Toward the end of college I was having a crisis of faith. It was not at all helped by Wolfgang Borchert’s brilliantly depressing “Draußen vor der Tür,” in which God makes an appearance as a tired, helpless old man. My doubts and faith were channeled into a musical prayer called, appropriately enough, “Prayer.” I recorded it with guitar and violin on my “From the Hand of” cassette (note to my younger readers: cassettes were how independent musicians released music before Myspace and Bandcamp) and decided to retool it recently for full quartet. We’re still learning it, so it’s a little rough, but I’m already loving the way the strings add depth to the song.
Category: Rock and/or Roll
Yet another composition about composing, this time I’m asking the question “in the face of so many great composers, should a minor talent like me even bother?” It takes the form of an open letter to the Renaissance master Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, asking whether he composed knowing he would be revered as a musical master centuries later or whether he was content to simply make music for the immediate joy (and income) it brought him.
The thing I like about this song is that it stretches the boundaries of song form. It goes all over the place, but never loses its way. The problem is that it is an absolute bear to play. The poor cello and viola fill in for bass and guitar, with rhythmic double stops that form the backbone of the groove. The violins have solos and fiddle rhythms. And then everyone has to stop on a dime and nail delicate harmonics. It’s a wonder they didn’t walk out on me when I passed out the music!
Take a listen to a work in progress: Palestrina, MP3.
PS – If you’re wondering why I keep composing given the fact that I’m dwarfed by people like Palestrina, it is best summarized by Henry van Dyke: “The woods would be very silent if no bird sang except the best.”
On day two of our journey into the world of Allegro we arrive at another jazz tune. But this time it’s an intimate ballad with ripe harmonies and melodies that stretch to the point of breaking. “Have I Gone Too Far” was written while I was in grad school, compelled by my composition professors to “find my voice,” which was code for “write unnecessarily complex music that would be completely inaccessible to anyone outside our little club.”
I received my compositional indoctrination during the day, and played my guitar around town at night. In fact, this was when I first began writing music for guitar and string quartet, trying to find ways of composing music that were artful but also accessible. During these years of musical tension, I often wrote songs that explored the questions that kept turning in my mind. And the question in this case was, “Have I Gone Too Far?“
For the last year or so I’ve been getting together with the Allegro String Quartet, a fine female foursome who have been working on some of my rock and roll string music.
As any patron of these pages knows, I am nothing if not eclectic. (I’m still trying to figure out if that’s a feature or a flaw.) Over the years, I’ve written a number of things for strings that combine classical sensibilities with rock/pop/jazz/global aesthetics. Sometimes this has taken the form of compositions for string quartet alone (6, Jig), and at other times the strings are layered into a band (Dreaming). But what interests me most is a hybrid somewhere in the middle. Last week, Allegro and I made four rough recordings of songs we’ve been working on. Each one crosses genres in some way.
First up is “I’ll be Around.” This is a pretty straight ahead jazz tune, and I could imagine Bing Crosby singing it in a 1950s TV special. But this rendition is Bing-less, with me on vocals and guitar as the quartet switches between a tight-harmony solo, pizzacato, and a verse in which they throw themes back and forth between them. The tempo marking says it all: “coy and cute.” Take a listen to I’ll Be Around, MP3.
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!
While Amy was busy Valentine’s eve blogging an ode to our former paperboy, I was preparing for today’s celebration of love by recording a song for her. Hmmm…
This new song started as an email from a music library that needed a song about sleeping or dreaming for a commercial. I thought to myself, “Surely I couldn’t find the time to write a song for this opportunity–I’m trying to finish a commission for orchestra by Monday evening.” But by the time I arrived at work Thursday morning I was already turning over ideas in my mind. One thing led to another, and I soon had finished a dreamy, stream of consciousness Nick Drake-ish love song for my one and only.
One of the things I’m excited about on this recording is that it marks the first fruits of my budding collaboration with the Allegro String Quartet. The women of ASQ and I have been reading through some of my quartet music–both legit and pop–and I’m pleased that we were able to capture this one while it was still fresh. Take a listen to When I’m Dreaming, and stay tuned for more recordings from us in the near future.
By the way, if you’re worried about Amy and the paperboy, don’t be. She redeemed herself later in the evening with a lovely blogpost revealing where her true affections lie.
Categories
Word of the day: fleeting
Simon and I were working on his Word Masters words yesterday, and one of the words he had to define was “fleeting.” We always use the words in a sentence, usually including potty humor. As we were deciding whether or not a fart could be fleeting I remembered the phrase “a fleeting tear rolls down her mind’s eye” from a song called “Maria” that I wrote in college using the poetry of a URI student named Claire Attracta Dugan.
In honor of Simon’s recent perfect score on a Word Masters test, in celebration of the word fleeting, and in memory of a youthful Greg who was more influenced by the Psychedelic Furs than he knew at the time, here is the Amphibians performing Maria.
You may remember a song called “Dance!” that I co-wrote with Jackie Worth a few years ago. It was intended for a teen girl group called the Gemz, but they didn’t use it. In fact, they seemed to have broken up. (Let that be a lesson to all who consider rejecting my music in the future.)
But thanks to long time collaborator Colin Gordon-Farleigh, the song has taken on a new, international life. Colin gave the song to fellow Brit Jennifer Douglas (who sang our “If Only I Had Wings”) and Aussie producer Darren Mullan. Between the two of them, they’ve created a spot on dance hit. Go to CDBaby and buy the MP3 before the price go up! (If you’re too cheap to put out $0.99 for the full MP3, you can preview the song for free.)
Categories
Google Me!
You may have heard that Google is planning to roll out super high speed (and free) internet in select cities across the nation. Which means, of course, that cities across the nation are vying for Google’s attention.
I, being true to my city, will not squander my skills on any other metropolitan area (even if they are offering a $150 worth of gift certificates to restaurants that are in driving distance). No, my heart is loyal to Grand Rapids, where citizens are joining together as one to extol their fine city’s virtues.
And that, my friends, is why I am contributing my new song “Google Me!” to the cause. I’m pretty sure that when the flash mob creates a human network on Marcy 19, they’re going to need some music. Here it is. Get dancing. And when people start shooting their videos, this is the soundtrack with the sizzle. And when Google rolls into town with its blazing fast network, Grand Rapids will sing one joyous, high speed chorus of “Google Me!”
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Robot Dance Music
For me, the Calvin Worship Symposium starts with a rehearsal Wednesday night and a worship service Thursday morning. The problem is that I’ve got everything ready to go and now have a full day stretching before me with none of the frantic preparations that have occupied the last month. Yes, there are lots of things I could–maybe even should–be doing. But I decided that it should be fun day. I was going to write a mass for the NPM mass contest, but the chances of me actually finishing that by Sunday are slim. So instead, I turned my attention to the FramesDirect.com Robot Dance Contest. I mean, being a fan of Kraftwerk, how could I resist?
Listen to an MP3 of my Robot Dance Music. I think you’ll agree that it’s chock full of vocoded goodness.
The employees of FramesDirect will make a video of themselves dancing to the winning entry. I’m about to post my entry to their FaceBook page. It would be great if you’d head over there and put in a kind word for my entry.
But wait. There’s more! I’ve decided to make a little contest of my own: The Greg Scheer Dance Like a Robot Video Contest. The rules are simple. You upload a link to a video of you (your family, your Legos, your pet cockroaches, etc) dancing to the above song. A panel of one (me) will judge the best video and send the winner a prize. For those of you who are serious about quality (and you’d better be if you want to make any headway in this contest) you can download an AIF file of the song.
Good luck to all. And may the best robot win!