The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerLast week I posted a recording of my flute arrangement of “Good Christian Friends (Men), Rejoice.” Unfortunately, the flutist from that recording wasn’t available for the Christmas Eve service. But in a bad news/good news turn of events, recorder player par excellence, Cal Stapert, was willing to take over. Take a listen.
Added bonus: super sweet segue between the Good Christian prelude and the processional hymn “Once in Royal David’s City.”
When Faith Alive rejected my kids’ song, “It Was Very Good!“, they claimed that it was too difficult for the target age group. Oh yeah? Well take THIS, Faith Alive. Here’s a recording of John De Young singing the song with aplomb at the dinner table: John De Young, rocking it.
Even though I spend lots of energy trying to get my own music to discerning ears, I’m humble enough to know that I can’t write all the good songs. One great song that I didn’t write is Bruce Benedict and Ray Mill’s “Come, Holy Ghost/Be Not Afraid.” It has traveled pretty widely in some circles and will be included in the forthcoming Lift Up Your Hearts hymnal. Built on an 8th century Pentecost hymn, I fully expect that this new version will be around for many years to come. Below are all the different arrangements that I and others have written of the song. Feel free to link to other arrangements and recordings in the comment section.
Greg Scheer: SATB choir and piano – I wrote this for the Sunday on which I introduced the song at Church of the Servant. There are aspects of this arrangement that I really like, but it’s probably a bit too much for everyday use.
Greg Scheer: simple(r) piano – Given the fact that COS’s pianists had to patch together a part from the above arrangement, I decided to write a new one that was sturdier and simpler. This is the version that will be used in Lift Up Your Hearts.
Sarah Majorins: strings – Sarah has written a super-tasty string arrangement that I’m itching to try the next time I lead worship with strings. How about a recording, Sarah?
Naaman Wood: piano accompaniment with a strong 2 against 3 feel (and a hint of “Mad World”).
E minor leadsheet – It’s entirely singable in the higher key, and this version also notates the song in 6/8, which makes a lot of sense.
COS Guitarchestra: MP3 – Nothing definitive. I just thought you might want to hear the song.
Update 10/6/20: Sheet music for my arrangement of this song can be downloaded here.
This is one of my favorite hymns. Ever. I found it in the old maroon Presbyterian Hymnbook in my first church position back in Pittsburgh, but have only had the opportunity to use it a few times over the last 20 years.
We sang it a few months ago at COS when Jack preached the “blessed are the peacemakers” part of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is sadly relevant again this weekend in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Read more about the hymn at Hymnary or listen to the MP3: Peace, Perfect Peace
As promised, my song “The Body of Christ” was released today on the Cardiphonia compilation, Songs for Liturgy. Besides my song, there are 26 other songs that will rock your liturgical world. Really. Go download the whole album. You’ll be doing yourself a favor, treating your ears to all that sweet music. You’ll be doing your congregation a favor by finding fresh new songs for your church’s services. And you’ll be doing flood victims in NY/NJ a favor, as all proceeds go to them. What are you waiting for?
Once you’re done downloading the album, come on back and print the music.
Bruce Benedict and Cardiphonia crew are releasing another compilation. This time the theme is liturgical music. I’ll post a link to my song, “The Body of Christ” that will be included on the CD when it’s released in a few days. In the meantime, here is a brand new one that didn’t make the cut: Open Our Eyes to the Word of Life.
It’s a prayer for illumination to be sung before the reading or preaching of scripture. Even though it’s a compact little song, the lyrics include each person of the Trinity and conclude with the idea that we should not only be hearing the Word, we should be doing it, as well. Not bad for 18 measures. The first part of the song can be sung as a round, a cappella or using the chords in measures 21-24. But the likelihood of people singing a new song as a round is low, so I added a “Hallelujah” round after the main text. This can be sung directly following the first part of the song, as it is on the demo, or it can be separated and sung elsewhere in the service.
Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.
I don’t know how I forgot to post this earlier, but a few weeks ago I finished a string orchestra arrangement of the hymn tune ST THOMAS, using the text “O Bless the Lord, My Soul.” These hymn tune arrangements give me the opportunity to squeeze as much counterpoint and harmonic variation as I can from an 8 measure tune. It’s both challenging and satisfying, and I was quite happy with how this turned out.
Update 10/2/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.
Here’s a little something I arranged for the October 7 BES Combo service at COS.
Everyone knows “God Is So Good” and everyone hears it in a Black Gospel style (don’t they?), but hymnals only have a boring four-part version. I took it upon myself to right this wrong. Opinions varied on the worship team whether this was just right or so wrong (it’s a fine line). I’ll probably do another draft in the near future, so contact me if you’re thinking of using it; I’ll get you the latest version.
God Is So Good: MP3, (see link above for PDF)
“So how did it sound?” You ask.
I posted a rehearsal MP3 for my choir last week, and now you’re probably dying to know how it went on Sunday. Well, maybe not dying, but at least a tad curious. Die no more, my friends. Here’s how it sounded: Bless the Lord, O My Soul! (Psalm 103)
I just got out of choir rehearsal. The singers were real troopers, learning Liszt’s “Pater Noster” and my new setting of Psalm 103 in one rehearsal. But even troopers can you use some back up sometimes, so I’m posting an MP3 of the Finale playback of the piece so they can practice between now and Sunday. Here it is folks: MP3.
By the way, you’ll hear some strange stuff at the end of the MP3. I’m pretty sure that Finale’s “human playback” is programmed with the principle that to err is human. Therefore, it inserts random errors in the file. Thanks Finale…