The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerUpdate 10/1/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.
Here is another rough cut from my proposed CD of rock and/or roll. It’s called “Our Father.” If you guessed that it’s based on the Lord’s Prayer, you’re correct. This won’t generally be a religious CD, but I couldn’t resist including this one.
Once I finish the global songbook I’ve been working on for the CICW, I want to start recording a CD. Yeah, that’s right, a real CD, with songs, shrink wrap, and everything. A CD chock full of all my rock and roll hits. (As rock and roll as a 41 year old man can muster.) My plan is to post rough drafts of some of the songs here at my music blog so I can get feedback early on from all of you. The first of the batch is “Walking the Wire.” Like I said, this is just a rough mix of part of the song, but I’d love to hear what you think.
This was a long, sad week at Church of the Servant, as one of our members died unexpectedly. As I planned music for the memorial service, it brought me back to a memorial service I led when I first began music ministry. “We Worship You” is a song I wrote in memory of Chuck Rosemeyer that continues to express for me the lament and trust of Job 1:21–“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Paul Ryan at the CICW is editing a songbook of Praise and Worship songs to be published by Faith Alive. He asked me to make suggestions for songs that could be added to the collection. Below is a short list of songs that I think are the best of the genre, but which don’t often get included in Top 100 lists. You can hear a quick demo of each song by downloading this MP3 file. (Watch out, it’s 25 megs!)
THE CREAM (praise songs that I stand behind musically and theologically–it’s a short list!)
Amazing Love – Graham Kendrick
I know it’s a bit dated, but I think it’s a solid song theologically and could have some musical longevity.
Give Thanks to the Lord – John H. Morton
I picked this up from a weird song collection from Lorenz. This song is joyful, but not trite.
Holy Lord – Steve Bell
I’ve used this at COS for our “Guitarchestra” day. It’s a nice combination of upbeat folk and liturgical text.
I Will Hide Your Word Inside My Heart – Paul Field
Paul Field has a great kids praise CD. This is one we’ve used at COS frequently. I stack this guy up against fellow Brit Keith Getty any day.
Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer – Becker/Getty
Speaking of Getty, here’s one that bears his trademark Celtic feel, but it hasn’t been overplayed on radio and in congregations.
Kadosh – Elisheva Shamron
Don’t know anything about the composer, but a Dutch student introduced me to the song and I love it. It’s mesmerizing.
Nearer than Before – Jim Crowan
I’ve used this over and over, and it always works. It’s got a classic melody in the lines of Seek Ye First, and the words have a simple sincerity.
Purify My Heart – Jeff Nelson
You probably know this one. I think it’s better than the “other” Purify My Heart. It makes a great confession song.
Ready My Heart – Lois Shuford
I love this song! Shuford is virtually unknown, but this song is a gem. And where else can you find a true Advent song in the P&W repertoire?
Restore My Soul – Andi Rozier
The first part is based on the tune “The Water Is Wide.” Great song of confession and dedication.
Salvation Belongs to Our God – Adrian Howard and Pat Turner
I think this one is under-rated. I wrote a new arrangement for the New Testament Songbook to bring out the classic rock anthem feel that I hear in it. It was getting overplayed 10 years ago, but I think it’s ready for a revival.
The First Place – Matthew Westerholm
I would stack this up against anything by Getty or Tomlin. It’s a fantastic song. Added bonus: serious Reformed theology.
Throw Down Your Crowns – Glenn Kaiser
The singer from Rez Band did an acoustic worship album. I’ve always like this one. It may need some finessing with the piano arrangement to make it work in a hymnal context, but I think it’s worth considering.
What the Lord Has Done in Me – Reuben Morgan
I don’t know that he meant to do this but he wrote a really good baptismal song. We used it at COS a few weeks ago during the confession on a baptism Sunday, with confession readings scattered throughout.
SONGS I’VE USED TO GOOD EFFECT
Build Your Fire – Eltzroth: nothing earth-shaking, but it’s a good dedication song along the lines of “In My Life Lord Be Glorified.”
I Will Sing Praise
Psalm-like language in a rockin’ package.
My Soul Finds Rest – Dan McGowan
This was extracted from a choral anthem. I’ve used the chorus (My soul finds rest) as a sung response with a reading from Psalm 72 (?). It’s kind of the pop answer to the Taize chorus.
Omega
They used to use this at the close of every student-led Sunday Eve P&W service at Northwestern, like “My Friends” is used at LOFT. It’s simple, but it never really ends, which lends it well to repeated singing.
I’m sure most of you have read the press release by now, verifying yours truly as the award winning composer of the Illinois Central College’s fight song “We Are the Cougars.” This got me to thinking about other fight songs and marches I’ve written in the past. I don’t really think of myself as much of a march person, but the fact is that I’ve written a number of other songs in the style. One could categorize me as “nipping at Sousa’s heels.” Or maybe not…
In any case, let’s take a tour of songs leading up to “We Are the Cougars.” First came “Interesting Thing” (MP3, PDF) in 1995. It became somewhat of a theme song for the Rascals, Rogues & Rapscallions, and each year I added new verses based on presentations that had been given throughout the year. They will mean nothing to you if you weren’t there–perhaps even if you were. After that came “The Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club Fight Song” (MP3, PDF) composed at the request of Dan Morrision in 2000 to honor the rich history of The Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club. One could even argue that the 1st and 3rd movements of my Brass Quintet, written in 1987, were just elaborate deconstructions of marches. Or one could opine, with my wife Amy, that “all marches sound the same.” All I know is that I’m $1000 richer, and I can now fulfill a lifelong dream of adding “composer of a college fight song” to my resume.
Psalm 81 starts with a call to worship, then the rest of the Psalm is God recounting Israel’s unfaithfulness and calling them back. Marie J. Post has a good metrical rendering of the Psalm in the Psalter Hymnal. But you know Greg–he can’t leave well enough alone–he just had to compose a new melody for the text. I decided to emphasize the dialog between the people and God. So the people’s call to worship (Post’s verse 1) becomes the refrain, and the rest (Post’s verses 3-7) become cantor verses.
At the same time I was writing this, I was playing around with GarageBand. Lo, and behold, I ended up turning it into an easy listening pop recording. Kind of anachronistic, I know…
In any case, here’s the MP3. Actually, it’s an M4A, which I guess is the newest generation of MP3. Let me know if you have trouble playing it. Oh wait, I figured out how to make an MP3 in GarageBand. Here’s the real MP3.
At Church of the Servant, there’s a little thing we do called “Guitarchestra.” We bring together as many guitarists, mandolinists, and banjists (is that a word?) as we can into one glorious glob of worship-leading stringiness. This post is for all the members of the COS Guitarchestra who missed rehearsal this week. It’ll give you an idea of how each song sounds. I’m sorry the recordings are so bad–I’m having some serious computer issues. Here are the songs to learn for Sunday, August 5, in order:
Gather Us In, Joyful, Joyful We Adore You, What the Lord Has Done in Me, Thanks Be to God Our Savior, I Will Hide Your Word Inside My Heart, Gracias Señor, Holy, holy, holy Lord (Bell), Come, Ye Sinners, Here I Am to Worship, Before the Throne of God Above, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Blessed Assurance
Update: For sheet music or to adopt this orphan tune, head over to gregscheer.com.
This Sunday at Church of the Servant we sang the Psalter Hymnal version of Psalm 82, “There Where the Judges Gather.” After the service Ron and Deb Rienstra commented that the tune which accompanied the text was too nice. What it really needed was a tune that got across the “stick it to the man” tone of the Psalm.
How could I resist?
I spent the next few days writing and recording this new version of “There Where the Judges Gather.” The tune, appropriately enough, is called “STICK IT TO THE MAN.” Do punk rock and metrical Psalms go together? You be the judge. Listen to the MP3 here.
Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.
Once again, I’ve turned to Michael Morgan’s 1999 Psalter for Christian Worship as the starting point for a new Psalm setting, this time Psalm 30. I like the way Morgan places the joyous sentiments of the Psalm text in the first half of each verse, and the lament and supplication in the second half. That allows the musical setting to reinforce the meaning of the text in each verse.
Morgan recommends the tune ABBOTS LEIGH (“God Is Here”) for the text. That’s a beautiful tune, but I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. I wrote a draft of a new tune one afternoon last week, obsessed about it the rest of the evening, revised it the next morning, got some helpful feedback from my friend David that afternoon, then finished it by dinner time.
We’ll sing it at COS as the lectionary Psalm this Sunday. In the meantime, you can download a PDF file of the music (see link above) or listen to a cheesy Finalefied MP3.