How to write a Christian worship song.

Time flies and I'm loving my new Google Blogger website!

The fact is, it's more than a blog page isn't it? It's a website that does everything I could possibly want it to and I'm very chuffed with it.  Those of you who know me will know I used to run a small web design company, we built some lovely websites for over 70 clients over a couple of years.  But I certainly wouldn't go into the business now, not when something like this is available for free!

You can buy the new Christian worship album Stars Like Needles HERE!

You may want to turn the volume up a bit, the sound is a touch low for some reason...



Anyway I do digress!  What I have for you today is a lovely song I wrote a few months ago.  I think the video could do with being updated, my intention was to use the Bob Dylan style lyrics on paper thingy as you can see, but they were unclear on camera so I ended up having to caption it anyway, making the whole video somewhat pointless!

Well with that in mind you are invited to enjoy the patch of grass next to our back garden, as well as our lovely doggies Charlie and Jack, and our daughter Flossie all of whom make spontaneous cameo appearances in my somewhat slap-dash effort of a music video!

The music itself came to me one day as I was out walking the dogs.  I love the early morning out in the fields, I like to pretend it's a bit of a chore so I get the brownie points, but the truth is I love it, it's a very important part of my day now!

I often use the time to pray and talk to God in the peace of the morning sun.  On this particular day an image came into my mind of how we posture ourselves spiritually and emotionally towards the world we live in and the people we live with.  It occurred to me that when we are hard, defensive and guarded we can become very isolated and internal.

What I often do when I'm writing Christian worship music is, in the first instance, I will think of a concept I want to share.  For example in this case spiritual isolation.  Then, and this is quite personal to me, I paint that concept into a picture in my mind's eye, an actual image that I can visualise and look at in my imagination.  So in this case I saw a man dressed in armour with a spear standing in front of a heart, not allowing anyone near.  My next step would then be to describe the picture I've just painted with words.

In this instance it was with a question; how do you stand in the doorway of your heart?  Of course this only accounts for one of the verses, but you can see how the way I relate to and connect with spiritual concepts, which enables me to describe them, is carried through in the rest of the song too.

That seems to me to be a good order of events, a nice way to create a pretty firm and well considered concept for a Christian worship song.  And it's very important to note that I cover the entire creative process with prayer daily, morning and night.  I trust the Lord to guide my steps, that my talents will glorify Him.

The next part, and perhaps the most lovely part is where the spirit and the soul flow in.  Because for me, as soon as I have some words with a root and a concept that I believe in, I can sing it from the heart.  Then, I can listen to the music that plays naturally in my mind, and sing it from the heart.  In terms of melody and vocal style, I don't have to 'try' too hard at this point, that comes later. What I seem to do is speak the words of the song, in truth according to the emphasis and message they carry, in tune.  Repeat, repeat, repeat, and then ah yes!  I have it.  Record me mumbling it on my phone so I won't forget it by the time I get to the studio!

It's worth remembering at this point, that if there isn't something right there in those first few muttered notes that touches you, throw it away.  Please, benefit from my experience, you can have that for free.  A very wise man once said, 'You can't polish a turd.'  That's very nearly true with music, except that you sort of can, you just get a shiny turd.

So if you're interested in writing yourself,don't be precious!  If the very base of it isn't quite right, scrap it, forget it, get it out of your mind and don't let it nag you.  I have spent two whole weeks before on a Christian worship song that was so bad I could hardly bear to listen to it, waiting for just that tweak which would save it.  The tweak never came!  Scrap it!

On a far more positive note, the flipside of this is true too.  If the root is right, and you know it, you love the concept and those first few little notes just speak to you somehow but you've spent days fiddling with effects, putting in ridiculously contrived automation and the drums sound like they've just been pushed down a flight of stairs, keep going!  If the heart is right, good will come of it, don't give up!  Don't stop until you are totally happy!  Some musicians may say you can overwork it, but my own experience of working alone with sequencing software like Ableton live is that I should keep going and going until I'm completely happy.  And so often, it's the tiniest thing that makes the difference between something just not seeming to work and being just right!  So, I hope you like my song, and I'd love to hear your comments.  And don't forget to buy my album!