Showing 51–60 of 119 results
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Psalm 135: Praise the Lord!
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_135-praise_the_lord.mp3
Like many of the Psalms that surround it, Psalm 135 is a call to praise that points to creation, Israel’s calling, and deliverance from enemies as reasons for praise. The song’s folk groove lends it a “story song” feel, like the sung histories of the African Griots or the love ballads of Celtic and Appalachian music traditions.
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 136: The Gracious Love of God Will Never End
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_136-the_gracious_love.mp3
Psalm 136 is a long Psalm with the repeated refrain, “His love endures forever.” The Hebrew is much richer. The word “love” encompasses loving-kindness, grace, mercy, and compassion. I arrived at a repeated refrain of “The gracious love of God will never end” and a simple call-and-response that can be learned quickly.
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 137: So Far from Home
[audio mp3="https://gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/08-So-Far-From-Home.mp3"][/audio]“So Far from Home” is a setting of Psalm 137, which includes the imprecation: “Blessed is he who dashes their babies against the rocks.” What is an imprecation if it’s not a curse? In this case, I decided to recast Psalm 137 in a modern context, replacing harps with guitars and the Psalms oppressors with the modern forces of human misery: slave traders, pimps, and wars.
This song is mentioned in Greg’s podcast, “Russians.”
This leadsheet is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to OneLicense.
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Psalm 141: O Lord, I Call to You, Please Hear Me
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/Psalm-141_-O-Lord-I-Call-to-You.mp3
A jazz Psalm is out of the sweet spot of many congregations, but this might be a good place to start. A one-note refrain is paired with straightforward metrical verses. If I were leading this in a congregation, I’d likely have them sing that simple eight-measure phrase only, leaving the verses to a soloist until it became familiar.
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 143: O Lord, Hear My Prayer
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_143.mp3
One doesn’t usually associate jazz with responsorial Psalms. But as you can hear, this song has everything a good responsorial Psalm needs: a quickly learnable refrain, verses that can expand or contract to match the length of the text, and clear harmonic movement to support the chant. Give it a try!
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Psalm 145: My Mouth Will Speak the Praise of the Lord
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The themes of God’s greatness, goodness, faithfulness, and righteousness in Psalm 145 are bookended by verses 1-2 and verse 21. In this musical setting, verse 21 becomes a refrain that follows two verses focused on God’s faithfulness and righteousness. Notice how the verse changes halfway through, with the lyrics switching from talking about God to praying to God.
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Psalm 146: Praise the Lord!
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_146-praise_the_lord.mp3
Charles Freeman wrote this text for Psalm 146, an exuberant Psalm of trust and praise. When I sat down at the piano to write the music, I immediately heard Black Gospel. I wanted this song to sit comfortably between Andraé Crouch’s “Bless the Lord” and James Moore’s “Taste and See.”
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 149: Let God’s People Sing a New Song
Price range: $0.00 through $35.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pagehttps://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm149-let_gods_people.mp3
As the Psalter ends, it erupts into a chorus of Hallelujahs and Praise the Lords, naming a plethora of instruments that should be used to make the praise even more glorious. This song follows suit, with strings, brass, harpsichord, flute, accordion, and saxophone all joining in. Of course, you don’t need all the instruments featured on the recording; you lead this with a worship band, guitar, or the piano accompaniment that’s available below.
The song was featured on the Cardiphonia album The Songs of the Psalter, Vol 5.1, part of a series that covers the entire Psalter.
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Psalm 15: Lord, May I Dwell with You?
https://musicblog.gregscheer.com/wp-content/uploads/psalm_015-lord_may_i_dwell.mp3
Here, Psalm 15 becomes a sung prayer of devotion. The chorus is a prayer of aspiration, “Lord, may I dwell with you?” and the verses pray for the strength and guidance to live the godly life outlined in the Psalm. The music is in a simple, Taizé-like style, with verses chanted over the chorus. This also allows the chorus to be used independently as a scripture song, focusing on the deeper message of the Psalm: a desire to dwell in God’s presence, knowing God as a refuge and our true home.
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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Psalm 150: Hallel, Hallelujah!
http://musicblog.gregscheer.com/psalm_150-hallel_hallelujah.mp3
The exuberance and repetition in this Psalm text led me to compose a Taizé style chorus, but in a regal, rather than meditative style. You’ll notice that the song is built on a repeated 10 measure phrase. This is unusual–music is normally written in divisions of four–but the irregular phrase length keeps the repeats from feeling banal. Also keeping the song’s motion moving forward is the unresolved final chord.
This hymn is a free download. If you sing this song in your church please report its use to CCLI or OneLicense.