus, the prophesied King. So it’s no upbeat ditty, to be sure.

According to an article in Reformed Worship, Dunstan wrote the text with the 10.10.10.10 tune  SLANE (“Be Thou My Vision”) in mind. The editors of Reformed Worship, who are also the editors of Faith Alive’s new hymnal, feel that SLANE’s positive associations will be in tension with the grim subject matter of the text. In the RW article they suggested using SLANE in a minor key arrangement.

I stayed pretty close to SLANE in my new tune. It’s in C minor, which is the relative minor key to SLANE’s Eb major. It has four phrases in 3/4 time that unfold similarly to SLANE. It’s mostly pentatonic, which is what gives SLANE its folk flavor. The main difference is that I never let my melody peak on the high Eb in the third phrase. This might sound like a small deal, but pentatonic melodies are all about the shape of the line. Letting a melody slowly blossom to the highest note of the scale is a way of really making a melody soar. (Keith Getty, I know what you’re doing.) I decided that for a text of this nature, never quite reaching the melodic goal would convey the brokenness of the subject matter. It’s a subtle touch, but I think it works.

You be the judge: MP3, PDF

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Church Congregational Songs Contests Demos

A Gluttonous Feast of Rejection, Second Course

My second bid for rejection starts with a text by Brian Wren, “We Are Your People.” It’s dense enough of a text that something too groovy wouldn’t fit it comfortably. On the other hand, there’s always a need for tunes that bridge the gap between straight-laced hymn and rockin’ praise tune. What I came up with is chordal enough for a guitarist or even worship band to play, but also even enough that it could be led effectively at the organ. (“Gather Us In,” anyone?)

I like that the tune is more or less modal, yet keeps sliding out of the mode’s center. (You can cast your vote in the comment section as to what key you think the song is in.) What holds things together are the strong sequences that follow a subtle inner logic. They guide your voice to the next pitch even when you don’t understand why. Listen or look and let me know what you think.

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Church Congregational Songs Contests Demos

A Gluttonous Feast of Rejection, First Course

Why am I like this? I’ve been rejected by Faith Alive more times than a bacon salesman at a vegetarian convention, but here I am submitting four more songs to them. It started with an email that read:

Calling all composers, Work continues on the upcoming hymnal Lift Up Your Hearts: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs to be published by Faith Alive Christian Resources in 2013.  As we finish making our selections we noted a couple of texts that we would like to find new tunes for.

The first text listed is “As In that Upper Room You Left Your Seat” by Timothy Dudley-Smith. The meter is 10.10.10.10, which makes the poetic lines long enough that the syllabic stress can be all over the place. The trick is to write music that is fluid enough to accomodate changes in text stress between verses, but not so much that things turn to mush. So I wrote a melody that focuses on the arc of each phrase, and doesn’t worry too much about meter. In fact, I don’t show any time signatures and I’m thinking very seriously about taking out the bar lines.

Take a look (PDF) or listen (MP3), then give the folks at Faith Alive a call and tell them that their hymnal will be nothing without this tune. But still, I fully expect it to be rejected.

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Arrangement Choir Church Live

Heinz Chapel Choir sings “Lo, How a Rose”

Back when I was doing my masters at the University of Pittsburgh I studied conducting with John Goldsmith, the director of the Heinz Chapel Choir. Besides being a great singer, scholar and teacher, he was kind enough to try out my arrangement of “Lo, How a Rose.” He must have liked it, because 20 years later he included it on the Heinz Chapel Choir’s new CD, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Nothing John does is half-baked. This recording is no exception: MP3.

If you like what you hear, why don’t you head on over to www.gregscheer.com where you’ll find the full arrangement. It can be sung a cappella, with piano, or even with string orchestra. And for $15 for your whole choir, you can’t go wrong.

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Arrangement Church

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Jud Mereness

One of things I like about Church of the Servant is that we do funerals well. Everyone pitches in, whether at the piano or in the kitchen, to make sure the life of the person who died is celebrated and the family left behind are comforted. I think sometimes people are surprised at how heartily we sing on these occasions.

Such was the case at Jud Mereness’s funeral. Jud was a longtime member of the church and sang for a number of seasons in the choir. His wife Cele plays her viola at the church and has herself played in her share of funerals. So it was an honor to give a little something back to the family.

Cele asked if I’d sing “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” I’m never very comfortable singing at funerals (I cry), so I decided to sing only verse 1 as a solo and then invite the congregation to join me. I also thought that a string arrangement would be just right, so I wrote a new one. Here’s the recording from the service: My Jesus, I Love Thee (MP3).

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Retuned hymn

Veni Creator Spiritus

Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for the final version of this song can be downloaded here.

Bruce Benedict is at it again. Last time it was a collection of songs based on the Apostles’ Creed. This time he’s assembling a group of musicians to compose and record songs for Pentecost. I have a real affinity for the Gregorian chant Veni Creator Spiritus, so I chose to contribute an updated version of this hymn to the project. Wikipedia has a good overview that includes the Latin, chant notation, an English translation, and an audio sample. CHeck out the original, then take a look at my first draft PDF or listen to an MP3 of me singing it directly into my laptop. As you can see, my version keeps the original chant melody intact, provides a new English translation from the Latin, and adds a refrain–“O Holy Spirit, come!”

Now I need your help before I begin recording. One of the difficulties I had was trying to wrangle the flowing, asymmetrical rhythms of the chant into a regular metered pattern. I chose 3/8 to give me the most flexibility of phrasing, but am still not entirely satisfied with how that plays out in measure 6 and 16. Is the tied pick up too fussy? How about the key signature? I’ve put it in E, but it really works better with an A drone. Should I put it in A? I sort of like the way it floats between the keys of A and E–it feels more chant-like to me–but maybe I’m just being stupid. And the translation? Anything you’d change? I like how each verse gives a name for the Spirit at the beginning, and am generally pleased with the rest of the text, but would appreciate any feedback you have on it.

Let’s make this better and then I’ll get to work on the final recording!

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms

SINKING SHIPS 8.7.8.7 D

Update: Sheet music for this tune (still waiting for a text to call its own)
is now available at gregscheer.com.

Last night I had a rehearsal/recording session with The Choral Scholars as part of our upcoming Psalm CD. The recording is in conjunction with a forthcoming print publication from the CICW and Faith Alive that will feature multiple settings of all 150 Psalms. We’re reading through 20 or 30 Psalm settings each rehearsal; the “fair use” clips will go on the web, and we’ll polish up a few dozen songs for the CD.

As I was preparing for the session, I came across a great metrical setting of Psalm 12 by Adam Tice–and it’s not easy to write a great metrical setting of Psalm 12–that included a hand-written note “need another sturdy tune like Latvian hymn.” To a person who has OCD (obsessive compositional disorder), the words “need another tune” read as “Greg, write a new tune in the remaining 1/2 hour before rehearsal starts.” Which is exactly what I did.

Listen to an MP3 of TCS singing the song. If you like what you hear (and it’s hard to dislike anything TCS sings), head over to my website to download the PDF of the tune. I don’t have permission to use Adam’s text, so I’ve left the score blank. But that’s a great opportunity for you to write your own text in 8787D meter.

By the way, are you wondering why I named the tune SINKING SHIPS? What better tune name to go with a text entitled “Lying Lips”?