The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerIn 33 minutes it will be Valentine’s Day. And what better way to express my love to my wife of 15 years than with a song? “This House is Lonely” was written the first time Amy went away for a weekend. We had been married for a year or two and it just seemed so strange after living for 26 years without her that I’d miss her so much after just a few days away. I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up and wrote this song.
A long time ago, there was this 23 year old who was trying to figure out life. He was a Christian, but he was also a musician–and he couldn’t figure out how the two went together. He was studying music composition, but led a double life writing rock music. One weekend he ended up at a big outdoor Christian festival in New England and he got to play play at a coffee house. All the other people at the coffee house did inspiring songs of faith, accompanied by guitar, but this 23 year old sang songs like “Sometimes I Feel Like I Don’t Know” and “Psycho Killer” accompanied by his electric bass. He caught the ear of Dan Russell, a Boston-are producer who had worked with Robin Lane, Andy Pratt and Mark Heard. He was invited to send the big city producer a demo, and the rest is history.
No really, it’s history. The 23 year old was me, and I totally misjudged what a big city producer would want to hear. I worked up some demos that I thought would fit with some of the people Dan Russell worked with. At the time I was particularly enamored with Maria Mckee of Lone Justice, so I sent him a cassette (remember those?) with a few songs including this one, “For You.” At the time I thought it would fit her perfectly, but Dan’s reaction was something like, “Huh?” It turns out that he was more interested in me as a songwriter/performer than as a songwriter for any singers he worked with. Oh well…
“For You” is sung by Shoshana Feinstein, who appears to be going strong after all these years. Keys and production are by my good friend Jim DeFrancesco. Hey, it was 80s and I was trying to write the perfect pop hit. Cut me a little slack!
Jack Roeda is preaching on the calling of Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1-10), Philip, and Nathanael (John 1:43-51) next week. As I was searching for songs to fit the theme, I came across the hymn “Jesus Calls O’er the Tumult” in the Hymnary. I liked the text, but wasn’t convinced by the tune that accompanied it in the Psalter Hymnal. So I wrote a new one and took the opportunity to learn more about Logic Studio by recording a demo of it. Here it is: Greg, the band of Greg, and the Greg choir performing “Jesus Calls.”
At this point I’ve written over 30 songs with Colin Gordon-Farleigh. This latest is a ballad called “What Do You Mean?” I decided to do something different with this post. Usually I just make an MP3 of Finale playing back the score, but this song doesn’t sound right with a machine’s rigid playback. So here is a recording of yours truly singing “What Do You Mean?” in one take into the built in mics on my Mac. Not enough for you? Here’s the music for you to play at the piano.
Last week I finished an arrangement of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You” for use in my church. How dare I mess with Beethoven, you ask? Indeed. A few years back I decided that I could no longer bear to hear praise bands butcher Beethoven’s fine tune. And since it had already been adapted for the hymnal, I thought I’d arrange something that would work for praise band. Since then I’ve written a lead sheet, a piano accompaniment, and string parts. You can find the piano music at my main website for a short time, and the demo you can find right here.
Back in 1990 there was a singer in Pittsburgh whose name I can’t remember who sang a lot of public school assemblies raising awareness about teen suicide. Because she couldn’t present an explicitly Christian message, she was looking for songs that offered a message of hope without being preachy. So I wrote the song My Arms Are Open Wide. 18 years later, I’m still wondering why she didn’t end up using it. This thing is a hit! All it needs now is a hit maker–a singer who can bring it to life. Carrie Underwood, where are you when I need you?
At Church of the Servant the theme verse of this year’s Girls’ Club is Micah 6:8. They found a few songs that worked pretty well (PsH 293, Schmit), but none that fit like a glove. And you know I can’t leave well enough alone, so I took it upon myself to compose my own by the end of the day. I like how it turned out. It’s simple to sing or play, and more importantly it turns the verses into a prayer. Sung justice scriptures often sound so heavy handed, so I like the way these lyrics convey a sense of aspiration rather than obligation. Listen to the MP3 or print off the PDF and take it to the nearest piano for a careful read-through.
In my ongoing attempt to win enough song contests to retire from my day job, I just completed a new song called “Christ Shall Reign.” This contest is sponsored by the National Federation of Catholic Youth Workers. If my song is chosen it will be the theme song of this year’s National Catholic Youth Conference. You can read the official contest rules if you’re interested. Hey, wait a minute. The rules don’t say anything about money. Drat! I guess this one will just have to be for the love of the game.
As I prepared this blog post I stumbled across another person who is entering a song into the contest. So now, my dear readers, you can judge for yourselves who should win this contest: the gentlemen at Oddwalk, or yours truly (MP3, PDF). May the best man win! (Feel free to inundate my competitor’s blog with smack talk comments.)
I just finished my 34th song with lyricist Colin Gordon-Farleigh. It’s a ballad called “This Is the Way.” If you know any Broadway musical producers, call them and tell them I’ve got their next hit. Listen to the MP3 or download the PDF file.