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!
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.
This fall, I was commissioned to write an arrangement of the lovely Brazilian milonga, “Jesus Cristo, experança do mundo.” It premiered last night in the second installment of Calvin University’s four-part Lessons and Carols. The whole program was lovely and it was great fun to hear my choral piece elsewhere than in my own head!
Update 2/4/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
Tammy Moody wrote a lovely text about trusting God to be a good father rather than a vengeful or cruel one. She and I have discussed the fact that using the image of God as Father is quite out of fashion in some circles. There are good reasons: Some people have had horrible experiences with their earthly fathers that cause barriers to them approaching God as Father; also, we should be exploring the full range of images and titles the Bible uses for God. I like how Tammy approaches it, though. She recognizes God as Father, while also acknowledging the fear and doubt many of us have in believing we’re children, accepted and loved by a good Heavenly Father.
I composed a simple pentatonic melody to support the words–almost a lullaby. There are echoes of “Here Is Love, Vast as the Ocean” (the tune Tammy had in mind when she wrote the text), but with a more sweeping melodic arch that allows the second half of the song greater emotion. The first two times the apex of the melody asks the unanswered question, “Dare I come to you?” and the third time it declares tentatively, “I will come.”
1. Dare I come to you as Father, when by shame I am consumed? Through the spotless Lamb’s atonement dare I come by blessed wounds?
Dare I come to you, as Father when my faith has taken wing? I’ve no gifts of gold or silver. Doubts are all I have to bring.
2. Though your child, your dear, beloved, and with you I’m not alone, still, my fears arise, O Father, born on tears before your throne.
Dare I come to you, as Father when my faith has taken wing? I’ve no gifts of gold or silver. Doubts are all I have to bring.
3. Tell me, once again, O Father how my soul you’ll ne’er dis-own; How in Christ I am forgiven, saved by works, not of my own.
I will come to you, my Father, though by shame I am consumed. Through the spotless Lamb’s atonement, I will come by bless-ed wounds.
Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
I was honored that Bethany Cok and Josh Parks asked me to compose music for their wedding. I’ve played with Josh many times before at Church of the Servant, Calvin University, and in the St. Sinner Orchestra, so it felt like a real vote of confidence to be included in his nuptials.
The rehearsal.
Bethany and Josh chose Psalm 65 as the song’s text. It was a great choice: Psalm 65 is a Psalm of thanksgiving that was likely written for one of the harvest festivals; its focus on entering God’s house, keeping vows, and God’s blessing make it a beautiful fit for a wedding.
The piece I wrote volleys back and forth between a congregational refrain that features a bold, ascending melody I’ve dubbed a “Mannheim Mountain,” and lush, rhapsodic verses.
You might wonder about the opening phrase “We Praise You, God, in Silence and Singing.” Why “in silence” when it’s a song? Well, the first phrase of Psalm 65 “Praise awaits you,” is unclear in the Hebrew, but seems to carry the connotation of hushed awe—a quiet before a storm of praise. I decided to interpret that as “in silence and singing,” including a ripe silence before the return of each chorus.
I post this song on the day of Bethany and Josh’s wedding as a musical blessing on their union!
We praise you, God, in silence and singing, in making of vows and lifting of prayers. To you all people, in joy and thanksgiving, renewed and forgiven, to you they are streaming for you are our God. And you, God, are good.
1. Blessed are the ones you draw to you courts– guests in the house of the Lord. Riches o’erflow and spill out the doors– blessings that fill the whole earth! REFRAIN
2. For you pushed the mountains into place with the strength of your hand; and you hushed the chaos of the waves, for even the seas obey your commands; and you change the chattering of all the nations into choirs of joy! And the whole world hums with your praise! REFRAIN
3. You care for the land, you soak the ground, and you shower it with riches. You fill the streams and soften the soil and you flood the furrows and ditches. The year is crowned with blessing; her path flows with abundance; her hills are covered in gladness; her meadows clothed in flocks; her vales are robed in wheat and grain– they shout for joy! They sing! They shout for joy and they sing! REFRAIN
Update 1/10/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
Another collaboration with Tammy Moody. Like many of her songs, this one features vivid images of nature. In this, she takes us through the seasons, ultimately connecting spring’s budding new life to our hope of resurrection in Christ.
Besides writing wonderful lyrics, Tammy is also a professional photographer. She took this photo of the yellow boat. (You can read about the meaning of the boat in the previous post.)
1. Spent blossoms fall and then are swept away. Light lingers late, as longer grows the day. Sweet May’s near done, as are the cooler eves; as spring wanes, the summer comes with plums and leaves.
2. Green shoot unfurls to welcome sun’s embrace; so, turn my heart and bask in warming grace. Join, too, my voice with larks in ceaseless praise, and join stream, join meadow where the young lambs graze.
3. Crisp fall’s red leaves are fading now to brown; Soon, skiffs of snow will kiss the sleeping ground. Through brittle winds the breath of winter brings and I pray what lies in earth will rise in spring.
4. I praise the One who paints the sunsets’ hues. I praise the One who tints the lilac blue. I join my voice with song creation sings: For in Christ, what lies in earth will rise in spring.
Update 1/10/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
Tammy Moody wrote the lyrics for this new song. I love the way she ties together images of harvesting the land, social justice, and the Lord’s Supper. The more connections we can make between what we do in worship and in the world, the better.
Tammy also took the picture of a boat. Why a boat, you ask? As we discussed the relationship between words and music, she told me about someone who said lyrics are like a boat: they need music like a boat needs water; once the two come together, their journey. begins.
1. O give us eyes to see them, forgotten bits of grain discarded in the harvest as chaff upon the plain
O let our hands come gleaning
the lonely little ones,
so precious in your eyes, Lord,
it’s you who bid them, “Come”
We gather them to you, Lord, to celebrate your feast For such as these, your children, O let our love increase.
2. O give us ears to hear them, faint, pleading, hungry cries from outcast souls and beggars before we hurry by
O let us go to seek them
until the last is found
and mercy’s hands not tiring
‘til all their wounds are bound
We gather them to you, Lord, to celebrate your feast For both the babe and beggar, O, let our love increase.
Update 10/11/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
This year, Church of the Servant (my “alma mater” church) commissioned me to arrange a lovely “Magnificat” by Keur Moussa. I don’t know a lot about the Keur Moussa Abbey, but my impression is that they are something like the Taizé of Senegal. The Keur Moussa community has developed its own style of singing that combines the beautiful austerity of Catholic chant with the insistent rhythms of West Africa.
If you listen to the original recording you’ll hear a simple perfection that is irresistible, with the vocals and rhythms held in perfect balance. You’ll also hear what I found most difficult about writing this arrangement: the more “interesting” my arrangement was, the more it betrayed the original song. I must have reminded myself a hundred times while working on it: “Greg, don’t gild the lily!” But it was not easy to remain simple when writing for choir, string orchestra, guitars, and a smattering of percussion!
In the end, I felt that I struck a good balance. The arrangement is complex, but not flashy; exciting, but still mesmerizing. But I am hardly an impartial observer. You be the judge. The above recording is from the December 15, 2019 premiere at COS’s annual Lessons & Carols service.
I was privileged to receive a commission from Baylor University to compose a piece on the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, “Binsey Poplars.”
The poem is an ode to Hopkins’ once-favorite, now-felled trees, but it is also a meditation on the environment and the ways humans interact with it. Ultimately, it is a poem of loss and grief.
The premiere took place at Baylor’s Armstrong Browning Library on September 20, 2019, with Karen Hogue, soprano, the Ensemble from First United Methodist, Weatherford, and Carlos Colón on the piano.
You know you can email me to peruse the score, right?
felled 1879
My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled, Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun, All felled, felled, are all felled; Of a fresh and following folded rank Not spared, not one That dandled a sandalled Shadow that swam or sank On meadow & river & wind-wandering weed-winding bank.
O if we but knew what we do When we delve or hew — Hack and rack the growing green! Since country is so tender To touch, her being só slender, That, like this sleek and seeing ball But a prick will make no eye at all, Where we, even where we mean To mend her we end her, When we hew or delve: After-comers cannot guess the beauty been. Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve Strokes of havoc unselve The sweet especial scene, Rural scene, a rural scene, Sweet especial rural scene.
I was commissioned by Calvin College to arrange Wendell Kimbrough’s fabulous song “Rejoice in All Your Works (Psalm 104)” for their 2018 graduation ceremony. The song is arranged for choir, wind ensemble, praise band, and 5,000 singers.
It was a lot of notes. (Which means a lot of work and a lot of time.) But it was worth it to hear the Van Noord arena reverberate with the sound of praise coming from joyful graduates and their grateful families.
An octavo of the choral anthem (with more modest instrumental forces) will be published by GIA in the coming year.
