The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerWhat are a Dad and a seven year old to do on a rainy afternoon, except for…you know…write songs about aliens? Look at the picture below (Theo as an alien; me as a frightened human) while listening to the song we recorded. It is truly terrifying apocalyptic madness.
Update 10/1/20: Sheet music for the final version of this song can be downloaded here.
Bruce Benedict is at it again. Last time it was a collection of songs based on the Apostles’ Creed. This time he’s assembling a group of musicians to compose and record songs for Pentecost. I have a real affinity for the Gregorian chant Veni Creator Spiritus, so I chose to contribute an updated version of this hymn to the project. Wikipedia has a good overview that includes the Latin, chant notation, an English translation, and an audio sample. CHeck out the original, then take a look at my first draft PDF or listen to an MP3 of me singing it directly into my laptop. As you can see, my version keeps the original chant melody intact, provides a new English translation from the Latin, and adds a refrain–“O Holy Spirit, come!”
Now I need your help before I begin recording. One of the difficulties I had was trying to wrangle the flowing, asymmetrical rhythms of the chant into a regular metered pattern. I chose 3/8 to give me the most flexibility of phrasing, but am still not entirely satisfied with how that plays out in measure 6 and 16. Is the tied pick up too fussy? How about the key signature? I’ve put it in E, but it really works better with an A drone. Should I put it in A? I sort of like the way it floats between the keys of A and E–it feels more chant-like to me–but maybe I’m just being stupid. And the translation? Anything you’d change? I like how each verse gives a name for the Spirit at the beginning, and am generally pleased with the rest of the text, but would appreciate any feedback you have on it.
Let’s make this better and then I’ll get to work on the final recording!
My latest commissioned composition, “The Christian’s Farewell,” was premiered Saturday night in Waco, Texas in the “Southern Harmony” Concert at Baylor University’s Armstrong Browning Library. The musicians did a lovely job! You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KDyiU3a3LM.
Check out videos from the whole concert here: http://elsalvadormusical.blogspot.com/2011/05/southern-harmonyconcert-at-baylor.html
Update: Sheet music for this tune (still waiting for a text to call its own)
is now available at gregscheer.com.
Last night I had a rehearsal/recording session with The Choral Scholars as part of our upcoming Psalm CD. The recording is in conjunction with a forthcoming print publication from the CICW and Faith Alive that will feature multiple settings of all 150 Psalms. We’re reading through 20 or 30 Psalm settings each rehearsal; the “fair use” clips will go on the web, and we’ll polish up a few dozen songs for the CD.
As I was preparing for the session, I came across a great metrical setting of Psalm 12 by Adam Tice–and it’s not easy to write a great metrical setting of Psalm 12–that included a hand-written note “need another sturdy tune like Latvian hymn.” To a person who has OCD (obsessive compositional disorder), the words “need another tune” read as “Greg, write a new tune in the remaining 1/2 hour before rehearsal starts.” Which is exactly what I did.
Listen to an MP3 of TCS singing the song. If you like what you hear (and it’s hard to dislike anything TCS sings), head over to my website to download the PDF of the tune. I don’t have permission to use Adam’s text, so I’ve left the score blank. But that’s a great opportunity for you to write your own text in 8787D meter.
By the way, are you wondering why I named the tune SINKING SHIPS? What better tune name to go with a text entitled “Lying Lips”?
Holy Manna Remix: MP3
Church of the Servant’s Guitarchestra played this Sunday night. As I was recording demos of the music for them to listen to while practicing, one thing led to another, and soon I was adapting a rap I had written a long time ago to the chords I was using for the hymn “We Have Come to Join in Worship” (HOLY MANNA).
How could it be so wrong when it feels so right?…
From the Dust You Shall Raise Us Up (Solo, SATB Choir and Piano)
I posted a song at the beginning of Lent called From the Dust You Shall Raise Us Up, with verses taken from Psalm 103. Here it is again, this time arranged as a choral anthem: MP3, PDF.
The Best Book to Read Is the Bible: MP3, PDF
At Church of the Servant we have a Basic English Service geared toward the many refugees and immigrants in the community who need a place to worship, but are still learning English. It’s a wonderful, collaborative effort between lifelong and recent Americans. One of my BES friends told me he’d like to sing a song that he learned at church in Nepal. He sang it into my mini-recorder and I transcribed it and made a simple arrangement that will allow our pianists to lead it.
A bit of internet searching seems to indicate that The Best Book is something like The B-I-B-L-E, but not as popular. Lots of bloggers refer to it, but I couldn’t find any music or recordings. I still have some questions about how the song goes, so if you know this song please contact me and let me know if I got it right!
Scheer Doxology
A long time ago–1992 to be exact–I wrote a new setting of Thomas Ken’s Doxology. It was part of The Belliefield Liturgy, five songs for two-part choir that fit Bellefield Presbyterian’s (Pittsburgh) worship service. COS’s Guitarchestra is going to use this song in the near future, so I thought I’d revise it and make the piano accompaniment available to you, my loyal readers.
Finalified MP3, Greg and guitar MP3, Voice/Piano PDF, SATB/Piano PDF
I feel bad that I haven’t updated my blog in over a week. On the other hand, my last post was the day before Palm Sunday, and you can’t really blame a church musician for blogging less during Holy Week. Though I’m not working on any big projects, my production hasn’t completely stalled. Over the next few days I’ll post some odds and ends from the last week. Here’s the first:
String arrangement of Michael Joncas’ Psalm 118/This Is the Day. (MP3)
Every Easter the lectionary calls for Psalm 118 as the Psalm of the day. As always, I try to find just the right setting for the musicians I have. In the past I’ve done Psalm 118s by Taize (this year’s plan B), Patrick Geary (exciting, but I’ve done it too much recently), Lawler/Guiao (needs 2 trumpets; I had strings), and me (too hard). I came across Joncas’ bouncy “This Is the Day” and decided to give it a try. Since I had string ensemble available, I wrote a quick arrangement that had a number of options I could use on the fly. During the Easter rehearsal, we decided that recorder melody against pizzacato string accompaniment would make a great intro. The strings come back again on each congregational refrain with descant.