Orphan Tunes

Showing 1–12 of 28 results

  • ABBA DABBA DOO

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/abba_dabba_doo.mp3"][/audio]

    This began as a new tune for a text on the Lord’s Prayer by Thomas Troeger called “Let All Who Pray the Prayer Christ Taught.” It gives this 6 verse text some breathing room, creating more space to pray the song. It’s available here for others who would like to write new texts to it. Above is the boring computer playback; belong is a demo using Troeger’s text (from back when I was just learning how to record).

    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/abba_father.mp3"][/audio]

    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.

  • ALLITERATION

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/alliteration.mp3"][/audio]

    I wrote the tune ALLITERATION as an alternative to RUSTINGTON. It gave me a chance to work out a few musical ideas, and now it’s your chance to pair it with an 8787D text and give it a try in a real life setting.

    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.

  • BIG OLD TREE

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    https://archive.gregscheer.com/sounds/big_old_tree.mp3

    Hymn tunes shouldn’t only be for the older folks, right? Here’s a common meter tune that would work perfectly for a children’s song. The last phrase is repeated, so you can think of it as 8.6.8.6.8.6.

    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.

  • BLEST BE THOU

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/blest_are_the_innocents.mp3

    This tune was originally written for “Blest Are the Innocents” by Sylvia Dunstan, a text about the Slaughter of the Innocents, when Herod killed every male under two in the hopes of killing Jesus, the prophesied King. Dunstan wrote the text with the 10.10.10.10 tune  SLANE (“Be Thou My Vision”) in mind. However, a well-loved tune like SLANE may cause some cognitive dissonance with the grim subject matter of the text, so consider this alternative.

    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.

  • CHARMING FOURTH

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/charming_fourth.mp3"][/audio]

    This tune is called CHARMING FOURTH, because I wrote and rejected three other tune drafts before settling on this one; they say the third time’s the charm, but I was hoping for an exception to that rule. I’m also hoping a talented text writer will stumble upon this tune and give it beautiful words that let it soar.

    This hymn is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DIDNTSEETHATCOMING.mp3"][/audio]

    This falls somewhere between regal and rustic— something that would be at home in a cathedral or a Sacred Harp sing. It is an unusual hymn tune: the melody slides from an E minor/pentatonic into a G minor/pentatonic scale in the second phrase. The harmonies, too, sneak off halfway through, sprint in all directions, then slip back home in the last two measures. But for all its darting about, the song is still surprisingly singable— both the melody and the inner voices.

    It first appeared in print with Isaac Watts’ “Your Glory, Lord, Is Great” (#41 In Melody and Songs“).

    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.

  • DOUBLE WIDE

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/how_wide.mp3

    I wrote this tune for a text by Herman Stuempfle and a few months later I came across a second text by the same author to fit this tune. The tune has a mysterious, intimate, jazzy feel, but is still very much singable by a congregation. For all you text writers, the tune’s meter is 6.6.8.6.6.6.

  • Ever-Tender Shepherd

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    http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/ever-tender_shepherd-4.mp3

    “Ever-Tender Shepherd” is a musical “collect prayer”–a prayer which petitions God based on God’s attributes. In this case, attributes of Jesus are connected to the needs of the world. We ask Christ, the Shepherd, to gather scattered refugees, for example. This seemed a good way to address the needs of the world without taking sides or naming issues so specifically that the song would be obsolete by the time it was used. I’m especially fond of the third verse. But who am I to play favorites?

    This hymn is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.

  • FEAST OF REJECTION

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/as_in_that_upper_room.mp3

    I wrote this tune for Timothy Dudley-Smith’s Maundy Thursday hymn, “As In that Upper Room You Left Your Seat.” The meter is 10.10.10.10, with a repeat of the final line. You’ll notice there are no time signatures. I want people to sing the melody with a strong sense of phrasing rather than slavishly reading meter changes. Just sing it like chant, with a quarter note pulse.

    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.

  • GESCHICHTE

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/geschichte.mp3

    I wrote this tune for a text by my friend David Landegent: “Sufferings of Jesus” is based on 2 Cor. 1:3-11. He wrote it with the tune ASSURANCE (Blessed Assurance) in mind, but I felt that tune was too sprightly to encompass the themes of suffering and consolation found in his text.

    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.

  • GILLIGAN

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GILLIGAN.mp3"][/audio]

    The text for which this tune was originally written, Isaac Watts’ “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.

    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.

  • ICC

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    https://archive.gregscheer.com/sounds/ICC.mp3

    In 2007 I fulfilled the lifelong dream of having a college adopt one of my tunes as their school fight song. While my rousing “We Are the Cougars” won Illinois Central College’s fight song contest, my entry for their alma mater tune contest didn’t fare as well. But their loss is your gain. You can replace their “pride of Peoria” text with lyrics of your own!

    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.

Showing 1–12 of 28 results