Where do you derive the inspiration for your songs?


Rick Cua: Directly from the holy spirit, personal experience, hearing the stories of others, sermons, movies, from life and most aspects of it.


Brian Doerksen: Everywhere ... in scripture ... my relationship with God ... what’s happening in our local church ...the books of the bible we are preaching through ... my sense as to what God is prophetically stirring up... and sometimes the song inspiration comes when I am least expecting it.


Joel Engle: The bible, my own personal journey with Christ, sermons, books, situations and anything else that moves me.


Rick Founds: Most often, inspiration for my songs comes from something that
particularly strikes me during my personal reading and study of the
Bible.


Jamie Harvill: The Bible; sermons; novels; movies; prayer and meditation; personal experience, etc.


Scott Reed: Again, the good ones come from my own personal time with God... Those that don’t come from that are usually more work to write and don’t end up being that “breath/voice of God” type of song. They may still be OK, but there’s a big difference with me.


Steve Rice: Again as a music publisher, I find that most great worship songs are inspired by sermons or strong biblically based teaching from the local church in which the writer is intimately involved.


What are some resources that have been helpful to you as a writer?


Rick Cua: A thesaurus, co-writing, listening, reading and a lot of prayer!


Brian Doerksen:For me it’s primarily reading good literature like the Bible and good books (both fiction like Stephen R Lawhead and C.S. Lewis and Christian Living books like John Eldredge, Mark Buchanan and others) It’s in reading great inspiring literature that our hearts are stirred to say, “We need to sing about this!”

I have been helped by Jimmy Webb’s secular book on songwriting called ‘Tunesmith’, but for the most part the most important thing to do is simply keep on writing and get honest feedback on your songs from those around you.


Joel Engle: The book "if you want to write" by Brenda Ueland. It is the best creative writing book I have ever read. She was a huge influence on Carl Sandberg and other writers. This is not a Christian book and some of her "theology" is way, way off but her book helped me tremendously in understanding how to put myself in places to be influenced by God.


Rick Founds: There so many great helpful resources available to songwriters today. A simple Google search on "songwriting" will provide endless hours worth of research material for everything from song structure, arrangement, lyrics, etc... I still find that when it comes to writing songs for worship, my main resources usually boil down to the Bible, a pad of paper, a pen, and a guitar or piano. After the purpose, tense, and content of the song is formulated, if needed, I might find myself referring to Kevin M. Mitchell's "Songwriter's Rhyming Dictionary", a cool little, skinny publication that fits easily in a guitar case.


Jamie Harvill: I like to use the Bible to stay scripturally accurate. I write on guitar but initially I write melodies and the chord progressions in my head with no instrument. I have been known to use a thesaurus when I get stuck on a rhyme. Usually, if I wrestle too long I will change the first line and start over! I have my own studio with software programs to create rhythmic grooves. This helps me establish tempos and feels early on.


Scott Reed: On a real practical level, I’ve got to have a thesaurus around... It helps me say what I want to say with some freshness. On a spiritual level, I love having some modern translations of the Bible around like “The Message” or the “New Living Translation”... Helps me hear truth in a fresh way. I’m always trying to say things with some new life even though there are no new ideas to write about.


Steve Rice: there are many good books on song writing, which can be extremely helpful. I think the greatest weakness of writers today is the ability to craft an engaging and inspiring (and might I add, theologically sound) lyric. And many worship songs that are pitched to me today lack any spiritual depth or power in the lyric. I strongly urge writers to study their favorite songs and learn what makes them great... To read about lyric and poetry writing and to strive to become an expert at their craft. But most of all, the writer of worship songs must be a true student of the word. The word of God is power. It is alive. When I look for songs, I look for those that have that life on them.


Is there a philosophy or theology behind the approach you take to writing?


Rick Cua: Write what you know and know God.


Brian Doerksen:I believe several key things. One is that our calling as writers is to hold out ‘God truth’ and ‘our truth’. Some worship writers try to write God truth, but don’t express it in a way that includes ‘our truth’. I believe this is why we still love the Psalms – they are full of God truth and our truth.

I see the songs I write almost like a triangle .. with God truth at the top. Writing truth about God (good theology) is the like the true north gravitational pull that should always be present. On the bottom of the triangle are ‘my truth’ and ‘poetry’. I try to incorporate all of those elements when I write.

I also believe that there is a dance going on as we write lyrics between the meaning of the words (the truth) and the sound of the words (the art) .. and if you are writing for worship meaning and truth must lead the dance and if you are writing as a singer-songwriter sound and art can lead the dance.


Joel Engle: Stay close to scripture.


Rick Founds: My philosophical approach to writing is pretty simple... help people express what they may be feeling or thinking, but just don't quite know how to put it into words. Many people have a difficult time adequately communicating the deep things of the soul, (...although women tend to be far better at this than men!...) a good songwriter is someone who has the ability to collect and condense the thoughts and feelings of the average person. When that person hears or sings the song, it helps crystallize, clarify and enable the communication of their thoughts and feelings.


Jamie Harvill: My philosophy is: create music with lyrics and themes that move me. Hopefully, like I said before, others will join in and sing along.


Scott Reed: The approach I take is to realize that in most churches, the way people learn the majority of the theology that they adopt is going to be from the songs that they sing more than from the messages they hear from the pulpit. That’s an awesome responsibility we have not only to write theologically sound songs, but to choose theologically sound songs that we will be singing on a regular basis in our churches.


Steve Rice: Don't write for commercial purposes. Write for ministry purposes and make your songs excellent for that purpose first and foremost. The rest will come.


Do you see a difference between congregational worship songs and other Christian songs and what is the difference?


Rick Cua: Yes, congregational worship songs are easy for the congregation to sing and with a direct vertical lyric. Other worship songs lift up the lord with a truth or through a personal story.


Brian Doerksen:There’s a big difference. Christian songs (like most CCM) is designed to be sung to you or over you (and you identify with it through the act of listening) while congregational worship songs are meant to be sung together – people identify with them by singing them.


Joel Engle: yes. Congregational songs are simpler in their melodic and chordal structure. They are meant for group singing. "artistic" songs are meant for listening and contemplation. This comparison ultimately breaks down because worship songs can be artistic and contemplative and artistic songs can be sung sometimes by everybody. But that is the basic distinction to me.


Rick Founds: The Difference I see between a congregational worship song and other Christian songs is somewhat self-explanatory. A congregational worship song is just that... a song that can easily be sung by the average person in the congregation. Although there are always exceptions to every rule, there are certain things that make a song more "congregational" than others... things like vocal range, the ease with which the lyrics flow off the tongue, and musical genre. Some songs may definitely be expressive songs of worship, but because of the stratospheric nature of the arrangement, they can be nearly impossible for most people to sing.


Jamie Harvill: Congregational songs are meant to be sung by real people! That is, regular people who have a limited singing range (Bb below middle C to D, an octave and a whole step above middle C). Many Christian pop songs are written for an artist to perform and, as a result, can be very difficult for the average person to sing. Many songs are “about” God and not sung “to” God. When I write congregational songs (I write artist songs, too), I prefer to write prayers directly spoken to God. Don’t get me wrong, some songs are used effectively to declare great things about God like Chris Tomlin’s How Great Is Our God. The song Ancient of Days, which I wrote with Gary Sadler, is like that. I just prefer to sing songs during worship where I am singing directly to God. I like to keep the lyrics simple and relatable on congregational songs.


Scott Reed: I may be a little more “old school” on this topic, but I do see a significant difference between corporate songs and more mainstream “Christian Radio” type songs. I still believe that the most impactful times of worship in a corporate setting are going to be centered around songs that everyone can sing, songs that are “easy” enough so that “Joe the construction worker” feels confident that he knows where it’s going and what’s coming next. Songs that are too challenging rhythmically or melodically are going to isolate the majority of people. If people don’t know how to sing something right or aren’t sure how the next part goes, won’t sing... Period. Some would disagree with me and say that congregations are getting more musically savvy, but I still believe that most congregations are lacking a significant musical intuition as a whole.


Steve Rice: Sure. There are many types of "Christian songs", and Christian song lyrics can do many things... They can inspire, can teach, can share the gospel, can reflect, can confess, can praise, can inspire worship and much more. Not all Christian songs are "congregational worship songs", a) because they are not all meant to be sung by a congregation, and b) they don't all inspire worship. My definition of a "congregational worship song" is one that lyrically addresses God directly with adoration, thanksgiving, honor, etc. ... And a "corporate praise song" is one that proclaims and/or celebrates his attributes. As a side note, today I actually believe we need more songs that share the truth of the gospel with a lost world (evangelism and apologetics).

 

What are some ways that I as a writer can get my songs heard by others?


Rick Cua: Play them in church, join a writers group – maybe NSAI has a chapter in your area, indie heaven, mp3’s e-mailed to your mailing list, songs playing on your web-site, MySpace, etc.


Brian Doerksen:Serve...serve...and then serve some more. Striving won’t help . .. like people trying to lift their seat on a plane if they are afraid of flying – either the engines and wings are going to lift you or they won’t. The song itself is what should be heard – not your effort (which is a good reason to write the very best songs you can write!)


Joel Engle: Play them live and record them. You cannot expect anyone to believe in your songs if you don't have enough faith to play them live and record them.


Jamie Harvill: I find that it starts with the local congregation. If a song catches fire there, then share it with other congregations. Creating a recording of your song along with a lead sheet and a “chords over words” chart makes it easier to pass it on to others. If you are not a singer or player, get someone else to help you. Writers are best suited to stay where they have the greatest influence: in their local congregation. When the time comes to extend your influence outside of the home church, it will be obvious. God is the greatest agent anyone could have! Be humble, prepared and patient.


Scott Reed: Submit, submit, submit... That’s all you can do is keep getting up to the plate, swing at it with all you’ve got and if it’s an “out”, it’s an “out”. But, don’t stop swinging... Keep hitting it as hard as you can and leave it at that. You’ve got to have some thick skin because more of your songs will be rejected than accepted, that’s just the reality of it. I submit things to worshipmusic.com, songDISCovery.com, Worship Leader Magazine, worshiptogether.com... Any other relationships or contacts I may have, I use. They’ll either be well received or not, but at least you gave it a shot.


Steve Rice: Ahh, the big question. I get this a lot. If we're talking about worship songs, then I suggest giving a copy of your song to as many worship leader friends as possible. Give them charts and audio and just see what happens. The real test is whether or not other leaders will use your song without your coaxing. If they begin using your song regularly in their churches (without you there), then you know you've got a winner. That's the point anyway, right? If a number of local and regional congregations enjoy singing your song, then there's reason to believe the song may also work on a national or international level as well. In a nutshell ... Give it away and the good songs will spread like wildfire.


At what point should I as a writer pursue a publisher?


Rick Cua: That depends on what your goals are. If you believe your songs need to be heard by a broader audience than your home area and when your songs are being well received in your church and hopefully spreading to other churches, you might consider trying to contact a publisher. To get the attention of a publisher your songs need to be pretty amazing. Remember, as a published writer your publisher will be pitching your songs along with some of the best writers in the world.


Brian Doerksen:The best songs go to work without much effort from the songwriter themselves. I never pursued a publisher once in my life – they pursued me. (I’m not saying it’s wrong to knock on doors; it’s just not the path that I chose). If you serve with some songs and they start being sung at multiple churches without direct effort from you that’s a pretty good sign that the music may be for more than just your personal edification.


Joel Engle: Personally, I would wait till they came to you. I would pursue writing the best songs I can and using them in whatever ministry God has for you and start making quality recordings of your songs. If they are having an impact, usually the publishers and labels will find them.


Jamie Harvill: When the song is recorded for a CD or if it will be broadcast in any way. Publishing establishes the ownership of a song. You may be the writer and owner/ publisher of your song. Sometimes you will need the help of an outside publisher to exploit (in the positive sense) your song in the market place. You may establish your own publishing company with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC or transfer ownership or share it with an outside publisher who can maximize your song’s effectiveness. The writer should receive royalties from the publisher with percentages relating to whether you wrote the song alone or with a co-writer. So, writers receive 50% of the income from a song and publishers receive 50%. Most people will do fine to simply copyright and maintain ownership.


Steve Rice: Give your songs away and they will grow legs of their own. The publishers will flock to you, from every direction. Just do what god has called you to do in ministry and he'll bring the increase. Watch!


What is the role of a publisher?


Rick Cua: To help you grow as a songwriter by creatively speaking into your songwriting and setting up co-writing appointments. Also, the publisher will pitch your songs for various uses, i.e., cuts on CD’s, choral uses, film & TV, songbooks, etc. On the administrative side the publisher will look after registering your songs with the library of congress, your performing rights society, CCLI, etc. They will also collect your royalties through every source of income including the setting of worldwide sub-publishing agreements. In a nutshell – they will help you write better, exploit your songs and collect the money.


Brian Doerksen:A publisher exists to help exploit a song to its fullest potential. (exploit in this context means a good thing!). They seek to find outlets for the songs, projects that would be a match for the song, and then they administrate what happens with the song so that the writer gets paid.


Joel Engle: To take your song and get it recorded, printed and licensed as much as possible. Remember, they don't do it for free.


Jamie Harvill: The role of a publisher is to protect, promote and collect income for the song. To protect, the publisher secures the copyrights for the song. To promote, the publisher gets the song into the hands of artists, record companies, producers, etc, all for the purpose of creating income streams from the song. That is where the collecting comes in.


Scott Reed: To help find good homes for your songs... A good publisher won’t just keep your song in their catalog, but will continuously push for it to be heard and recorded.


Steve Rice: To help you stay focused on songwriting! When the business side of your songwriting (i.e. marketing and administration) begins to take you off track, then you need a publisher. A publisher's job is to exploit your composition so that it continues to earn income for you and your family for the long haul. Not only will the publisher exploit your composition for maximized income, but he knows how to protect and manage your legal copyright in that composition worldwide.


What makes a good worship song?


Rick Cua: A simple yet profound lyric sung over a memorable accessible melody that comes from knowing God.


Brian Doerksen:A good song has a melody that people love to sing with words that are full of truth. (Sounds easy . .but it’s very hard to write songs like that!)


Joel Engle: Good theology, simplicity, original concept and ultimately the anointing of God.


Jamie Harvill: I think a good worship song is easy to sing, easy to remember, and lifts my soul toward heaven.


Scott Reed: To me, a good worship song is one that is intuitive... One that, when someone hears it, is easy to pick up on and easy to follow where it is going. It must be theologically accurate at the same time, which can be challenging. But, the most important quality is to be “user-friendly”... Give your people an opportunity to really enter in without having to constantly look at the screens for lyrics or concentrate on a melody or rhythm pattern... Make it easy for people to “get it”.


How often do you rewrite a song and do you rewrite it even after you've started teaching the song?


Rick Cua: I personally don’t rewrite often. Once I start teaching it or playing it it’s pretty much done. My feeling is if it needs excessive rewriting it may not have been right in the first place…just my opinion since I’m sure many great songs have been tweaked a ton.


Brian Doerksen:Almost every song of mine that people have heard has gone from draft 1 to about draft 4 or 5 before people hear it. The only thing more important than rewriting for songwriters is the initial writing itself. The willingness and ability to rewrite is what separates most songs and songwriters that actually get heard from those who don’t. I don’t usually re-write after I have started teaching a song because I don’t teach a song until I have re-written it (but I can think of a couple of exceptions!)


Joel Engle: Until they are singing it and it meets my personal standard of excellence.


Rick Founds: Once a song is "out there", it's kind of like an email... there's no "pulling it back in". That's why I try to make sure that any song I write, especially for the purpose of congregational worship, is as "fine tuned" as I can make it before I officially call it "done". That fine tuning process usually involves "testing it out" on various people, who I trust will be honest with me, and have proven to have a good sense of what works.


Jamie Harvill: I have always said that a song is not written, it’s re-written! I won’t let a new song out of the nest until I am satisfied that it will fly in a real-world situation. However, I will make changes as I go if needed.


Scott Reed: I’m constantly tweaking a song even after I’ve taught it once or twice. If a lyric can be better, I go ahead and change it even in mid-stream. As long as it’s only a word or two, it doesn’t throw people off who’ve only heard it once or twice.


What is your favorite song that you've written and what is the story behind it?


<Rick Cua: I have several but “Somewhere Tonight”, a song that I wrote with Phil Madeira, stands out. It was written about my close friend Larry, who struggled for years with drugs. He would up losing his family and going to jail. God turned his life around and I walked with him for the eight years of his recovery before he passed away from cancer. His story is a beautiful one and “Somewhere Tonight” reminds us of so many more people like Larry who need Jesus, our love, and our support.


Brian Doerksen:That’s a hard question to answer. (Can I steal Bono’s answer – I haven’t written it yet !) I still feel like I am just getting started! “Eternity”, one of my lesser known songs, is for sure one of my favorites. "Eternity" was written in a moment of intense passion and absolute knowing that heaven was real in 1990. My best friend was killed in an accident around that time, so my heart was often thinking about the other side. I can hardly wait to hear the Father say “…No more death, tears, shame...”
I wrote this song not just about longing for home, but knowing I'm going home. It’s kind of interesting that this song has been used in more weddings and funerals than probably any of my songs. It’s also been sung and recorded in several different languages. One of the most moving for me was to hear it sung in Russian, maybe because of the suffering Russian believers have gone through, and also because all my grandparents were born in Russia.

I am really excited about the new version of this song that ends my new CD (released Fall 08). It’s a simple acoustic version and it reminds me of the day I wrote the song almost 20 years ago.


Joel Engle: Living sacrifice. It was written during a time of communion at a youth camp. The senior adults of this church came and served communion to the students in the most beautiful way. I was deeply touched and this song was born.


Jamie Harvill: I will release a new CD soon entitled Incredible God. The final cut will be a new song called Until the Curtain Falls. The message of the song says we must look intently for the coming of our Lord. But, “until the curtain falls” on our time here on earth, we must love Him through serving the poor, the sick and the widowed. Also, we must passionately worship Him not only through our words but through our obedience as well. I think many believers are content to enjoy salvation without service. God is calling us out of our spiritual laziness! The title came first and the words and melody flowed out in quick succession. It is my new favorite.


Scott Reed: My favorite is probably a song called, “In Awe of You”. It was written while standing out in front of the bag drop at Tustin Ranch Golf Course (where I worked at the time). I wrote lots of songs while standing in that spot, but this one was special. It felt like the Lord just dropped down this lyric and melody of adoration and He and I had an amazing moment together in personal worship. When I got home, I jotted it down and scribbled some chords in, and there it was.


What is the starting point to writing a song? Melody? Chord progression? Lyrics? What works for you?



Rick Cua: I write best with a title and concept…from there it usually writes itself.


Brian Doerksen:This is the most common question every songwriter gets asked. It’s different for different writers . .but for me it starts with some kind of seed (which is the creative gift from God) It could be a lyrical phrase or a melodic hook, but it starts the ball rolling. The seed is a quite often a gift, what happens from that point on is totally up to us as writers. I should say that writing a song from a chord progression is almost always a bad idea; I can usually hear songs that are being led around by chords. Chords are the first part of arrangements – a song is words set to a melody, and the melody exists in pitch and rhythm – changing the chords is changing the arrangement not changing the song.


Joel Engle: For me it is the original concept. Then the music and melody flows from that.


Rick Founds: For me, every song seems to have its own different origin... sometimes it is born out of just "goofing around" with a chord progression, or perhaps it's inspired from a TV commercial jingle... sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a melody or lyric rumbling around in my head. Some songs are written for a very specific purpose... so and so is looking for a new communion song, and they need it by Wednesday. Some songs just "arrive" complete in one sitting, others are still being "worked on" even after a number of years.


Jamie Harvill: I usually start with an idea, title or hook. It seems that the lyric, melody and chords come simultaneously. I mostly labor over lyrics. I also work hard to smooth out the melody so It can be sung with ease. Some words don’t sing well so I make changes to that effect. I am a producer so I can hear a song in its final form very early in the writing process. I like to get a demo going as soon as I know the song structure.


Scott Reed: For me, I tend to start with a lyrical idea. Maybe something from scripture or a phrase I’ve been thinking about. From there, I go to melody and chord progression... Get settled on something I like, then work in the lyric to fit that. That’s probably what I do 90% of the time.


Steve Rice: The starting point to writing a good worship song is ...Worship.


Is there a point where the creativity of the lyric or musical arrangement becomes distracting to worship and when do you know if you've crossed that line?


Rick Cua: When your audience has that “deer in the headlights” look on their faces you may have gone too far.


Brian Doerksen:You simply need to take risks and assess what they do to your heart . .and what they seem to do in your congregational setting. As creative people we need to keep on creating .. but we also need to keep on serving and check in with our people to make sure our acts of creativity are still serving others and not just self-serving.


Joel Engle: I think when it becomes too hard to sing or really complicated to play you are limiting your audience. However, there are exceptions to every rule. You probably have crossed the line if the audience isn't singing.


Rick Founds: When writing and leading music for worship, I believe that it is
important to keep the song's purpose clearly in front of you at all times. What might be perfect for one song, may be wrong for another. For instance, let's say you're doing a song that extols the amazing qualities and intricacies of God's creation, and the use of every instrument and production tool available, serves to help paint the picture of what the lyrics are proclaiming. At the other end of the spectrum, all of that elaborate production might totally distract a person from connecting with The Lord during an intimate song of adoration, where just voice and nylon string guitar provide all that is necessary.


Jamie Harvill: Artistic expression is subordinate to the worship song’s intent: to lead people to express their heart to God. I love guitar tones, cool licks, moving drum grooves and poetic lyrical expression. It’s important to start peeling away the excess if it leads to distraction. Also, the opposite can be true. If a song is presented with no thought to creativity, it may quickly lose interest with the audience.


Scott Reed: I think this goes back to one of the previous questions that talks about being “user-friendly”. I think a lot of song-writers try so hard not to do something that’s been done before or try a progression or melody that’s really out of the box just so they don’t get bored. But, what you’ll find is that people respond better to songs they understand, that feel familiar and comfortable. Look at the success of someone like Chris Tomlin... Many of his songs use the same progressions and melody ideas... He’s not afraid of going back to something like that, why? Because it’s effective. It works!
Not to try and get on Holland’s good side, but why does a simple, easy to sing, easy to engage with song like, “Let it Rise” keep getting used and recorded? Because it’s effective. It works!


Steve Rice: Absolutely! The song is a tool that helps us accomplish our goal. As a congregation we can't be distracted with figuring out how to use the tool. A worship song should be simple enough that the average person in the congregation learns it the first time through. And lyrically, the people must "get it" right away when they read it or hear it. If they're trying to determine what the writer meant, or thinking about why the writer chose a certain odd word, then the focus of worship is lost.