Category: Contests

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Congregational Songs Contests

It Was Very Good!

In day two of my Faith Alive scripture song submissions, I get a little whimsical.

Here’s what they wanted:

Genesis 1: 1,31: We need a catchy version of these two verses for K-1.  Could include animals, animal sounds, etc.  Maybe an island feel.

Here’s what I came up with: MP3, PDF

I could extol the virtues of a singable melody, an upbeat acoustic reggae style (watch your back Bruno Mars), and a simple call-and-response form that will let non-readers sing along. But all I need to say is beluga, arugula.

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Congregational Songs Contests

The Colors of the Covenant

A few weeks back Faith Alive put out a call for scripture songs for children and tweens. The email listed four scriptures in their Sunday school curriculum for which they need songs. There’s nothing that motivates me more than this kind of scripture song challenge. (I can’t wait until their Sunday School curriculum moves into Leviticus!) For the next four days I’ll post a new one each day.

Here’s what they wanted:

Genesis 9: 12-13: Something appropriate for 2nd and 3rd graders. Could use the line “This is a sign of the covenant as a chorus”? This one will be a challenge!

Here’s what I gave them: MP3, PDF

I especially like the words on this one. The alliteration in the title gets things started. The first verse succinctly tells the story of Noah, culminating in the rainbow of the chorus. (Not as easy as it seems, by the way.) The second verse applies the story of the rain, rainbow, and the covenant to those of us who are singing the song. Of course, this is a lot of words for 2nd and 3rd graders to sing. It wasn’t clear whether the song is intended for listening or singing, so we’ll see whether it’s accepted or not.

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Contests

Vote for the St. Gregory Remix

I’m really sorry. When I posted my St. Gregory Remix I thought it was going to be evaluated on creativity and quality, in which case it would have won hands down. But it turns out that it’s one of those “turn out the vote” deals. So why don’t you head on over to Indaba and let people know that you vote for Greg: http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/victimae-paschali-laudes-remix-opportunity/submissions/60592

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Contests Quirky

Victimae Paschali Laudes: St. Gregory Remix

What can I say? I can’t say no to a contest.

My latest foray into the contest world is a remix contest of the male vocal quartet New York Polyphony singing the plainchant “Victimae Paschali Laudes.” They provided the “stems” (raw sound files) at Indaba and let the contestants go wild.

And go wild I did. I added an intro featuring the Monastery of Greg singers, laid down a rhythm track of beat boxing, layered in sound effects, and finished with a Latin rap. I guess I’m just a guy with big ideas and a bigger mouth…

I thought it would be appropriate to name my entry the “St. Gregory Remix,” as he is the namesake of Gregorian Chant. He was also the right saint to invoke on this remix, as the recording is all a cappella. Obviously, I did some slicing and dicing, but the whole mix comes from either the the mouths of NY Polyphony or me. Check out all the entries at Indaba or listen to the MP3 right here.

This is something new and different for me, so I’d be interested in hearing your feedback.

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Contests Production music Rock and/or Roll

Be Your Everything

The last few days have been a marathon of writing, mixing and recording my latest lunge for lyrical longevity. Yes, it’s contest time again, people! This one is the “16 Love” song contest, the winner of which will be featured in a teen romance movie about two tennis players.

I wanted to make the song something that would fit well thematically and make sense to the teens who will be watching the movie, but not something so specifically tennis-oriented that I’d never be able to use it again. (I learned my lesson with the TopGolf theme song.)

I present to you “Be Your Everything,” sung by Laura Stapert. (I decided her 16-year-old voice would be a lot more convincing than mine.) Normally, I link directly to an MP3 hear at my music blog, but this time I’m going to make you follow an external link to hear the song (and watch the trailer) because I want you to vote for the song!

http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/96229/voteable_entries/16824070?ogn=facebook&order=recency

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Contests Production music

Adventures in Losing

In today’s episode of Adventures in Losing, we find our protagonist (me) reading the following: Heartfelt and nostalgic instrumentals needed for film scene. Instrumental Classical or cinematic music tracks. The music should be heartfelt and nostalgic. The song will be used in a scene where a man reflects back on memorable moments as he packs up his deceased wife’s belongings. This is a very emotional moment in the movie and the music should help with the delicate balance of loss and nostalgia the man is feeling in this scene. Instrumentals only. Slow to medium-slow tempo.

I submitted the aptly titled “Nostalgic Recollections” and watched the activity board as the “opportunity provider” sifted through hundreds of submissions. In the end they chose “The Skies of Io” by Kenneth W. Lovell Jr.  Congratulations, Kenneth. Really. I’m happy for you. I’d be happier for you if you were me, of course.

Now, what can we learn from this humiliating defeat? First, let’s listen to Kenneth’s song and mine: The Skies of Io, Nostalgic Recollections. You’ll notice that Kenneth’s song is folksy whereas mine is more dramatic. Given the description of what they wanted you’d have thought that would work in my favor. You’ll also notice that my composition is much more complicated. Kenneth gets in a groove and stays there. There’s a lesson in that: in a movie the music isn’t the focus, so it doesn’t need to be–maybe even shouldn’t be–complicated. It shouldn’t draw attention to itself, but instead amplifies the emotion of the scene. Finally, if you took the time to google Kenneth you’d have found that he’s quite an accomplished composer with many productions to his credit. It seems like this has been his full time work for some time. That makes me feel a little better about this installment of…

Adventures in Losing.

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Contests

If You Love Me

It’s our fifth and final day of a week of non-stop submission music. How can I top a rapped version of Acts 1:8 or a hymn tune that was almost entitled “My Fanny”? Well, in times of great need, one turns to scripture. In this case, the scripture is John 14:15, and the rendition is neo-soul. Imagine Alicia Keys writing a song for John Legend, in which he employs Barry White as backing vocalist. Now you’re getting the idea.

My wife thinks it’s an abomination. She tells me that if anyone else had written this, I would be appalled. I say, “Honey, how can it be wrong if it feels so right?” You be the judge: MP3, PDF.

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Congregational Songs Contests

MY CROSBY

Update: Sheet music for this tune (still waiting for a text to call its own)
is now available at gregscheer.com.

Day 4 of my contest submission extravaganza is the second tune I entered in the St Lukes contest. Same text, new tune. This time the tune that came out was a straight up gospel hymn. So I decided to call it MY CROSBY. Hey, it’s better than MY FANNY, right?…

Feel free to write a new text for this: MP3.

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Contests

Acts 1:8

You’ll notice that this week’s series of posts get progressively more quirky. In this, day 3 of my posting extravaganza, we once again tap into my submissions to Faith Alive’s Sunday School curriculum. They asked for hip hop, Caribbean, and other cool styles, so I figured I’d turn their request for Acts 1:8 songs into a scripture memory rap. Is that dope enough? Indeed. Here’s the MP3. It seems a little cerebral to include a score, but if you’re so inclined, knock yourself out with the PDF.

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Congregational Songs Contests

MINOR CELEBRATION

Update: Sheet music for this tune (still waiting for a text to call its own)
is now available at  gregscheer.com.

Day two of our contest extravaganza finds Greg losing a hymn tune contest.

St. Lukes of Victoria, BC (that’s in Canada) held a contest for a composer to write a tune to go with Judy Trueman’s text “Celebrate God.” I wrote two. The first is this festive tune written in a minor key and named, appropriately, MINOR CELEBRATION.

It lost. Not only did it lose to 34 other entries according to the judges, but also according to a popular vote. Geez! Talk about adding insult to injury. They’ve announced the winners, but you can’t listen to them yet. So you may as well take a listen to the MP3 of my hymn tune submission. Better yet, download the PDF (at the link above) and write your own text to this new tune. Who knows? I may just post it to this blog where thousands of subscribers will peruse your poetry.