The Musical Diary of Greg ScheerI just returned from 2 weeks in Uganda. To assuage your eager ears while I catch up with things, here are two songs I wrote with Colin Gordon-Farleigh before I left. The first is “Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” (PDF, MP3), a 1920s-style romp of a song. The second is a ballad called “Colours” (PDF, MP3).
Here are the rest of the songs I recorded last weekend while at Notre Dame. Please listen with gracious ears–there are lots of musical warts.
“Everything to Me” is a song I’ve sung a million times at coffee houses and such. I often start a set with it because I could sing it in my sleep. Also, I like the way the first line gives voice to what most people are probably thinking: “That’s just what we need–another song.” “Hope and Humor” is another song that’s seen well over a decade of action. I wrote it at the end of my year in Austria as a travelogue of an itinerant musician. Strangely, I told the staff of COS one of the stories from this song (“Standing in the rain for hours”) yesterday at our staff retreat. “Have I Gone Too Far?” is another one of my many songs about songs. In this particular case, I was obsessing about the fact that my music is usually to complex for the pop world and too simple for the art music world. My rendition here doesn’t really capture the jazz ballad style I’d like it to have. (As a matter of fact, there are certain chords I didn’t capture at all.) Finally, “Five Days without You” is a goofy song I wrote the first time my wife and I were apart for more than a day.
I attended a conference at Notre Dame this weekend. In my spare time I annoyed people at the Morris Inn by recording some songs in my room. I’ve only had time to gussy up two of them so far: “Silent Star” and “Let It Go.” They’re just rough, one-take demos, but they get the idea across. I’d love to hear some feedback on these, because I’m thinking about making some “real” recordings of a few of them in the future.
Two technical sidenotes: 1. A few people have said that they can’t get the mp3 links to work. Are other people having that problem? I tried a different linking system for the above songs, so let me know if it solves the problem. 2. When I mixed these songs in Audacity I got a muddy, slightly overblown sound. It sounds fine in Audacity, but when I play the mix in iTunes it’s much louder. Anyone have any ideas?
Addendum: Here’s another one along the same lines–“Happy Birthday, Goodbye.”
What is a blog but a slice of one’s life? So you want a fresh slice of music from Greg’s life? I thought so.
Here are a few things we sang at Church of the Servant this Sunday. We’ll start with a choir piece called “Ride On.” It was published as a vocal solo piece by Augsburg Fortress a while back, and I thought I’d see how it would work for SATB choir. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with this piece–I love it, but everyone else hates it. Just kidding. It started as a pop/gospel setting of the old text “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty” for congregation. But then I realized it was too hard for congregation, so I gave another go at it as a vocal solo. But then I realized that the archaic text was at odds with the contemporary music (you just can’t groove words like “strewn”), so I wrote a new text based on the same theme and meter. But then I realized that if was writing something for vocal solo, I should vary the verses a little, so I turned verse 3 into a bridge. But then I was planning choir music for Palm Sunday, and I realized that I could turn that the vocal solo into a choir version. But then we tried it in rehearsal and I realized that it was much harder for a choir to sing all the syncopations than a single vocalist. Or a married vocalist, but it really depends on the vocalist more than their marital status. But that’s really beside the point. The point is that I have a love/hate relationship with the song, and I’ll be glad to hear your opinion. So without further ado, click to listen to Ride On.
Next up on our three slice meal of worship wurst is Sanna & All Glory, Laud and Honor. These two songs were used during the palm procession. Nothing too fancy, but it gives an idea of our style at COS. I like the way the South African “Sanna” (which is a shortened version of the word “Hosanna”) sits alongside the traditional “All Glory.” And the drums and strings really make things festive. Try to ignore the cantor. He’s not really as big of a windbag as he sounds on this recording, it just happens that his mic was high in the mix.
Finally, what church service recording would be complete without a child crying in the background? What makes this recording so exquiste is that this particular little screamer has such impeccable timing. You’ve got to love it: “This is the day the Lord has made (waaaaaaah!!!!) Hallelujah!” And of course the juxtaposition of the seren Taize chant with the primal scream is priceless. Give a listen: This Is the Day.
Having trouble with the above links? Try these: Ride On, Sanna & All Glory, This Is the Day.
A few days ago, I finished a commissioned choral composition on a text by Gerard Manley Hopkins: “Spring and Fall: to a young child.” I couldn’t bear to post it here in its Finale playback form because it sounds so robotic, so you’ll just have to wait until the premiere at the Iowa Choral Directors Association conference July 23-26.
Just thought you’d want to know. I’ll post some more recordings later this week.
My wife told me that my music blog is boring. Well, she didn’t say boring, but she thought it would be more interesting if I included more personal stuff to make things more…bloggish. When I get a little time I intend to record more songs for the blog, but for now I have to work with what I have.
And what do I have?
For now what I have is a demo of a song I co-wrote with Jackie Worth, called Dance!. Jackie had already placed some songs with a teenage girl group called The Gemz and heard that they were looking for new material. There’s nothing I love more than a compositional challenge, so I got to work. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was not going to be able to write convincing lyrics from the point of view of a teen girl, so Jackie bailed me out. The result is this demo.
The sad conclusion to this story is that The Gemz didn’t end up using the song. So if any of you have any leads with other girl groups, feel free to tell them about “Dance!”
Having trouble with the above link? Try this: Dance!
This Sunday the choir sang “Feed Us, Lord” (see Feb 2 post) at Church of the Servant. Here’s a recording, complete with babies crying.
The songwriting collaboration between Colin and me continues to go well. A while back he sent me his first non-worship lyric–a love song. I thought it would be appropriate to compose music for it on Valentine’s Day. Take a look: When I’m with You, pdf or a listen: When I’m with You, mp3
Brand-spanking new (as of 2 mintues ago), here’s a communion anthem for SATB choir and piano. As usual, I have virtually guaranteed that it won’t be published by composing a simple anthem with an unusually difficult piano part.
There’s a story about Beethoven in which he turns to a violinist who is complaining about some fingerings and he says, “Do you think I worry about fingering when the muse strikes me?” I wouldn’t go that far, but I think there’s certainly some room to challenge the church pianist a bit. Let me know if I’m being unreasonably cruel to the pianist in this piece. Come to think of it, we’re doing this song at COS on February 11, so I’ll let you know if I have a pianist mutiny.
Feed Us, Lord (pdf)
Feed Us, Lord (mp3)