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Choir Church Congregational Songs Live Psalms

Psalm 148 – Creation’s Chorus (for chorus)

This graphic was unwittingly donated by C148, an independent musician who is doing some great electronica, including contributions to the Minecraft soundtrack. Check him out at http://c418.org/.
This graphic was unwittingly donated by C148, an independent musician who is doing some great electronica, including contributions to the Minecraft soundtrack. Check him out at http://c418.org/.

Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I wrote Creation’s Chorus in 2000 hoping to forge a daring new path of Motown Psalmody that I was sure others were sure to follow. But it turns out people prefer to keep their Sons of Korah and their Jackson Five separated by family…

However, when Psalm 148 came up in the lectionary this week, I thought I’d give it another try. Unlike the 4/4 syncopated funk of the original, I decided to reimagine the song in a 3/4 Black Gospel groove. It’s easier for musicians and congregations who are not steeped in pop styles, and there is, perhaps, less of a gulf between the words and music style.

I was pleased with the basic shift in meter, but I’ve marked dozens of edits I plan to make to the choral arrangement. (This may have something to do with my finishing it 5 minutes before rehearsal started.) If you’re interested in seeing the choral score, just follow the link above. Otherwise you’ll have to wait for the release of Creation’s Chorus 2.1!

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Art Music Church FAWM 2016 Live

The Shadows: Cello Septet for Tenebrae

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that two weeks in February were devoted to writing a new piece for Maundy Thursday. The composition accompanies seven Tenebrae (deepening of the shadows) readings, one movement for each reading. The service starts with seven cellos; one cello leaves after each movement until only a solo cello is left.

Unfortunately, something is lost in the describing and recording of the service. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that the readings, the candles, the music, and the darkness made for a very moving service. Above is a recording; at 32 minutes, I decided SoundCloud might make for easier listening. (If you’d rather download it, here’s the MP3.) Below is a list of the seven readings and the cellist who exited after the music:

The Shadow of Betrayal: Matthew 26:20-25 (Theo Scheer)
The Shadow of Desertion: Matthew 26:30-35 (Lois Nordling)
The Shadow of an Unshared Vigil: Matthew 26:36-46 (Karen Saupe)
The Shadow of Accusation: Matthew 27:11-14, 20-26 (Maria Poppen)
The Shadow of Crucifixion: Matthew 27:27-37 (Eve Clayton)
The Shadow of Death: Matthew 27:45-54 (Carolyn Muskens)
The Shadow of the Tomb: Matthew 27:57-60 (Josh Ruiter)

Categories
Arrangement Choir Church Global

Guatemalan Santo, flute and choir

Update 12/11/21: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I am not an abstract composer. That is, I find it difficult to compose a piece for a performer who doesn’t exist and a concert that might not happen. But give me an ensemble, an opportunity, and a deadline and I’ll whip out my pencil and get to work. Such was the case this Palm Sunday when I had a willing choir and a flutist who I knew would practice whatever I wrote. The result is an energetic prelude for choir, flute, and congas; an arrangement of the Guatemalan “Santo es el Señor/Holy Is the Lord.”

art by Matt Plescher (http://www.mattplescher.com/)
Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs

God Himself/O Rejoice

Update 12/18/21: Sheet music for this arrangement is now available at gregscheer.com.

This is not a new arrangement, per se, but it’s newly notated and recorded. Plus, it segues right into Wendell Kimbrough’s “O Rejoice in All Your Works,” so that warrants its own post.

“God Himself Is with Us” is a stately hymn that goes underused in most churches. My church sings it so confidently that I can count on them to hold their own against a tricky violin descant, so I kind of went over the top with what I gave the violin…

Appearing here for the first time is the score for the violin descant you hear above. If you use it in your church, why don’t you head over to my “orders” page and plunk down $3 to let me know you care.

Categories
Arrangement Church Congregational Songs Live

We Sing the Mighty Power (Christ Church Davis)

While it’s fun to have your music played on your home turf, there’s something special about learning that a church far away is using one of your songs or arrangements. My friends Phil and Sarah Majorins used my string arrangement of “We Sing the Mighty Power” (KINGSFOLD) at Christ Church in Davis, CA this Fall. As you’ll hear, they did a splendid job. While you’re checking out my song, make sure to take a listen to Sarah’s “Psalm 8,” “Sanctus,” and “Mystery of Faith.” I am a thorn among roses!

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FAWM 2016 Rock and/or Roll

Break Your Heart

If you keep up with this blog–and really, why wouldn’t you?–you know I committed to FAWM this year. (February Album Writing Month; 14 songs in 28 days.)

Seoul vocal booth

seoul_sarang_recording-small

On day 28 I realized that I had one more song to finish. (I did not realize it was a leap year, which would have given me an extra day.) The problem was that I was in Seoul, Korea, at a conference. I had tracks for a song, but no lyrics. So I sat down in one of the sessions and ignored the speaker the best I could while working on finishing words for the song. Then I found a quiet conference room at the end of a long hallway where I recorded the vocals in one take and uploaded the song to FAWM with 1% of my battery charge remaining. Welcome to the exciting, do or die life of songwriting.

This is part of my ongoing obsession with writing neo 80s songs. It is perhaps not my finest moment as a lyricist or mixer, but I like the basic idea enough that I may revisit it at some point.

Forever, for never? For pleasure, for pain?
For whom is the balance tipping, and which way?
If we knew then what we know now,
would we have both just walked away?

I never would have hurt you if we never let it start.
We were safe until we let it go that far.
Wounds that heal together or histories told in scars.
How can it be love if it doesn’t break your heart?

Soulmate or playmate or something in between?
Who knows who we will turn out to be?
Lover or mother or a little bit of both?
Until we jump in, full skin, we will never know.

Waiting for charity–Ubi caritas–
paralyzed between the science and the art.
If we wait on charity we’ll wait until death do us part. [We’re doomed from the start.]
How can it be love if it doesn’t break your heart?

N.b. You’ll notice a discrepancy between the lyrics above and the recorded vocal track. When I went to record the song I realized to my dismay that the verse wasn’t double couplets. I quickly cut and edited to make it fit.

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Art Music Church FAWM 2016 Finale demo

Tenebrae: The Shadow of the Tomb

It is finished. This is the last of the 7 movements. In this solo movement, I recapitulate many of the themes that have appeared in previous movements, hopefully in a way that is suggestive of what’s gone on before rather than an overbearing repetition.

Once again, the Finale playback leaves much to be desired, so feel free to fire up your musical imagination and read it directly from the score: PDF. I’m sure I’ll post a recording of the service itself. We had our first rehearsal today, and even though there were lots of rough spots, it had the seeds of something really wonderful.

tenebraeThe Shadow of the Tomb: Matthew 27:57-60
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.

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Art Music Church FAWM 2016 Finale demo

Tenebrae: The Shadow of Death

With only two cellos (down from the original 7 of the first movement) the musical options in this 6th movement are quite restricted. I had to focus on texture rather than harmony. The musical gesture that gives this movement its character is the portamento, a slight slide between notes. I first heard the possibilities of two cellos portamento-ing in Beth Orton’s “She Cries Your Name”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFZc4ax4tJs(music video) or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnH52SkOdo (live). (Of course, there are also the famous sliding basses of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KaWSOlASWc).

tenebraeUnfortunately, Finale playback conveys nothing of the portamento, so it just sounds like a string of notes. Sigh… If you want to read along, imagining the whole movement unfolding like a musical sigh, here’s the score: PDF.

The Shadow of Death: Matthew 27:45-54
45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” 48 At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.54 Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

Categories
Art Music Church FAWM 2016 Finale demo

Tenebrae: The Shadow of Crucifixion

At first glance, this 5th movement of my Tenebrae cello composition may seem mismatched with its scripture. Why such beautiful, lilting music for story of the crucifixion?

A few reasons.tenebrae

First, you can only dramatize a story so far with music. The whole narrative of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion is gut wrenching. If each movement tries to push the drama further, it can quickly become cartoonish. Instead, I chose to focus on the crown of thorns and the phrase, “Hail, King of the Jews.” In both cases, what was meant as an insult, was in fact the truth. Jesus is the King of all creation, even when crowned with thorns. Like the last verse of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” I want to give beauty and dignity to the crown of thorns, weaving musical themes together like the strands of the crown.

If you want to verify my counterpoint, take a look at the score: PDF

The Shadow of Crucifixion: Matthew 27:27-37
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32 As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; 36 then they sat down there and kept watch over him. 37 Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

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Art Music Church Finale demo

Tenebrae: The Shadow of Accusation

I think I’m over the hump with this movement. It’s the 4th out of 7 movements, and it’s the fastest, most complex movement of them all. (Fast music means more notes in less time, which makes it more time consuming to compose.) This movement follows the scripture reading in which Jesus stands before Pilate and the chief priests without defending himself. In the end, Pilate makes a politically savvy exchange of Barabbas for Jesus. The music reflects the agitation of the crowd, the silence of Jesus, and the mob shouts of “Crucify him!”

tenebraeWant to hear it in your head? Here’s the score: PDF.

The Shadow of Accusation: Matthew 27:11-14; 20-29
11 Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”[a] All of them said, “Let him be crucified!”23 Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24 So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood;[b] see to it yourselves.” 25 Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.