Category: Retuned hymn

Historic hymn texts set to new music.

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Retuned hymn

Why Should the Children of a King

Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

This is how it works for me: It’s afternoon and the pastor stops by my office to let me know he’s going to skip out on the evening worship committee meeting. “No problem,” I tell him, “I’ll let you know if anything comes up you need to know about.” About an hour before the meeting I realize said pastor is scheduled to lead devotions. Dag! I guess I have to do it. I think, “Well, it’s Pentecost. I’ll just lead a Pentecost song.” I look through my Pentecost ideas folder to see if there’s anything I want to introduce. My eyes fall on a text by Isaac Watts about the work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to salvation. “Hmmm…” I think. “I’ve always wanted to write a tune for that.” I run (literally) to the piano and get to work. By 7:02pm I have an admittedly half-baked version of the song which I sing with the worship committee. The next day I roll it around in my head until I figure out what the song wants to be when it grows up. The next day I sit down at the piano and finalize the song. But can I let it rest? No, I cannot. So instead of going home, I surround myself with bass drums, guitars, and tambourines and fire up Logic Pro to capture the moment. The moment is above. If you want to make your own moment, head over to gregscheer.com to download the leadsheet.

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Retuned hymn

All Hail, funky retune

Imagine Earth, Wind & Fire (rest in peace, Maurice White) retired from touring and set up residence in a local church. Now imagine that in a dusty hymnal on the shelves of that church they came across the hymn All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, but decided it needed new music to fit their sound.

earth_wind_fireThat’s pretty much what this version of “All Hail” aspires to be.

Now, this two-bit demo doesn’t do much to help you imagine what I’m hearing in my head, but suffice it to say this is a fat funk sandwich filled with a deep meaty groove slathered in buttery vocals, and topped with spicy horn licks.

Email me for the score if you’ve got an Earth, Wind & Fire cover band that would like to cover this. (Or if you’re Earth, Wind & Fire.)

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Retuned hymn

Do not I love Thee, Oh my Lord​?​ (DETROIT)

Update 12/18/21: Sheet music for this arrangement is now available at gregscheer.com.

I’m proud to be included on the latest Cardiphonia compilation. This time around the the theme was “shape note” hymns in new arrangements. If you’re not familiar with the shape note singing tradition, do yourself a favor and watch the documentary Awake, My Soul, or visit The Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association. Until then, listen to The Hollow Square Hymnal.

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Church Congregational Songs Live Psalms Retuned hymn

O Savior Come (COS 2015)

isaacwatts
Isaac Watts, Greg Scheer’s posthumous collaborator

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

A few years ago I co-wrote a song with Isaac Watts called “Arise, O King of Grace, Arise,” aka “O Savior Come.” I hadn’t thought much about it lately until one of my fellow worship planners here at the church chose the song for a Christ the King Sunday service. Watts teases out the Christological overtones of Psalm 132 so that it works beautifully in that service as well as during Advent. I decided to revisit the song, with a piano accompaniment and string arrangement. Listening to the way the congregation grabs ahold of the song, singing with more gusto each verse, makes me realize that this one’s a keeper.

Available from gregscheer.com:

  • Leadsheet
  • Piano
  • Strings: Score, Violins, Viola, Cello
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Church Congregational Songs Live Retuned hymn

Blest Be the God of Israel

Update 1/24/22: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Yesterday was Church of the Servant’s monthly BES Combined Service. That’s the service that brings the “Basic English” congregation together with those in the “Standard English” service. I try to choose music that both congregations know or that uses simple lyrics, while still following the same liturgical movements and lectionary texts. Not an easy task.

Yesterday the lectionary called for the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79; the song of Zechariah) as the “Psalm” for the day. The most accessible version I found was Michael Perry‘s 1973 text, “Blest Be the God of Israel.” (Although I changed the word “harbinger” to “messenger.”) It’s usually paired with MERLE’S TUNE by Hal Hopson. That’s a beautiful tune, but wasn’t quite in the groove of a BES Combo service, so I finished up an idea I had been working on a few weeks before. This new tune has a lot of similarities to the Peruvian Gloria, and could even use that as an extended Amen at the end of the song.

Download the leadsheet (see link above) and be the first to use it in your town!

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Church Congregational Songs Live Retuned hymn

Jesus, My Great High Priest

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

Here is a new song co-written by Isaac Watts and me.

My pastor, Jack Roeda, is preaching through Hebrews and pointed out the other day that there are few songs that use the image of Jesus as high priest. Shepherd, Bread of Life, yes, but not high priest. Even though I knew he was baiting me, I took the hook and went off to find some good high priest songs. I fell in love with this text by Isaac Watts and wrote a new tune for it.

On thing I’ve been thinking about a lot in my writing lately is the “Occam’s Razor” principle, which basically states that the simplest answer is likely the simplest answer. Another way to state it might be “don’t gild the lily” or Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s famous, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

I’ve spent most of my life trying to master the intricacies of putting notes together, and now I’m realizing that sometimes music sounds best in its simplest forms. This doesn’t take less mastery, but more. In any case, I kept reminding myself of this while writing the tune for this song, and I think I was able to strip it back to an extremely simple, clear form that sings well. Listen to the way the volume of the singing increases on each verse–that is music to a composer’s ears!

You can download the leadsheet or the string parts at the link above. If you’re a worship nerd, you can hear some more highlights from yesterday’s service. If you’re a hymn nerd, you can visit Hymnary.org to see how Watts’ original text was broken into two modern hymn texts: Join All the Glorious Names and Jesus, My Great High Priest. (And how I chose from his 12 verses to come up with my 4 verses and a refrain.)

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Retuned hymn

May the Mind

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

15 years ago I wrote a “retune” of the hymn “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior.” Of course, in those days we didn’t call them retunes, we called them, “hey I really like this hymn so I wrote some new music for it.” (Retune is catchier.) 15 days ago, I wrote string parts for the song, which we used in the 9/13/15 service at COS. They add a nice little halo to the song. (And be honest; we could all use a nice little halo.)

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Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live Retuned hymn

Kimbrough: Mighty God

I don’t usually post other people’s music, but I’ll make an exception here. Actually, I had a small hand in this, as it’s a collaboration of Wendell Kimbrough (http://wendellk.com/), Ludwig van Beethoven (no website), and me (www.gregscheer.com).

Wendell used the “Ode to Joy” melody from the 9th symphony and wrote words based on the post-communion prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Then he added an “Amen” that is simple, but just right. My only role was to provide the verse chords from a previous “Ode to Joy” arrangement. Role up all the ingredients into one, and you have a tasty musical burrito served fresh by the Guitarchestra: Mighty God, We Thank and Praise You, MP3.

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Choir Church Congregational Songs Live Retuned hymn

Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory (SATB/Piano)

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

Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory, SATB/Piano: MP3

A new setting of the 1839 text, “Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory” was born a little over 24 hours ago. This beautiful hymn by James John Cummins had fallen into disuse until fairly recently, when Greg Thompson’s “By Thy Mercy” appeared on the Indelible Grace CD By Thy Mercy and High Street Hymn’s self-titled CD.

I wrote my own setting in 2012 and decided to bring it back again this Lent in an arrangement for SATB choir and piano. I’ve got to admit that I was pleased with how it turned out. The tune sings well, as you can hear by the way the congregation owns it when they join the choir in verse 4; the choral texture adds richness; and the piano provides a certain gravitas to the song’s theme.

We sang it Sunday morning in worship and then again that afternoon at the home of one of church friends who is terminally ill. It gave poignancy to the line “when we feel our mortal weakness, when all human help is vain.” Something else I observed during that visit is that Margaret requested a lot of upbeat hymns–not insubstantial, but also not morose. It made me wonder if that’s one of the roles music plays in faith: it reminds those who are likely far from death that there will one day be, in the words of verse 6, a “solemn hour of dying”; and it gives those close to death a hope of joy as fresh as the songs of their youth.

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Church Congregational Songs Hymn tunes Live Quirky Retuned hymn

Blest Is the Man Whose Bowels Move

What this world needs is more hymns about digestive regularity, don’t you agree? Well, wait no longer, world, because Isaac Watts and Greg have you covered.

Two decades ago, a friend of mine showed me the Isaac Watts’ text “Blest Is the Man Whose Bowels Move.” We had a good laugh over it. Then, two summers ago the folks at Hymnary.org and I led a “Weird Hymn Sing” featuring many of the quirky jewels we found as we added historic hymnals to our database. I seized the opportunity to write a new tune for this timeless Watts’ text. I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of this musical accomplishment.

Last week I had the chance to lead it again, and this time it was captured on a recording. You may want to read the music while listening to the MP3, because it all breaks down into laughter in the second verse. It’s also worth taking a look at the music because there are abundant humorous scatological references throughout.

If you’re interested in hearing the whole program, “Hymns that Time Forgot,” you can check out the MP3 (it’s large) and the program. Maybe you want to bring the quirkiest hymn sing on the planet to your town?…