The Musical Diary of Greg Scheer – Page 76 – This is, literally, my musical diary–notes fresh from my pen and recorded in a few hours. You can find my finished works elsewhere; here, it's all about capturing the moment!

From the Dust You Shall Raise Us Up

Post author By Greg Scheer
Post date March 11, 2011
2 Comments on From the Dust You Shall Raise Us Up

Update 2/8/22: Sheet music for this blog is now available at gregscheer.com.

I had an unfortunate opportunity to reflect on mortality this summer when my friend Christina Mandang was hit by a car. Her sudden and senseless death at the age of 38 reminded me once again how fleeting our lives are. It is truly ashes to ashes and dust to dust, with precious little time in between. The good news is that the God who breathed life into dust to create Adam and who resurrected Jesus from the grave, is the same God who has promised to raise us from death to eternal life. Now that’s Good News!

When Christina died I was reflecting on all this and a short refrain came to me, “from the dust you shall raise us up.” I sang it to myself as I mourned her death, wrote it down, and it has remained in my idea folder ever since. Ash Wednesday gave me another chance to consider all these life and death issues, and I revisited that short refrain. I decided to pair it with the words of Psalm 103 in which God, the loving Father, “remembers we are dust.” This was an especially appropriate image, because my friend Janice had just lost her father, Frank Diehl.

Here is my sung prayer of thanksgiving for Christina and Frank, and my sung prayer of hope for the rest of us: From the Dust, You Shall Raise Us Up.

Colin

Better by the 1/2 Dozen

I finished 6 new country Gospel songs with Colin Gordon-Farleigh last week, but haven’t had time to upload them to my blog because I was so busy finishing Be My Everything (have you voted yet?). Here they are:

Let Go and Let God
Old-Time Gospel
One Saint at a Time
The Armour of the Lord
The Gospel Singer
Walking with Jesus

By the way, Colin posts a new hymn to his blog every day. (Take that Charles Wesley!) And why wouldn’t you want to visit the website of a guy who once looked like this?:

Contests Production music Rock and/or Roll

Be Your Everything

The last few days have been a marathon of writing, mixing and recording my latest lunge for lyrical longevity. Yes, it’s contest time again, people! This one is the “16 Love” song contest, the winner of which will be featured in a teen romance movie about two tennis players.

I wanted to make the song something that would fit well thematically and make sense to the teens who will be watching the movie, but not something so specifically tennis-oriented that I’d never be able to use it again. (I learned my lesson with the TopGolf theme song.)

I present to you “Be Your Everything,” sung by Laura Stapert. (I decided her 16-year-old voice would be a lot more convincing than mine.) Normally, I link directly to an MP3 hear at my music blog, but this time I’m going to make you follow an external link to hear the song (and watch the trailer) because I want you to vote for the song!

http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/96229/voteable_entries/16824070?ogn=facebook&order=recency

Contests Production music

Adventures in Losing

In today’s episode of Adventures in Losing, we find our protagonist (me) reading the following: Heartfelt and nostalgic instrumentals needed for film scene. Instrumental Classical or cinematic music tracks. The music should be heartfelt and nostalgic. The song will be used in a scene where a man reflects back on memorable moments as he packs up his deceased wifes belongings. This is a very emotional moment in the movie and the music should help with the delicate balance of loss and nostalgia the man is feeling in this scene. Instrumentals only. Slow to medium-slow tempo.

I submitted the aptly titled “Nostalgic Recollections” and watched the activity board as the “opportunity provider” sifted through hundreds of submissions. In the end they chose “The Skies of Io” by Kenneth W. Lovell Jr. Congratulations, Kenneth. Really. I’m happy for you. I’d be happier for you if you were me, of course.

Now, what can we learn from this humiliating defeat? First, let’s listen to Kenneth’s song and mine: The Skies of Io, Nostalgic Recollections. You’ll notice that Kenneth’s song is folksy whereas mine is more dramatic. Given the description of what they wanted you’d have thought that would work in my favor. You’ll also notice that my composition is much more complicated. Kenneth gets in a groove and stays there. There’s a lesson in that: in a movie the music isn’t the focus, so it doesn’t need to be–maybe even shouldn’t be–complicated. It shouldn’t draw attention to itself, but instead amplifies the emotion of the scene. Finally, if you took the time to google Kenneth you’d have found that he’s quite an accomplished composer with many productions to his credit. It seems like this has been his full time work for some time. That makes me feel a little better about this installment of…

Adventures in Losing.

Production music Rock and/or Roll

A Valentine’s Day Gift

While Amy was busy Valentine’s eve blogging an ode to our former paperboy, I was preparing for today’s celebration of love by recording a song for her. Hmmm…

This new song started as an email from a music library that needed a song about sleeping or dreaming for a commercial. I thought to myself, “Surely I couldn’t find the time to write a song for this opportunity–I’m trying to finish a commission for orchestra by Monday evening.” But by the time I arrived at work Thursday morning I was already turning over ideas in my mind. One thing led to another, and I soon had finished a dreamy, stream of consciousness Nick Drake-ish love song for my one and only.

One of the things I’m excited about on this recording is that it marks the first fruits of my budding collaboration with the Allegro String Quartet. The women of ASQ and I have been reading through some of my quartet music–both legit and pop–and I’m pleased that we were able to capture this one while it was still fresh. Take a listen to When I’m Dreaming, and stay tuned for more recordings from us in the near future.

By the way, if you’re worried about Amy and the paperboy, don’t be. She redeemed herself later in the evening with a lovely blogpost revealing where her true affections lie.

Art Music Choir Church Congregational Songs Finale demo

The God of Abraham Praise

In December I blogged about an arrangement of mine that we used in this year’s Lessons & Carols service at Church of the Servant. The hymn “The God of Abraham Praise” fits beautifully with the reading about the calling of Abraham, so I arranged it for string orchestra, oboe and flute. It worked so well that I convinced Robert Nordling to commission a full arrangement for the Calvin College Orchestra. It will premiere Saturday, March 5 at 8pm in the Covenant Fine Arts Center. I hope to see you there. In the meantime, you can listen to Finalified MP3.

Art Music Choir

The Christian’s Farewell

My friend Carlos Colón-Quintana was kind enough to commission a new choral work for an upcoming concert at Baylor University. The concert is an interesting mix of children’s choir, fiddle, barbershop quartet, and strings, unified around the theme of William Walker’s Southern Harmony. I decided to write an arrangement of “The Christian’s Farewell,” which most of us know as “How Firm a Foundation.”

There was a point about a week ago at which I was having doubts that I could coax this into a finished composition that did justice to the depth of the text and the simplicity of the melody. But now I’m really pleased with how it turned out. (And, no, I don’t always say that.)

Having complimented myself on the score, I’ll quickly add that I’m not particularly proud of the demo included here. It’s a combination of Finale playing the instruments and me singing both the children’s and men’s choir parts. But, hey–you work with what you’ve got. Take a listen to the demo or read the lyrics below.

1. Farewell, my dear brethren, the time is at hand
That we must be parted from this social band;
Our sev’ral engagements now call us away,
Our parting is needful, and we must obey.

2. Farewell, faithful soldiers, you’ll soon be discharged,
The war will be ended, your bounty enlarged,
With shouting and singing, though Jordan may roar,
You’ll enter fair Canaan, and rest on the shore. Farewell.

3. Farewell, younger brethren, just listed for war,
Sore trials await you, but Jesus is near;
Although you must travel the dark wilderness,
Your Captain’s before you, he’ll lead you to peace.

4. Farewell, trembling mourners, with sad, broken hearts,
O hasten to Jesus, and choose the good part!
He’s full of compassion, and mighty to save,
His arms are extended, your souls to receive.

6. Farewell, my dear brethren, farewell all around,
Perhaps we’ll not meet till the last trump shall sound.
To meet you in glory I give you my hand,
Our Savior to praise in a pure social band.

Congregational Songs Psalms

All People that on Earth Do Dwell (Psalm 100)

Post author By Greg Scheer
Post date February 2, 2011
2 Comments on All People that on Earth Do Dwell (Psalm 100)

I don’t make a habit of posting other people’s music at my blog, but in this case I thought I’d make an exception. You can read the story and hear a recording of Zac Hick’s “All People that on Earth Do Dwell” at the COS website, and you can download my piano and SATB arrangement here. Rock on, Zac!

Congregational Songs Psalms

Psalm 133: How Good It Is

Post author By Greg Scheer
Post date January 26, 2011
No Comments on Psalm 133: How Good It Is

Last week I met with my Nepali friends Peter and Prasad to work on a on a song. Since the song was for a combined service of Basic English Service attendees and our main congregation, we decided to write a song based on Psalm 133 with verses in Nepalese and refrain in English. The process of co-writing in two languages was fun and the result (if I may say so myself) was very successful. Take a look at the PDF or listen to the MP3.

Colin

Our Song Is Playing Still

Colin and I are back at it with a new collaboration: Our Song Is Playing Still. Do you happen to know Lionel Ritchie? Pass the MP3 or PDF along to him with our regards.