Category: Congregational Songs

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live Psalms

Benedict: Up from My Youth

By now y’all are probably sick of hearing about the Psalms of Ascent series at Church of the Servant. Sorry…

A few weeks ago Psalm 129 came up. Now, if you search hymnary.org for, say, Psalm 8 or 40, you’ll get around 60 hits. And most of them will be viable options. But if you search for Psalm 129, you’ll get two hits. And one of them is “Those hating Zion have afflicted me.” That makes for some tough going if you’re a worship planner trying to plan a service around Psalm 129.

I looked in my bag of tricks (the “bag” in this case is my file folders and google doc of the 150 Psalms) and found a song Bruce Benedict had written using the words of Isaac Watts. The song really grew on me. Psalm 129 is not an easy sell, but this musical setting of it made it feel somehow like the timeless struggle of good versus evil. The Psalm is essentially saying “The MAN (and you know who you are) has pushed me down since the day I was born, but he’s gonna get his in the end, because God’s on my side.” That’s the kind of sentiment that we cheer in a film about a triumphant underdog, but it makes us uncomfortable when we read it in the Bible.

Bruce’s original version has an ethereal, lament vibe, whereas mine is more angry, fight the man take on the music. I don’t know if this is a reflection of the difference between Bruce’s and my character, but it just kind of came out that way. It also came out as a full-blown arrangement with string quartet, piano and guitar. Pretty epic stuff. I described it to my pastor like this: “Imagine a film directed by Clint Eastwood in which a man exacts vengeance on the murderers of his family. This is the music that plays as he walks slowly out of town, with his gun still smoking in its holster.”

Take a listen to the MP3 of COS singing it a few Sundays ago, or geek out with the PDF full score.

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Hymn tunes Retuned hymn

Long-weary Earth

I don’t know who Alexandra Fisher Willis is, but she’s written a beautiful Advent text, “Long-weary Earth in Darkness Groans.” From what I gather, she’s in Lester Ruth’s Theology of Songwriting at Duke Divinity, and she wrote this as one of her assignments. Dr. Ruth, give this woman an A+!

Alexandra wrote this text to the tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN (“All Creatures of Our God and King,” etc). This is a perfectly good choice. It is a tune that the Church has sung and cherished for many years–388 to be exact–but somehow I don’t feel the weight of history like perhaps I should.

I wrote a new one: MP3.

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live

How Can I Keep from Singing?

“How Can I Keep from Singing?” is an odd hymn. The title phrase gives the impression of a wide-eyed universalist anthem of feel-good hope. This is probably the reason it didn’t make it past the eagle eyes of the Psalter Hymnal’s editors and that it has been sung by New Age artists like Enya.

But a deeper look shows a hymn that recognizes both the struggles of life and the hope of faith in Christ. It’s really a lovely text.

The music is a different story. It’s awfully sprightly, which is probably why my wife hates it. I don’t mind the tune’s happy energy, as long as it’s sung with some muscle and not too fast. But I’ve also been playing with a new arrangement of the song that brings out the lament of the verses with a minor harmonization, switching to a major key when the refrain proclaims confidently, “No storm can shake my inmost calm.”

I wouldn’t propose my version as definitive, but a fresh new reading of a classic is never a bad thing, right? PDF, MP3.

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Psalms

SALVATION

In an odd unfolding of Psalmic fate, my top choice settings for two Psalms in the last month were both set to the same tune: SALVATION. “In My Distress I Called to God” (Psalm 120) and “When God Restored Our Common Life” (Psalm 126). The tune had not previously gained my attention, though it’s common enough that I have probably have used it before. It’s from Kentucky Harmony, and like all great early American tunes it is rugged as the Appalachian mountains, yet as balanced a melody as Gregorian chant.

Shape note hymn tunes sound perfect in their original settings, with raw, static harmonies, sung with open-throated energy. However, they can sound like fish out of water when they’re set with more modern harmonies. That’s how I felt about the harmonization in the Psalter Hymnal. (Sorry Kenneth…) It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t bring out the melody’s charms.

Here’s what I like about my reharmonization: It puts a big fat accent on the pickup note to each phrase; to my ear that’s one of the keys to the tune’s character. It uses big block chords, with no harmonic fussiness distracting from the tune’s earthy modality. The broad harmonic movement is from D minor (i) in the first two phrases to Am (v) in the last two, which gives the melody a sense of movement. Finally, the deceptive cadence and short interlude gives the congregation a quick chance to breath before diving into the next verse.

Wow. I should be a used harmonization salesman… Would you like to take it for a test drive?: PDF, MP3.

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Church Congregational Songs

Lord God, Now Let Your Servants Depart in Peace

When Bruce Benedict sent out a call for communion songs, I had originally intended to write a whole set of songs that would work in communion and a communion liturgy. There lots of moments—“Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again,” for example—that are just begging to be sung. As I posted a few days ago, the main song I finished by the deadline was “O Lamb of God.” But I also completed a Nunc Dimittis: “Lord God, Now Let Your Servants Depart in Peace.” These words, said by Simeon upon seeing the child Jesus (Luke 2:29-32), were a profound response to answered prayer. They are also words that are appropriately sung by a congregation, who at the end of a worship service can proclaim that they have seen Jesus, the Light of the world.

As I told Bruce, of the two songs, I think the Nunc Dimittis is the stronger melody. It’s definitely the weaker recording. (I’ve grown to despise my own voice, and my piano playing is…wanting.) It’s also short enough that it could be awkward in a congregational setting, although it could work as a seasonal benediction song.

I offer it to you, my dear readers, for your evaluation: MP3, PDF.

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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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Congregational Songs

Food for the Soul

Bruce Benedict of Cardiphonia is at it again, this time with a flash mob of 30 songwriters gathering around the theme of the Lord’s Supper. The album is called “Songs for the Supper,” and it includes my new song, “O Lamb of God.”

I had planned to write a half dozen short communions songs in a Taizé-meets-praise-band style, but with a due date for a Psalm CD looming overhead, it just wasn’t possible. So I focused on finishing just this one song for Bruce’s project. This song is a setting of the traditional liturgical text, Agnus Dei. It is almost entirely call-and-response, which makes it easy to learn as the people can simply repeat the leader line by rote. In the case of this recording, I sing the leader’s role and Laura de Jong sang the people’s role. Thank you , Laura! It was nice to spend mixing time on someone else’s voice, because frankly, I’m sick of my own voice.

Though the song could go any number of directions stylistically, this version is pretty trippy, with lots of phasing and guitar noodling. Add a bit of backward piano and you simply can’t go wrong. Can you?

Both the MP3 and the PDF leadsheet are at the album’s Cardiphonia Bandcamp site. I’ll make a piano version available soon. The whole album is a free download, but you can donate a little something to stophungernow as your way of thanking all the people who took part. It’s liturgically appropriate to connect the Table with feeding the hungry (that’s how the New Testament church rolled), and it’s also a nice gesture at a time of the year when most of us sit down to overeat.

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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