This is, literally, my musical diary–notes fresh from my pen and recorded in a few hours. You can find my finished works elsewhere; here, it's all about capturing the moment!
Two of my favorite pianists from Church of the Servant were planning to lead a service together, and they were looking for arrangements of congregational songs for four-handed piano. How could I say no?
If you take a gander over at my main website, you’ll find several arrangements of “Come, Holy Ghost/Be Not Afraid,” by Ray Mills and Bruce Benedict. But I didn’t recycle any of those for this arrangement. Instead, I wanted something entirely new, built from the ground up for two pianists at the same keyboard.
It is certainly a challenging arrangement, but I think it’s challenging in a good way.
You’ve already heard the recording, but I couldn’t resist posting this video that just came out. Moments like those captured in this video make me incredibly grateful to be able to be a musician, and grateful that I can be a small part of these children’s musical and spiritual formation.
Truth be told, I cried a little as I watched the video. But I wasn’t the only one! Go to 1:25 where you’ll see another man overcome with emotion. It’s kind of sweet.
Carlos Colón has been a big supporter of my music over the years, as well as a good friend. For a recent concert, he commissioned an arrangement of Wendell Kimbrough’s “Mary’s Song” for 2-part children’s choir, piano, string quintet, and oboe. It turned out beautifully, as you can hear from this recording.
Random photo of Austin, because that’s where this arrangement was performed.
“The Dungeon” might sound a little dark for a jazz song. Fear not! It is simply the name of a restaurant we played at last week, an inaugural performance which I commemorated with a new tune. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture the premiere performance on video. Fear not! We played the following Wednesday at Tulip City Bar & Grill in Holland, and my wife recorded it.
Enjoy Outside Pocket (Gary Mccourry on sax, Steve Talaga on piano, Evan Follmar on drums, and me on bass) performing “The Dungeon.”
A few years ago, I was asked to arrange Wendell Kimbrough’s song, “O Rejoice in All Your Works,” for wind ensemble for use at Calvin University’s commencement. It was used again this year, and the sound and videography are top-notch.
What’s that? You have a wind ensemble and would like to include the song in your university’s commencement service? Well, just saunter over to www.gregscheer.com, where you can download it for a mere $35!
It’s so much fun to work with friends! In this case, my friend Carlos Colón commissioned me to write an arrangement of “Mary’s Song,” a song written by another friend, Wendell Kimbrough. This beautiful performance was recorded at a rehearsal for a chapel service at Baylor University.
The Canticle of Mary (the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55) is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible. It has elements of meekness, joy, obedience, wonder, and even some revolutionary overtones. It is no surprise that every music setting brings out different aspects of the text.
This anonymous text and Scottish folk tune pair beautifully to show a young girl whose hope has been steeped in the prophecies long enough that she believes the angel’s surprising message.
This arrangement for voice, guitar, and strings was written for a service at Rosewood Church that focused on Mary. With a melody this lovely and honest, the best thing you can do is avoid gilding the lily. Hence, a simple arrangement that swells at each chorus and remains understated during the verses.
I will soon write a piano accompaniment and make it available at my website.
Just in time for Christmas 2025 is a brand new arrangement of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”
First, a disclaimer: this recording is very rough, recorded live in worship after an hour-long rehearsal, direct from the soundboard.
Some songs are blank canvases on which one can paint their own personality. Not so, this carol. The melody dips in and out of a chromatic backdrop, establishing certain non-negotiables for the arranger. And yet, the song is marked by its quiet simplicity. I wanted to retain that serenity in my arrangement.
This arrangement was written for the All Saints Orchestra (guitar and string quintet), but I later added a piano part for churches with more standard instrumentation.
The final arrangement for the Holland Symphony Orchestra’s “Music Unites Us” concert with Grupo Super Nova was a ballad called “Inevitable Adiós.” It is gorgeous and heartbreaking.
When Christian, the songwriter, first sent me this, I responded, “I don’t understand half of the Spanish, and I was still getting choked up!” With a song like this, the best thing to do is just stay out of the way. Let the song speak for itself; simply support and enhance what is already in the music. I did that with lush lower strings, regal horns, soaring violin lines, harp, and lots of cymbal rolls.
Of course, I needed to let the orchestra come to the foreground at some point. I did this with an oboe solo, a flugelhorn solo, and a trumpet/trombone duet. Just enough of a break to leave us wanting more.
I’m usually not one for modulations. They are so often used as a cheap way of inflating energy back into a mediocre song that I normally stay clear of them. But I made an exception here. I let the song wind down as if it were ending, but instead of the quiet tag of “Inevitable adiós” that we expect–BAM!–a sudden modulation into a new key with full orchestra. It’s glorious, if I don’t say so myself.
Below is video of me accompanying Christian on guitar at the concert.
The next arrangement for Grupo Super Nova and the Holland Symphony Orchestra was “Escucha.” This song, too, is in an upbeat Cumbia dance style, but the lyrics are poignant: “Listen! I want you to pay attention, just in case today is our last day together: I love you like I have never loved before.”
This arrangement is further outside the box than the others. I ask the violins to strum their instruments like ukeleles and play a melody on one string with one finger (to match the portamento of the synth line). Later is a duet between electric guitar and electric violin. Then I ask the orchestra to sing background vocals. All of these stretch the musicians out of their comfort zones, but since we had worked together previously, I decided there was enough trust for them to try these unusual effects with a minimum of grumbling.
One of my favorite sections is when all the motion stops and Hector sings a quiet refrain in English. I didn’t want the English-speaking audience to miss the poignant message of the lyrics. Too, a short silence makes what follows sound even more energetic.
I should make a note about how I created these demos. I use Dorico for my notation software. To make a demo of the arrangement, I play Dorico through orchestral playback software called NotePerformer. NP is unique in that it interprets the score as orchestral musicians would play it, with articulations, blend, and reverb as they would happen in an actual performance. (Who says AI is bad?) From there, I load my orchestral arrangement and Grupo’s original recording into Logic Pro. After a bit of tempo matching and splicing I can produce a decent demo of how the final performance might sound. This is really important when trying to get buy in from both note-readers and ear-performers. It allowed everyone walk into rehearsal with a very good idea of how it would sound.
Below are a few snippets of video from the concert. There aren’t a lot of composers who can say people dance to their orchestrations!
