Worship Resources Article Index
Guidelines For Song Writing
by Darcy
L. Watkins
These guidelines are a consolidation of notes I took
during song writing seminars given by Andy Park, Paul
Oakley, Stuart Townend and Russel Fragar, plus a few
items I have learned myself while writing worship songs
and learned from other sources.
They apply to writing Worship Songs, but some notes
apply to other types of songs as well.
Feel free to email me with comments and suggestions.
I plan to update this page from time to time.
Craft Versus Calling
There is a craft to song writing and there is a calling
to song writing. These are two distinct things which
can be compared to say the craft of teaching versus
the calling to teach. They don't necessarily come together.
Nothing should stop anyone from writing a worship song
if felt compelled to do so. Just because you get a worship
song doesn't necessarily mean that you are called to
be a worship song writer. Those who are called will
flow more naturally with the craft. Those who are called
must set themselves apart and spend time in preparation.
The craft requires practice, and can even benefit from
training, review and comparing notes and ideas with
other song writers.
There are no hard fast rules to the craft of song writing.
There is a mysterious element to it.
What Makes a Good Worship Song?
- singable (key range)
- passion
- focus on God
- scriptural accuracy
- words people identify with
- releases adoration of God
A good worship song is a song which stirs, inspires
and enables an individual or congregation to worship
in spirit and in truth (truthfulness and honesty - integrity
of the heart).
Songs are not worship, they are tools we use to worship
God.
A good worship song ...
- Declares Biblical truth.
- brings revelation (truth) John 8
- grounds our response I Cor 14
- focuses the mind
- Hooks into peoples' mouths what they want to say.
- Facilitates a response.
- Has a good marriage of melody and words.
- Is singable
- normal melody range
- A ..[middle C] ... [high C] .. D
- Has every line count
- no filler lines
- no fluff just for the sake of rhymes
- Prioritises content over rhyme
- half rhymes are acceptable
- same vowel sound but different consonant sound
- example: "love" and "enough"
- Carries a prophetic edge
- speak something relevant from God to a church
a region or the whole church
Reasons for a Song
- For our own personal time of worship in the presence
of the Lord
- For use in corporate worship setting
The ones used for corporate worship are not necessarily
always the best ones and the personal ones inferior.
Remember that songs for corporate worship setting must
follow singability and other guidelines to be effective
in a church setting, whereas songs between you and the
Lord have no limitations.
How a Song Starts
Here are some ways that a worship song starts:
- bit of a melody line
- hunch to go write
- a vision or picture
- after a Bible study
- sometimes spontaneous
I personally have experienced songs being birthed in
each of the following settings (and listed some examples):
- a tune hits me and I feel like I have been invited
to spend time with the Lord to receive the words (As We Come)
- during a sermon while attending to the sound console
(I Pour My Heart Out)
- during rush hour traffic (Heal
Our Land)
- woke up with the tune and was compelled to get the
lyrics (This Servant's Song)
- mind wandering through mental exercises meditating
on variations of musical phrases, grooves and coming
up with something new but influenced in flavour from
the style of another song writer (Holy
Spirit)
- a heart response inspired (or provoked) from an
event, circumstance, something that was said, which
moved me in a significant way
- just felt like writing a song and then was hit with
more than I was expecting (Strong
In Battle)
- just had to get into God's presence to reassure
myself that the anointing is still there even after
a bad turn of events (an untitled instrumental I still
cannot perform publicly without being brought to tears
as I play it).
- Started as a "Song of the Lord" (We Give You Glory)
Sources of Inspiration
- Bible - ask the Holy Spirit to make it real. May
have to rephrase it in your own words.
- Times of personal worship
- Words spoken or written by great preachers (based
on the Bible)
- Singing prophetic songs
- Good in-depth conversations with other people
- Nature scenes / scenarios
- not mandatory
- some are experimenting with contemporary (man
made) imagery
- "... And Your eyes, they hit me like
a train..."
- "... like a Porsche travelling down
an open winding road..."
- I wrote a song called, "Better Than" featuring man mande
imagery such as, "Your guiding hand is better
than online maps, and Your knowledge, better than
Internet".
- Sometimes get good phrases from children
Composing the Song
You don't have to necessarily be able to notate music
to write songs. At least one of the song writers present
couldn't notate music. A portable cassette recorders
is a good tool beneficial to any song writer.
If you play more than one instrument, use them all
to compose. For example, write some on piano, some on
guitar. Each instrument provides various strengths,
any of which may be what you need for a given song.
Using an instrument to compose is also not necessary.
You can compose the song entirely in your mind and then
capture it (or notate it) later. This may be the method
of choice to get beyond your playing abilities.
Tips:
- Work hard at the lyrics (make them impactful, strong,
striking)
- Make your song compact (every line count)
- Avoid clichés and bad rhymes
- Don't be afraid of poetry
- Write songs that express things in a different way,
or a new thing
- Ask God what He is saying to your church
- Submit your songs to someone who can check them
Biblically
- Bounce your ideas off of other writers
Re-Writing a Song
All the song writers who taught expressed that rewriting
a song after having shelved it for a while is part of
normal song writing process. The song writing process
though often inspired and driven by the Holy Spirit,
doesn't necessarily mean that every word and phrase
is dictated verbatim from God. Part of the process involves
the mind working things out, then waiting on the Lord
and asking for guidance. Sometimes this means scrapping
an entire verse and starting over.
Rewriting a song that has been introduced in worship
poses another issue. How to deal with multiple editions
of a song. Rewrites must occur early in the life of
a song. You could shelf all use of the song for a while
and then reintroduce the song after the rewrite. It
is not advisable to rewrite a song after it has been
published or put into widespread use. Write a new song
instead.
External Things Which Stifle Creativity
- evaluation - concern what others will think. (You
must also suspend the critic part of you while in
the creative mode).
- surveillance - people watching or hanging around
- focusing on reward or recognition
- competition
Structure of a Song
Each component should have contrast with the others
musically and lyrically.
Verse
The verse is the major vehicle to convey the message
details.
Chorus
The chorus crystallises, focuses and distils the
intended emotion of the song into a repeatable segment.
Bridge
A bridge completes the picture where necessary.
Since it is usually musically distinct from the
chorus and the verse, it can add a different perspective,
fill in missing information (enlighten), provide
balance to the lyrical content, or bring the intended
response of the chorus up in magnitude.
Sometimes a bridge is simply a short transition
to build up from the verse to the chorus, (sometimes
called a "pre-chorus" in this case).
Some Literary Mechanics
Some mechanical details you may want to pay attention
to are the following:
- Basic idea as in the theme, plot, setting, etc.
- Song structure (i.e. as above) and song form (i.e.
as below).
- Number of lines in each section.
- Rhyming scheme (e.g. rhyme lines 2 & 4 in the
verses, and 1&2 and 3&4 in the chorus).
- Number of syllables per line, (approximate since
sometimes you can skip some or insert a pushed syllable).
- Tone of the lyric, (heartfelt, deep in content,
play on words).
- Use detail in lyrics but keep it conversational.
- Where it involves a scene (or revealing of an idea)
let this unfold throughout the song. Sometimes this
is why at the beginning, you may have two verses before
the first time into the chorus.
- Imagery should be fresh (and not clichés). If you
want to be innovative, then the lyrics need to push
the norms of contemporary imagery and words used.
A certain popular (secular) song writer will spend
a month to write one great song because, "It's
easier to get one great song published and recorded
than a hundred pretty good ones". Likewise, when
writing songs to be used in a corporate worship setting,
it is easier to get one or two really great songs into
circulation than hundreds of pretty good ones. [source http://www.taxi.com]
Motif / Hook
The repetitive melodic and rhythmic theme in a song
that makes it really stand out is often called the motif
or the hook.
If you want your song to be versatile then it must
have a strong melody which is independent of the instrumentation
and arrangement used. Arrangement is a separate creative
process which can go hand in hand with song writing
or be entirely independent.
Song Forms
Some common song forms (A = verse, B = chorus, C =
bridge in many cases) are:
- AAA
- ABAB
- AABAB
- ABABCB
- AABABCB
Collaboration
In the secular music industry, a song can be passed
back and forth amongst many who contribute to it. This
is difficult to conceive in worship circles since a
worship song is an expression to God, not just a commodity
to be published and recorded. On the other hand, if
you take the servant's attitude that glorifying God
is more important than the person who does it, then
collaboration becomes more conceivable. It becomes a
new tool of corporately worshipping God.
In order to collaborate with others in song writing,
you must have a good relationship with the other collaborator(s).
You must not be overly sensitive to suggestions for
change and you must be able to handle differences in
opinion. You have to be able to work this out gracefully
without stressing your relationship(s). In many cases,
collaboration by written correspondence (mail or email)
passing the song back and forth with each revision can
be better than trying to do it together.
My personal experience with collaboration is the following:
- I wrote a short tune and played it for my wife and
she sang the words. She thought those were the words
to the song and didn't realise that she had just spontaneously
composed them until I pointed it out to her.
- I have jammed a couple of simple tunes with other
musicians as part of having fun.
- On two occasions, others handed me lyrics asking
me to write music. I came back with the lyrics set
to tunes only to hear from them that they had tunes
and they just wanted me to get together with them
to write them down! The frustrating part of this is
I haven't yet been able to come up with new lyrics
for these two orphaned tunes.
Miscellaneous
All the song writers who gave seminars and were at
the question and answer panel session more or less agreed
that song writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
In other words, there is usually lots of hard work to
complete the song, refine it and get it just right.
Songs which come easy (on a silver platter) are rare
in comparison. You have to apply the craft as part of
fulfilling the calling.
One song writer recommended taking private retreats
with the Lord once or twice a year.
All song writers at the seminar were asked, "What
comes first the music or the lyrics?" They all
answered the same. There is no set way to do it. In
their experiences they have had it happen in either
order and sometimes all at once. Songs seldom, in their
experiences, started with just the rhythm or groove.
Song Evaluation Checklist
The following was given to assist with more objective
evaluation of a song.
- Melody - Is it singable, simple, memorable, strong?
Is there an identifiable hook?
- Rhythm - Is it interesting, workable and appropriate?
- Song Structure - song length - does it need a middle
8?
- Contrast Between Sections - verse, chorus, bridge
- Building of Tension, How this is Released
- Interesting Theme - flow, development, response.
- Lyrics - word choices, fresh phrases, clichés? Rhyme,
pattern, sonics.
- Mood Match (this is very subjective)
- Can I Relate To It? do I identify with song's theme?
experience, content, tune.
- Do I Like It? - does it "move" me? Do
I want to sing it? Could I make it "my"
song?
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