Thanks for your positive feedback on my post last week called “10 things I wish I’d known when I started leading worship”.
In the same vein, here’s one on songwriting! Here goes…
1. Highest melody in chorus
Make the melody in the chorus higher than the melody in the verses. Obviously doing this ALL the time isn’t good as it creates a ‘rut’ and it’s good to switch things up in different songs! But often it’s a tip that makes songs better. It gives the chorus the ‘lift’ that makes it the high point of the song, and makes the verses feel like they are ‘going somewhere’ as they build up from lower notes, to the higher notes in the chorus. Try it and see if it works for you.
2. Express ONE thought deeply, not numerous thoughts at once!
A common problem with worship songs is that they try to express too many thoughts at once, leaving the congregation feeling confused and unable to really resonate. We songwriters get tempted to explore numerous ideas in a song, as it’s easier to go off on a different tangent in verse 2 than it is to continue to explore the same theme more deeply. For example, if you are writing a song about the cross, it’s easier to make the 2nd verse about the resurrection. But what if you stayed with the theme of the cross instead and used verse 2 to look at it from a different angle – with some Old Testament input from a book like Isaiah? We are too quick to move onto multiple themes within one song. There are lots of ‘pick & mix’ songs out there, where it seems the writer just picked and mixed random topics, a different one for each section of the song! One verse might be about Jesus’ different names in Scripture, then the chorus is about the second coming, then the bridge is about the cross… we need to focus on single themes and simplify! This will help people resonate with a clear theme in a song, and really ‘get’ what the song is about.
3. Use every day language
Write using language that people would use everyday, as much as you can. There is a poetry to some ‘Biblical language’ but overall I think it just creates a greater separation between church culture and the unchurched people we want to invite into it. Grammatically, try and make sense too! Avoid breaking up phrases in weird places/orders, like “To praise you I live”, when gramatically, you really needed to say “I live to praise you”, or “On my knees I fall” when in real life we’d say “I fall on my knees”. Avoid using words that no one uses anymore, like “thee” or “thine” unless you are specifically trying to write a ‘modern day hymn’ (and even then I’d say avoid it, as it doesn’t make it very ‘modern day’). Avoid ‘praise phrases’ (overused, worn out Christian jargon that we’ve heard in 100 worship songs already!). Read your own lyrics aloud and see if they (a) make sense (b) are in a gramatically ‘normal’ order and (c) are as praise-phrase-free as possible!
4. Check your theology
It’s always worth showing your lyrics to someone who is more theologically trained than you are. I do this, and find it very helpful. Sometimes little bits of heresy can creep into a song without you even noticing, as you’ve just worded something weirdly. Recently I saw a worship lyric submitted for a songbook that made it sound like Jesus actually became sinful on the cross, whereas we know that he was “without sin” but took our sin on himself. For me that was a ‘deal breaker’ on the song as it might confuse some people about whether Jesus was indeed sinless or not. Show your lyrics to a pastor/theologian and get their feedback. It’s worth it! Most people learn their theology from songs these days, as we all remember lyrics more than sermons…so that’s a sober responsibility for us worship songwriters!
5. Test it out in small circles first
Be patient with the song, knowing that if it’s going to have a big audience, it needs to resonate with a small audience first. If you’re sending your song to a publisher, they’ll want to know if the song has been working in your local contex first. Try it out in a small group/house group, and in a small church setting to make sure it works. Often after doing this, I’ll see things I need to change in my songs. So don’t be afraid of revising lyrics or meoldy at this point… it’s ok for the song to evolve! Gradually expose the song to bigger audiences, and make sure it still resonates. Give the song time to be tested, tried and tweaked before you expect it to be sung by thousands. Go slow and steady and you’ll end up with a stronger song at the end.
6. Hone your craft
Songwriting is a craft, much like any skill or art form. It’s not ‘luck’ or ‘blessing’ alone that makes a great song. I realised, when I sat under Brian Doerksen’s teaching, that songwriting needs to be studied and honed. (I’ll recommend my top books on songwriting soon on this blog). Google a few books on Songwriting and start reading if you’ve haven’t before. Learn about the form and structure of a song and what ingredients make a great chorus, and a great verse etc. Learn about how to use chords to create movement, journey and tension within a song. Be prepared to re-write over and over, until you get the best song possible. See yourself as a student of songwriting, knowing that none of us ever graduate, we all just keep learning and growing at our craft.
7. Fill the gaps
Look at where the church needs songs. Start with your local church – which part of the service or set list do you struggle to fill? Do you need more big, fast tempo opening songs? Or do you need more songs for communion? If your church is liturgical, do you need some songs to accompany your different liturgies? On a global level, think about worship albums and big conferences, and figure out what kind of songs are lacking…then try writing some! That’s a great way to serve the church. Perhaps we need more great ‘Easter’ songs or modern Christmas anthems? What’s needed at your church? Start there…
8. Co-writing may or may not help
We songwriters are a mysterious bunch! Creativity happens in mysterious ways, and only you can really figure out how you best get inspired and create songs. So you need to protect your process and make sure you are in a context that allows you to feel safe and write in the way that most releases the good stuff inside your heart. Don’t let anyone tell you whether you *have* to co-write or not. It’s a very personal thing, and where it may help some writers, it may not help others. I think some of it might be personality based…the extrovert songwriters I know seem to love co-writing , as their take on life is “the more the merrier!”. Some of my introverted friends really dislike co-writing, feeling like it encroaches on the highly personal process of delving into their soul and pouring out their heart to God. The best way to try co-writing is with someone you know and trust…then figure out after writing with a few people, if it’s for you or not. If writing in a room with someone else isn’t for you, you can try coming up with ideas alone, then emailing an MP3 of what you wrote to someone else for them to noodle about with. That preserves the privacy of writing on your alone, while allowing others to collaborate.
9. Try a new instrument or no instrument at all
If you usually write one way, try a different way! If you usually write on guitar, try writing on piano or mandolin or bass (even if you can’t really play them). If you always write on an instrument, try writing without one. I’ve found my melodies are MUCH stronger when I put down all my instruments and just write with my voice… probably because it gets me out of the rut of my usual guitar strumming patterns and the melody has my entire attention. If you usually write without an instrument, pick one up. Try something new…
10. New musical influences
It seems like most modern worship is influenced by a mesh of U2 and Coldplay, with a smattering of Sigur Ros/Jonsi dynamic builds and falls, and more recently, with some folk influences. It’s always great to freshen things up, so that every worship album has a freshness to it. Why not explore listening to different musical influences, and avoid creating/demoing songs that have the usual ‘the Edge’ style guitar solos, with Coldplay piano riffs and Sigur Ros style percussion… it’d be cool to hear some new sounds (and I say that to challenge myself as much as to challenge anyone else!!).
11. Suitable for all skill levels
Write songs that a basic “5 chord guitarist” can master easily… this is crucial for corporate worship songs as many churches don’t have lots of skilled musicians. So people who are average guitar players need to be able to play your songs. It’s also cool to include arrangement ideas/parts in the song that can be played by skilled musos too…that way everyone wins. But if a basic level guitar player can’t strum your song, you might want to think about simplifying it.
12. Constantly journal
Songwriting happens when your heart pours out it’s thoughts and feelings into words. It’s a bit like a water pump…if you leave it standing for weeks and months with no activity, it can get ‘rusty’ and take you a while to get the flow going again. One way to fix this is to get used to listening to your heart every day, and writing down your thoughts, feelings and ideas in a journal. Often you’ll be writing about your day, and suddenly a great lyric will appear on the page. Or try writing out prayers every day, and you’ll find some great song ideas spring out of those. This is the same musically… try ‘noodling’ around on your guitar or keyboard every day just for a few minutes, to keep the ‘pump flowing’. You’ll find somedays in the 5 minutes you’ll come up with nothing, and other days something will happen in those 5 minutes that will spark an entire song.
Hope these thoughts have been helpful!
What do you think about songwriting and how to grow in it? I’d love to know! Do the tips above resonate with you? Anything you’d add?
Vicky
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