Showing 11–20 of 56 results
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DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING
[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.
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DOUBLE WIDE
Price range: $0.00 through $25.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pagehttps://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.
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Ever-Tender Shepherd
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.
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FEAST OF REJECTION
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.
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GESCHICHTE
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.
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GILLIGAN
[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.
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Hands Come Gleaning
[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.
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Hosanna in the Highest! (UNIQUE CROWN)
[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.
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ICC
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.
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INDY
[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.