More fun with creative phone messages! This time it’s me singing a two-part counterpoint message inviting people to leave a message: MP3
You heard “Den Armen” in a previous spring cleaning post in its original form as part of a cantata for choir and organ. Later, I returned to this movement and turned it into an anthem for women’s choir and piano, ably sung by the University of Pittsburgh Women’s Chorale: MP3. (I also have a version for women, strings and harp if anyone’s interested.)
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Again I Say Rejoice Again
I learned about Vine six second videos yesterday, and today started thinking about all the cool musical things that could be done with them. Problem: no iPhone. But on the way to Guitarchestra rehearsal this evening I began writing a 6 second worship song in my head in the hopes one of the players would have one. Sure enough, Jim Zoeteway is enough of a techie to have brought his. He downloaded the app during rehearsal and we learned and filmed the song at the end of the night. (“This kind of quality in that little time?” you say. Oh yes.)
Without further ado, I present to you the world’s first 6 second, infinitely repeatable worship song, played by the Church of the Servant Guitarchestra–sideways–and documented in a Vine video: https://vine.co/v/bPEaJTtH5hQ.
In Bertolt Brecht’s Trommeln in der Nacht, there’s a touching scene in which a returning soldier’s wife explains why she eventually gave up hoping he was still alive. I decided that I needed to set it to music, and friends Karen Hopkins and Kathryn Chester were kind enough to sing and play it: MP3.
Back in the day (in this case, grad school at Pitt in the 90s), people had physical answering machines sitting next to their phones. This was one of the many inconveniences of living in pre-digital times. On the other hand, one could have lots of fun recording creative phone messages. Here’s one of me playing harmonics on the bass and speaking in my mellowest phone message voice: MP3
There’s a song on my 1993 release From the Hand of… called “A Number of Girls.” It’s got a smoking violin riff that you will eventually hear when I digitize it and upload to the blogoscheer. A few days ago, I came across this short excerpt of the riff that I recorded on multiple tracks of bass guitar: MP3
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2013 Spring Cleaning: Special Soap
Today we commence what has become an annual event at Greg’s music blog: spring cleaning. Usually I post music I’m currently working on, but for the next week or so I’ll be posting rediscovered treasures from the vaults.
We begin with a quirky little number I wrote for Amy. When we first got married, she used a fancy facial cleaner (what a man would call a bar of soap) religiously. She’d get all out of whack if she didn’t wash her face with it, because she was sure that she would break out with pimples, warts, and all manner of blemishes. She dubbed this magical beauty elixir Special Soap.
So I wrote and recorded an old school jingle for this much-loved beauty bar: MP3
Update: For sheet music or to adopt this orphan tune, head over to gregscheer.com.
In our third installment of hymn tunes for Isaac Watts texts, we encounter a 6.6.8.D text based on Psalm 93. The text implied to me music that was somewhere between regal and rustic–something that would be at home in a cathedral or a Sacred Harp sing.
Here’s what I wrote: MP3
This is an unusual hymn tune that is a little more difficult than most, but it’s quickly becoming my favorite. I love how the melody slides from an E minor/pentatonic into a G minor/pentatonic scale in the second phrase. The harmonies, too, sneak off half way through, sprint in all directions, then slip back home in the last two measures. All this crazy stuff is going on, but the song is surprisingly singable–both the melody and the inner voices.
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INDY (3 tunes for Isaac Watts, part 2)
Update: For sheet music or to adopt this tune, head over to gregscheer.com.
This second tune was written for a setting of Psalm 147 in long meter (L.M. or 8.8.8.8). The trick with this one is that there are multiple and/or shifting places of stress within each line of the text. Inner rhythms are great for poetry, but difficult for hymn tunes: if you create a tune with too strong of a rhythm, the words will be mis-stressed (distressed?); if you write something amorphous to accomodate all the subtleties of the text’s rhythm, you’ll end up with musical oatmeal. So I wrote lines that have a strong sense of flow and forward movement without a lot of angular rhythms.
You may be wondering, “Greg, how do you come up with your tune names?” Good question. Most people name their tunes for the place it was composed, a church, or a person. I prefer to name my tunes:
- A. something ridiculous, and/or
- B. something that will jog my memory about which tune it is.
In this case, I couldn’t remember why I called this tune INDY. Was it because it reminded me of a tune by some indie band? Indianapolis, Indiana? Ah, now I remember: it’s in D.
Update: For sheet music or to adopt this orphan tune, head over to gregscheer.com.
A call went out recently for new hymn tunes to go with a forthcoming collection of updated Isaac Watts texts.
Can I resist? No, I cannot.
Over the next three days I’ll post what I came up with. The first is a rousing tune in common meter (C.M or 8.6.8.6). The text, “The Islands of the Northern Sea Rejoice!” is a real foot stomper with valleys rising and mountains melting to plains. I knew the tune needed to be strong and solid, with a hint of sea chanty. My first draft sounded suspiciously like the theme from Gilligan’s Island (sea chanty indeed!). I re-wrote the offending “sit right back and you’ll hear a tale” section of the tune, but decided to commemorate my near plagiarism by naming the tune GILLIGAN: MP3.