Category: Congregational Songs

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

WTS Bless the Lord

My friend Ron, knowing that I can’t say No to a quirky commission asked me to write a short refrain based on Psalm 103 for use at Western Theological Seminary’s graduation. What can I say? Not no, that’s for sure.

The graduation will be held in the massive Dimnent Chapel which has the reverb of the Grand Canyon, so I decided I needed to go easy on syncopations and quick rhythms. Instead, all the rhythms lay pretty flat from the congregation’s point of view, with ample opportunity for a good gospel pianist to put some life in between the notes. Speaking of gospel, the MP3 features the Gospel of Greg Mass Choir. Righteous!

Bless the Lord, MP3

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Retuned hymn

Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory

Update 2/15/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

If you aren’t a musician, you might be led to believe that composers just pluck ripe songs from the muses’ orchard of musical delights.

You would be wrong.

This composition stuff is actual work. Take, for example, my latest creative endeavor. I came across the 1839 text “Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory” by James John Cummins and wasn’t convinced by the tunes written for it. So I wrote one. That was easy enough. But then I tweaked and tweaked until it sang more smoothly. (What–you think that single 4/4 measure is an accident?) And then I entered it into Finale. And then I tweaked a few more things as I saw it on the page. And then I made the best demo I could in the last 35 minutes of my Friday afternoon. (Yes, my voice does crack in verse 4. Cut me a little slack–I did it in one take.) And then I realized that in taking out the Thees and Thous I had messed up one of the rhymes. And then I added a cool echo that Theo really liked. And then I realized that it wouldn’t work without a bass line and maybe some percussion. And then I remembered that Logic Pro got all out of whack when I got a new computer, so I didn’t have a quick way to add more stuff. And then I took out the cool echo that Theo liked. And then it became 9pm on Sunday night and I said “I’m going to upload this thing, warts and all!”

So here it is, straight from muses’ the orchard of musical delights (just not quite ripe), Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory: MP3.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 145, One Generation

If I were to have a big hit, this would be it. It sort of won the CRC Sesquicentennial hymn contest, then appeared in Contemporary Songs for Worship, and can now be found in Psalms for All Seasons, #145G. But there were already too many of my songs and arrangements on the PfAS CD, so this got cut. After all, you don’t want to overdose on Greg. But here’s a small fix to hold you over until my next blog post.

And thus, my loyal readers, concludes my 16 song series of songs that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another. But don’t lament the one that got away. No, just head on over to the Psalms for All Seasons website, where you can buy the book and CD so you can get all the songs and recordings that did make the cut.

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Arrangement Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 133, How Very Good

I added verses to Barbara Boertje’s “How Good It Is,” but I’ve never posted a recording of the full choral arrangement. Until now.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 124, If the Lord Had Not Been on Our Side

This choral anthem will be coming out on GIA soon. Six years in production, it’s gonna be good… Here’s a recording of a read-through of the choral anthem, sans narration sections.

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 127 Rest in the Lord

I finally met Michael Morgan, the author of this text, at the 2012 Calvin Worship Symposium. He’s a friendly guy and a fine organist as well as the author of a mother load of metrical Psalm settings. Here’s a new recording of our collaboration* on Psalm 127, “Rest in the Lord.”

*”Collaboration” in this case means “I took his text and put new music to it and he was nice enough to say he liked it.”

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 114, The Hills and Mountains Tremble

Perhaps I’m too dedicated to setting lesser-known Psalms to music. Maybe I should just stick to Psalm 23. But if you’re going to set Psalm 114 to music, you could do a lot worse than this.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 103, From the Dust

Update 2/8/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I’ve blogged about “From the Dust” before, but I’ve had no recording of the choral arrangement until now.

This one didn’t make it into Psalms for All Seasons and has been rejected by one publisher to date.* But I still hold out hope that it will find a good home and be loved for a long time.

*However, the rejection letter was personal and touching: Thank you for submitting your work ‘From the Dust You Shall Raise Us Up’ for our review.  We regret that we are unable to accept this for publication at this time. Thank you for allowing us to review your material. We hope that you will give us the privilege of reviewing more of your work in the future.

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms Retuned hymn

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 107, Thanks Be to God

Update 2/11/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer. com.

This setting of Psalm 107 came about when the Psalm came up in the lectionary on a Sunday that the Guitarchestra was playing. I couldn’t find a workable version of the Psalm, so I took David Diephouse’s metrical text which is found in the Psalter Hymnal and paired it with a tune I composed to be guitar friendly. For such utilitarian beginnings, it’s had a surprisingly good run. Currently it’s sitting pretty in Psalms for All Seasons, 107D. Take a listen to the recording that didn’t make the CD: MP3.

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Church Congregational Songs Psalms

Revenge of the Killer Bs: Psalm 81, Sing to God

Having just finished the 2012 Calvin Worship Symposium, I’m all ramped up on the Psalms. Then, I’m always all ramped up on the Psalms…

Here’s my setting of Psalm 81. This might not be a “zinger,” but I think it’s a solid song that gets across the text well. Added bonus: it can be sung in both a pop/praise style and as more of a straight hymn, like it is here. If you’re interested in reading an article which includes this hymn, visit Call to Worship.