Congregational Songs
Showing 109–120 of 261 results
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On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist’s Cry (PUER NOBIS NASCITUR)
$5.00 Add to carthttps://musicblog.gregscheer.com/puer_nobis-on_jordans_banks.mp3
PUER NOBIS is one of the great hymn tunes of the Church and is matched with many texts, including “On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist’s Cry” and “O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright.” (This arrangement is available with either text.) I tried to bring out its folk song flavor with a piano accompaniment that is energetic. I feel like this arrangement brings out the sprightly nature of this tune in a way that often gets lost in the four-part hymnal.
Piano accompaniment for congregational singing, with C instrument descant. Purchase price allows you to make as many copies as you need for your ensemble.
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One Generation Will Call to the Next
$0.00 Select options[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/tsang-one_generation.mp3"][/audio]Looking for a song to celebrate and encourage intergenerational worship? This setting of Psalm 145:1-7 was one of the winning songs of the CRC sesquicentennial hymn contest. Since then it has been included in three hymnals, recorded on a CD, sung at weddings, and used as a theme song for church dedications and education programs. One young person said this: I love this song. It has given me greater understanding of what a healthy church and Godly community looks like and has inspired me to be open to learning from the “last” generation.
[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/one_generation-gen2gen.mp3"][/audio]A leadsheet is available here. For piano accompaniment or a festive choral anthem, visit GIA: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/one-generation-will-call-to-the-next-print-g9804. The choral anthem is extremely flexible, with options for solo, children’s choir, worship band, and full orchestra. (See instrumentation chart below).
PowerPoint slides for congregational singing are available from Digital Songs & Hymns.
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Our Father
$0.00 Add to cart[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/11-Our-Father.mp3"][/audio]The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) becomes an ethereal musical groove in this song. Download the sheet music or listen to the track as it appears on the album Half the Man.
This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.
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Peace, Perfect Peace (PAX TECUM)
$0.00 – $20.00 Select options[embed]https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/peace_perfect_peace-COS2012.mp3[/embed]There is perhaps no hymn more serenely beautiful than “Peace, Perfect Peace.” Edward Bickersteth’s text doesn’t dismiss the troubles of this world, but instead sees them as an opportunity to hear Jesus’ call to rest in him. George Caldbeck’s melody is simple, yet powerful. This arrangement builds on this beautiful simplicity, growing verse after verse and ending on a note of confidence.
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PEEPS
$0.00 Add to carthttps://archive.gregscheer.com/sounds/PEEPS.mp3
Chordal enough for a guitarist or worship band to play, but could also be led effectively at the organ. The tune is more or less modal, yet keeps sliding out of the mode’s center. What holds things together are the strong sequences that follow a subtle inner logic–they guide your voice to the next pitch even when you don’t understand why. It was originally written for Brian Wren’s text, “We Are Your People.”
This is an orphan tune, waiting to be adopted by a text to call its own. If you write your own lyrics for this melody or pair it with an existing text, please let me know how you’ve used it.
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PHIRE
$0.00 Add to carthttps://musicblog.gregscheer.com/filled_with_the_spirits_power.mp3
“Filled with the Spirit’s Power” is a fine hymn text in search of the right tune. Traditionally, it has been paired with SHELDONIAN or FARLEY CASTLE. Both of these tunes are good but lack the zip needed to convey the text’s images of power, fire, joy, and wind. My new tune, PHIRE, is a joyous musical match.
This is an orphan tune, waiting to be adopted by a text to call its own. If you write lyrics for this melody or pair it with an existing text, please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense and let me know how you’ve used it.
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Pilgrim Psalms: Songs of Ascents
$0.00 Add to cart[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pilgrim_psalms-narration.mp3"][/audio]Pilgrim Psalms is my latest musical journey, writing songs for all fifteen Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). You can listen to a podcast about the project above or hear all the songs uninterrupted below.
[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pilgrim_psalms.mp3"][/audio]Download music for all the Pilgrim Psalms at once, or go to an individual psalm below.
Psalm 120: Deliver Me
Psalm 121: My God, My Guide, My Guard
Psalm 122: Let Us Go!
Psalm 123: Have Mercy
Psalm 124: Our Help
Psalm 125: Everlasting Peace
Psalm 126: Tears and Joy
Psalm 127: Wait for the Work of the Lord
Psalm 128: Bless Us, O Lord
Psalm 129: We Won’t Stay Down Forever
Psalm 130: From Down in the Depths
Psalm 131: Wait for the Lord
Psalm 132: Dwell in Us
Psalm 133: How Good and Beautiful
Psalm 134: Bless the Lord! -
Prairie Prelude
$0.00 Add to cart[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/prairie_prelude.mp3"][/audio]What does it sound like when the stones cry out (Luke 19:40), the mountains and hills burst into song, the trees of the field clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12), and creation groans (Romans 8:22)? It seems that we humans are not the only ones to praise their Creator and lament their fallen state while awaiting the coming Kingdom. “Prairie Prelude” paints a picture of the creation lifting up its voice so exuberantly that it invites us to join its song of praise.
This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.
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Psalm 1: Blessed Are They
$0.00 – $5.00 Select options[embed]http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm1-blessed_are_they.mp3[/embed]Psalm 1 is the perfect way to begin the Psalms: It is exquisitely structured poetry that makes plain the path of the faithful versus the way of the foolish–a major theme of the Psalmists. This is all well and good for those who are already immersed in the Psalms, but for beginners, ending a poem with “the way of the wicked leads to destruction” is a hard sell. When I write Psalm songs, I try to transplant the original Psalm in a way that makes sense to modern ears. “Blessed Are They” is a Gospel-inflected tune that provides the proverbial “spoonful of sugar” that lets the Psalm’s message come through.
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Psalm 100: Shout for Joy to the Lord All the Earth
$5.00 Add to cartThis setting of Psalm 100 evokes the celebration of all creation with colorful chords and and a flowing melody.
Sheet music for voice and piano.
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Psalm 102: My Heart Is Sick
$0.00 – $25.00 Select optionshttps://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/olin-psalm_102-my_heart_is_sick.mp3
Psalm 102 vacillates between utter despair (“I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears”) and hope in God’s unchanging love and ability to save. This song mirrors these emotions with biting dissonance and brief moments of repose. The recording above is me playing the cello quartet arrangement on my bass. Below is a demo of the more traditional piano accompaniment.
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/olin-psalm_102-my_heart_is_sick-Song.mp3
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Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O My Soul!
$0.00 – $25.00 Select options[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WTS-bless_the_lord-choir.mp3"][/audio]Commissioned to be sung at the graduation ceremony of Western Theological Seminary, this song captures the exuberance and gratitude of Psalm 103 in an upbeat gospel style. This Psalm is traditionally sung as a thanksgiving song at the conclusion of communion–indeed, Western still uses it regularly in their chapel’s communion–but it also works well as a general song of praise of choral offertory.
Above is an MP3 of Finale playing back the choral score. Starting at 17:23 in the video below is the anthem being sung as part of Calvin University’s chapel.
Showing 109–120 of 261 results