Tapping into what sparks the creative juices in us and sends us to the pen and paper. It’s funny how it comes about as a matter of fact I witnessed it last week… It all started when I left our new sanctuary to get some papers from my desk in the office building next door.
Jay, one of our leaders of kids’ worship came running up to me and said (in a most desperate voice), ‘Hey Mike, do you have a small hand-held recorder or something anything! I’ve just gotten this song idea AND IF I DON’T THROW IT DOWN NOW I’LL LOSE IT FOREVER!!!’
Ever have that happen? Ever get that one little piece that you know will create the most awesome creation God ever blessed you with, and then POOF! Someone turns on the radio and it becomes vapor in the wind. It’s a sad, sad thing.
What is it that inspires us at any given moment? What stirs our pot and gets things rolling? Obviously God Himself, there’s no question there. He breathes inspiration and life into every one of those little moments. You happen to be the lucky recipient! And this is no small thing. As a songwriting/worshipper you’ve been hand picked to express the heart of God, the heart of those around you, the feelings brought out through the surrounds you become a part of. Generations have been receiving these tokens of worship, and it’s great to be in the loop!
As this series continues we’ll dive into that whole thing: God’s inspiration, and His love for what makes you tick ‘ the all empowering song! So, in this column we’ll flow through some ideas and topics to help you in your quest to pen that perfect song to offer up to the Lord Almighty. Let’s start with a comical look at what NOT to do a segment written by Norm Strauss. Enjoy!
Mike Ward Is a Songwriter, Worship Leader & IT Director at the Vineyard Church of Lewiston, Maine
Song Types to Avoid Using or Writing
By Norm Strauss
- The Dirge: (no impact (who cares) also called the Ho-Hum Hymn)
- The Marathon Musical: Too long for average attention span
- The Blob: Has no recognizable form, verse, chorus, etc.
- The Pothole Poem: Awkward lyric lines that use words that don’t roll off your tongue
- The Secret Code: What on earth does this song mean?
- The Thousand Word Thesis: A doctrinal dissertation on everything you always wanted to know about anything but were afraid to ask, or see on an overhead screen
- The Clich’ Kingdom: Takes about five minutes to write and contains a veritable fountain of triteness and annoying clich’ rhymes and melody lines
- The Directionless Ditty: Song has lots of good ideas, but one has nothing to do with the other. No development of theme
- The Unhappy Marriage: Lyrics that don’t suit the music
- The Congregational Stretch: Songs that should be only sung by Mariah Carrey or Michael Bolton. Goes too low or too high (or both!)
- Evangelism for the Dead: An evangelistic worship song written in a style calculated to communicate to a past generation
- The ‘Hey That Sounds Like’’ Song: Also called ‘Play it Again Sam’, written with a melody line/lyric someone else thought of already
- Heretical Horror: Song that has doctrinal error, (e.g. calling the Holy Spirit an ‘it’)
- The Mixed Bag: Song can’t make up its mind which style it was written in, (e.g. happy-sad, fast-slow, disco-rap)