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Finally, the weirdest song of the three written for Emily Brink’s retirement collection. It is quite possibly the first 12 tone hymn tune ever written. 12 tone technique, also known as serialism or dodecaphony, uses “tone rows” to give equal weight to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. Or “one note, one vote” as we used to describe it in music school.

Since Emily began her career as a music theorist, I thought it would be appropriate to combine her love of hymnody and theory in a ground-breaking new hymn tune. I wish I had been at her retirement party when people sang through some of the songs written for her. I’m pretty sure she would be the only one who fully appreciated the musical riddle of a pungent hymn tune named DODECAPHONIA. I thought she’d also appreciate that the text was written by her long time friend and collaborator, Bert Polman, who died recently.

PDF, MP3

Welcome! Unless you’re a regular subscriber to my music blog (and who wouldn’t want to be?) you’re here to get the files you need for the Diakonia Remixed contest. If you just want to listen to the song, here’s the MP3.

If you want to make a video or something else that uses a CD quality version of the full song, download:

• diakonia-mastered.wav

If you want the backing track so that you can record your own vocal, download:

• karaoke.aif

All you mix masters can download the stems:

• intro.aif
• rhythm_section.aif
• lead_vox.aif
• verse_guitar.aif
• rap.aif
• piano_bass.aif
• party_buss.aif
• back_vox.aif

And please, people, don’t eat me out of house and home! I have to pay for the bandwidth on this site, so only download what you need.

Oh, and have fun.

After you’re done having fun, post your creative endeavors to the Diakonia Remixed contest page at Facebook and win a bunch of money and the admiration of all your friends.

Here is a simple little song based on Matthew 11:28 that I started in Uganda, finished when I got back to the US, and premiered in Singapore. Now I’ve finally recorded it.

The trick about recording is that it’s never good enough. This was going to be a quick and dirty demo, but I kept fussing with it as I’ve been learning more about mixing and mastering. Finally, I had to say “enough’s enough.” So here’s the gussied up demo of “If You’re Weary.”

Update: Sheet music for this arrangement is now available at gregscheer.com.

I’ve got lots to do for Sunday’s Lessons & Carols service at Church of the Servant (6pm, if you’re interested), but true to form I feel the compulsion to add one more thing to my to do list: write a last minute arrangement. Here’s a simple arrangement of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” for strings, brass and piano. Nothing too fancy, but if you’re using the song in one of your Christmas services and you happen to have brass, strings and rhythm section available, this should do the trick. Listen to the MP3.

Update 10/6/20: Sheet music for this song can be downloaded here.

It’s always a mystery to me: who is visiting my website or subscribing to my blog? which songs are they using? where are the songs traveling? YouTube has answered some of these questions, and raised others.

I found out that my song “Prairie Prelude” (see link above for MP3 and sheet music) is used as the soundtrack to a video of a church retreat in Baguio City, Philippines. I guess it’s not entirely surprising that a church in the Philippines is singing my music. After all, it is called the world wide web, and over the years I’ve had communications with people from just about every continent. What seems more unusual is that they chose this particular song. “Prairie Prelude” hasn’t ever been published, has only a one-take-one-mic demo to accompany it, and I’ve never even used it in a worship service. I think it’s a good song that would really shine with the right treatment (Steve Bell, are you listening?) but that time hasn’t come yet. So it just seems odd that someone from the Philippines scrolled through the 50 songs at my congregational song page and was drawn in particular to “Prairie Prelude.” Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fantastic. Just mysteriously fantastic. Maybe Arielle Hipe who sang the song on the video can help clear up the mystery.

But enough chatter. Here’s the video:

Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for “A City on a Hill” can be downloaded here.

I just got back from Berlin, and one of the highlights was… the Berlin Wall? Kurfürstendamm? Die französische Kirche? Nein, meine liebe Damen und Herren. MC Xander. That’s right. I saw MC Xander on Alexander Platz, and I was so impressed that I made a point of seeing him two more times before the day ended.

Of course, I was forging a path for MC Xander back when he was in diapers, when I recorded Was Habe Ich Gemacht. But it reminded me of another vocally-driven song I recorded about ten years ago: A City on a Hill. It’s a little tame in comparison, and frankly MC Xander is way better than me, but I think this song deserves a good listen on headphones.