The Musical Diary of Greg Scheer

Psalm 50 puts humanity on trial. In the first section, God, the almighty Judge, calls heaven and earth as witnesses to hear a just verdict. In verses 7-15, God addresses the faithful. Essentially, God says, “You’re doing pretty well, but remember that I want your hearts, rather than just your sacrifices of bulls and goats.” […]

Two of my favorite pianists from Church of the Servant were planning to lead a service together, and they were looking for arrangements of congregational songs for four-handed piano. How could I say no? If you take a gander over at my main website, you’ll find several arrangements of “Come, Holy Ghost/Be Not Afraid,” by […]

I have had the good fortune of working with Wendell Kimbrough numerous times in the past decade. Our most recent collaboration dropped today. “It Is Good” is an artful musical portrayal of creation, with vocals shared by Wendell and Fernando Ortega. I wrote the string arrangement, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it […]

Here in Blogsville, I’ve set many difficult Psalms to music. They’ve included Psalms of depression, rage, retribution, and acrostics. But Psalm 45 is difficult in a new way. It is a Psalm for a royal wedding. It begins with an introduction, notable as the only Psalm to include the poet’s voice. (“I recite my verses […]

Carlos Colón has been a big supporter of my music over the years, as well as a good friend. For a recent concert, he commissioned an arrangement of Wendell Kimbrough’s “Mary’s Song” for 2-part children’s choir, piano, string quintet, and oboe. It turned out beautifully, as you can hear from this recording.

I began going to a yoga class this year. As you probably know, breathing is an important aspect of yoga. It’s amazing how disconnected we modern humans have become from our breath and our bodies. So I often take a few minutes during the day to concentrate on the rhythm of my inhalations and exhalations, […]

For this song, I teamed up with long-time collaborator Kate Bluett. Psalm 22 is one of the most poignant of all the Psalms, in part because Jesus cried it from the cross. Because of this, most settings of the Psalm are sung from the perspective of Christ’s passion. (Which works incredibly well for a text […]