The long-awaited year in review: the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the tip of the top. Just click the button.
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Your Stupid Phone
If you are anything like me, you have a love/hate relationship with your phone. On the one hand, all the knowledge of civilization rests in the palm of your hands. On the other hand, that needy little chunk of technology demands more and more of your attention, leaving precious little for anything else. I fear that many of us–that I–am living my life through a 2×3 inch window that is only somewhat like real life. More and more I find myself wanting to cut the cords of virtuality and lose myself in the tiny details of this beautiful world.
All these musings turned into a song that starts out with a jealous lover and moves to all the joys that an enfleshed existence offers.
On technical note, I used this recording to experiment with the drum set I just moved to my office. I’m very happy about having drums just a few feet away from my desk. My coworkers? Not so much.
1. Your stupid phone doesn’t love you like I do.
Your stupid phone doesn’t love you at all.
No one at all could love you like I do.
No one at all, no one at all.
‘Cause I’m here
and I’m real,
and isn’t that what we all want?
So put down your stupid phone.
2. Do you ever see the beauty around you?
Does the mundane wonder of the world ever put you in awe? [leave you enthralled]
Take notice of the humming life that surrounds you.
Are you ever overwhelmed by the tragic joy of it all?
Pen to paper, clay to wheel.
All I want is something real.
The heat of coffee, the smell of toast,
butter on the tongue; what could matter more?
Sun on skin, feet on the ground,
air in the lungs–these are things that count.
Skin to skin, eye to eye,
breath to breath, life to life.
Pen to paper, clay to wheel.
All I want is something real.
All I want is something real.
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2018 Year in Review
It’s that time of the year again, my friends! You faithful followers of this Musical Diary have already heard all these songs, but I thought you might enjoy hearing it in a narrated podcast format. It’s also a format that is easy to share with newbies. (Yes, that was a hint!)
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Eugene Peterson’s Funeral Service
Sorry it’s been quiet around the Website lately. Regular Updates will resume soon, but I wanted to tell you about this: I just learned that my song “Lord, Now Let Your Servants Depart in Peace” will be included in Eugene Peterson’s funeral service. He was a great man whom I had the privilege of meeting on a few occasions. It is an immense honor to know that my song will accompany him on his final journey. The service will be live streamed and archived here. The song can be downloaded with the button below.
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2017 Year in Review
I said I’d make this an annual event, didn’t I?
The New Year is a time of taking stock of one’s life. For me, that includes the music I’ve been writing. It’s easy to get lost among the trees of day-to-day composing without having any sense of the musical forest. While working on this overview of 2017’s music, a few things came into focus:
- I’ve been writing lots of music, and I think I’m getting pretty good at it.
- These demo-quality recordings are fine, but I need to put out a bona fide album.
- I am very prolific, but not particularly profitable. I’m not complaining; I love what I do. I just need to figure out ways of promoting myself better and turning notes into cash.
Take a listen to this Year in Review and let me know if you have any insights. My life is a work in progress, you know? I’ll take any advice you have.
Please feel free to share this. Those of you who subscribe to my blog are the elite insiders of my musical world. But this podcast style program makes for a nice introduction for those who are still wandering aimlessly in a vast musical wasteland.
Eagle Creek: Eight Days ~ Moments in Time ~ Two Scenes from JMM on Vimeo.
Every once in a while I receive a note letting me know that someone has sung one of my songs in their church, or asking if a song could be included on a recording project. Last week, though, I opened my email to an unusual gift: someone had used my song “Tremble Before the Lord” (from Psalm 114) as the soundtrack to a stop-time video shot in Eagle Creek, New Mexico. Justin Medlock heard the song on the Cardiphonia Hallel Psalms track I recorded a few years ago. Besides fitting the tempo and length of his video, Justin has some interesting observation on how Psalm 114, my song, and his video went together:
The message of Psalm 114 is beautiful, especially how the Lord cares and provides for his people. But I liked how your song emphasized creation trembling / falling down before the Lord with a strong but simple sense of worship. Joining the music with the timelapse brought it all together: the snow weighs down the pine tree boughs as if they are bowing before the Lord, the trees seem to dance to their King through shadows, the falling snow, the fleeting snow, and so forth. (I understand that the word “tremble” might also be translated “dance”.)
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Greg Scheer’s 2016 Musical Review
Just for fun, I decided to compile some highlights from my compositional year and produce a one-hour radio style program. Feel free to share it with those who don’t have the good fortune of subscribing to my blog!
Update 10/2/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.
If necessity is the mother of invention, the lectionary is the muse of new Psalm settings.
I already composed one setting of Psalm 67, but that was a complicated choir, organ, brass, and percussion anthem. What I needed for yesterday was a simple, solid setting that all but sang itself. A first attempt was…frothy. My second attempt put me on a path I knew would be more fruitful.
The song is in what I’ve dubbed a “modern medieval” style–stately but with a strong rhythmic spine. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how music can dignify or trivialize a congregation’s humanity, and this feels like something an adult could sing without being trite on the one hand or elitist on the other.
One of the cool features of the song is that the verse mirrors the chorus, but one step up. This modulatory slight of hand makes each return of the chorus sound inevitable, but surprising. It also allows for Taizé style layering of verse on top of chorus or men singing the chorus underneath the women singing the verse. I love that Escher stuff!
To feast your eyes on the dignified modern medieval Taizé-style Escheresque goodness, see the link above.
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O Sacred Head, duet
Update 3/22/22: Sheet music for this arrangement is now available at gregscheer.com.
It’s time to catch up on recordings from Holy Week. Let’s start with “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” the quintessential Passion hymn. Knowing that I’d have my go-to flutist Kristen Zoetewey playing on Palm Sunday–and never being one to miss the opportunity to gild the lily–I decided to write a fancy introduction for the hymn. Once I got into it, I realized that I could add a second part, and that my go-to recorder player (recordist?) Cal Stapert would be there to play it.
Voila! A fancy pants intro for a classic hymn. Don’t zone out–the duet comes back as a descant on verse 3.
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Blue Step
I’ve had two failed attempts at getting together with some friends to play through some of my jazz charts. Right before the first attempt I thought, “You know what this world needs? Another jazz chart!” So I answered the world’s great need with a quirky blues tune: MP3, PDF. (Please forgive my miserable one take solo.)