Tunes for Texts

Showing 13–24 of 55 results

  • 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.

  • Hands Come Gleaning

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/moody-hands_come_gleaning.mp3"][/audio]

    In this song’s lyrics, Tammy Moody ties together images of harvesting the land, social justice, and the Lord’s Supper. The more connections we can make between what we do in worship and in the world, the better.

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

  • Hosanna in the Highest! (UNIQUE CROWN)

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

    There are only a handful of great Palm Sunday hymns, especially ones that can be sung during a palm processional. “Hosanna in the Highest!” is a stately hymn with an easily-learned chorus and narrative verses that move dramatically toward Jerusalem. The text can also be sung to the Jewish folk tune associated with “The King of Glory Comes.”

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

  • 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.

  • INDY

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

    This tune first appeared as #37 in a collection of Isaac Watts Psalms, In Melody and Songs (2014). What is interesting about this tune is that though the harmonies shift through a few different keys (D, Bm, C), the melody always remains in D. Hence the tune name, INDY.

    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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    Jesus Lives, and So Shall I

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/jesus_lives_and_so_shall_i.mp3"][/audio]

    There are many songs that are perfect for Easter day (“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” for example.), but few that remain appropriate during Eastertide. “Jesus Lives, and So Shall I” will take you through the whole season of Easter with its focus on our new life in the risen Christ.

    PowerPoint slides for congregational singing are available from Digital Songs & Hymns.

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

  • Jesus, Greatest at the Table

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

    The hymn tune TABLE GREATS (a play on “greatest” and “table grace”) is a setting for Steven Starke’s 8.7.8.7.8.7 Maundy Thursday text. This simple, singable tune gives voice to Starke’s reflection on the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet in the upper room.

    Piano accompaniment for congregational singing.

  • Jesus, Lord of Life and Glory

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    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/jesus_lord-ash_wed.mp3

    This beautiful hymn by James John Cummins had fallen into disuse until fairly recently. It covers all of life— depth of sin, temptation, ease and joy, sickness, and dying— and always brings us back to the prayer, “By your mercy, oh, deliver us, good Lord.”

    https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/jesus_lord-gstra.mp3

    An SATB arrangement of this song is also available from GIA Music, G-8892.

    This song is mentioned in Greg’s podcast, “Devotion, Temptation, and Confession.

  • Jesus, My Great High Priest

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    [audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/COS-jesus_my_great_highpriest.mp3"][/audio]

    There are few songs that use the image of Jesus as high priest. Shepherd, Bread of Life, yes, but not high priest. I fell in love with this text by Isaac Watts and wrote a new tune for it.

    PowerPoint slides for congregational singing are available from Digital Songs & Hymns.

  • MAESTRO

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

    This Common Meter tune was first written for the text “Thoughout These Lenten Days,” which is paired with TALLIS CANON in Sing! A New Creation. I love the Tallis tune, but it felt too static for the movement that takes place in the six verses of James Gertmenian’s text. So I wrote this sweeping melody that is reminescent of English cathedral melodies such as KING’S WESTON. One of my choir members liked the tune so much that he took to calling me “maestro” ever since he sang it. Since the tune earned me that title, I thought it would be an appropriate title for the tune as well.

    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.

Showing 13–24 of 55 results