How to Write a Song - Part 2 - Poetry

Poetry can take many, many forms. Instead of listing and explaining them all here, I'm going to link you to a great resource on poetry and the mechanics of poetry.

But before I do that, take a minute to read this article about the key differences between straight poetry and song lyrics. The author contends that song lyrics are not true poetry, and to some extent he is right. Popular song lyrics have become overly simplistic and un-thought inspiring as the 21st century has rolled along. I am hoping this will change for the better (and sooner than later would be great!). To be fair, there are some fantastic singer-songwriters out there who are writing thoughtful, inspired lyrics. They just aren't in Spotify's Top 50, which is too bad.

https://bostonreview.net/forum/poetry-brink/difference-between-poetry-and-song-lyrics

Even if Poetry and Song lyrics aren't exactly the same thing, songwriters can learn a lot from understanding how poetry works. I will save you hours of looking around and researching and point you to one of the best websites I have found on poetry writing. The following resources come from www.powerpoetry.org. It's a great site, and a HUGE site. Take a day and explore it; take up the challenges presented in the articles. Write some poems! Who cares if they're "good". Part of the thing about writing is that you are going to need to get used to working through several crappy first drafts before you finally create an acceptable version you feel is worth publishing. I've left songs for years because I wasn't happy with them. But then in a sudden flash, I would change two words and presto! The song is done. 

Anyway, I digress. Here's the resource.

Getting started: http://www.powerpoetry.org/resource/how-to-create-poem

The Ballad: http://www.powerpoetry.org/content/tips-writing-ballad-poem

Free Verse:  http://www.powerpoetry.org/actions/5-tips-writing-free-verse-poem

Sonnets: http://www.powerpoetry.org/resources/write-sonnet-poetry

And so, so, so much more!

When you are writing poems that will be put to music, remember that you can completely mess with the style of poetry you are choosing to write. You may write a sonnet that only conforms to some of the rules, or a ballad that has an extra line. In the end, just aim to do what works.

Next, we will talk about rhyming.

Why I Don't Sing at Church Very Often

I love to sing. And I love to make music. But I don't always love to sing at church, and I don't particularly enjoy making music for church. More to the point, I often feel frustrated and annoyed by Church music.

As a musician, I think that Music needs to be authentic and real. There are plenty of Christian musicians who have made it to the big times and are recording formulaic music that sells millions of copies. They sound great, they ARE fantastic musicians, and they are writing songs that are hugely popular. And that's ok. But we live in a time where writing and recording music is easier than ever, and the sound systems in the vast majority of evangelical churches is more than adequate to support a creative community of musical and technical artists. And yet - it doesn't. Instead, we in the Evangelical community of faith settle for homogeneous cover bands and a haphazard approach to media creation and sound design, because 'it works'.

And to a great extent, it's awesome to cover songs of those who are tapping into universals of the human experience when it comes to music - including universal worship experiences. And it's great to allow any johnny or sally to run the sound board. But at the same time, every church has it's own unique and important experiences to bring to the table regarding worship, and striving for excellence in the area of worship can seriously add some weight to the collective experience of the local church. We all experience God in unique ways, and each church has a unique "Kingdom of God" finger print.

Why aren't we allowing our artists, poets and musicians to actively bring that to the table? Why aren't we creating space for the rebels, the doubters and the non-conformists to speak life into our worship services?

A lot of modern worship music has grown on me ... but ... we're at the over-saturation point. to paraphrase Marshal McLhuan, any time you over-extend media the opposite of it's intended effect will unfold. With music, there is a threshold - it's hard to nail down but it's there regardless of the style - where before the threshold you still love the songs and the sounds, but once you cross the threshold you are over-saturated and the love turns to mild disdain and eventually to "I can't stand to hear this anymore". The intended effects wears off and you are left with the opposite of what was intended.

I've reached this point with Christian worship music. It all sounds the same - it's all mid-tempo - it  talks about the same things (there seems to be minimal poetic risk taken), and there is thus little to grab onto. I feel basically the same way about radio pop music. There's only so much of "Oh baby I want your body" type of poetry that one can handle. I can handle exactly zero of it. So at least Worship music isn't alone.

Church music therefore tends to throw a wet blanket on me, no matter how enthusiastically I want to press in. Occasionally, I will stumble across a worship team that is so utterly committed to the songs they are singing that I can't help but be drawn in. This is the exception, and from my experience it's a rare exception.

In summary:

1) Church music most often isn't a reflection of the actual church community, but rather a reflection of top 40 church/pop music, which is just what is popular. It fails to honor the uniqueness of each church body.

2) The music is homogeneous, and often focuses on one of three themes -- that God is great, that I used to be caught in sin but now am set free, or the fact that we are worshiping God right now.

3) There is no room for doubt, pain, suffering or loss in modern worship. In a medium that by nature could help us experience the entire range of human emotions in connection with God, we only allow it to basically focus on two: joy and conviction.

By: Ryan McGuire

This article originally appeared at https://thinktheos.blogspot.ca/2016/09/why-i-dont-sing-at-church-very-often.html 

How to Write a Song - Part 1 - Getting Started

One of the under-mentioned parts of the business of self-producing music is the tricky area of how to write a song. More importantly, how to write a good song.

There are several things that go into making a song "good". We can start by asking some basic questions.

1. What style of music do you want to write? Here is a list from Wikipedia
2. Do you know anything about songwriting? If the answer is "Heck, No" - don't worry. We'll dig into that later on.

That's it! Once you have picked a style, listen to some bands from that style to get a feel for what kind of music you are going to be writing. Of course, don't copy their stuff! But keep the "feel" of the style of music in mind. notice the drum beats, the sound and types of instruments being used, and the kind of singing you hear (rhaspy, growling, whiney, whispery, commanding etc).

Choose what you want your song to be. Do you want to scream, rap, whisper-sing? Pick one, and then after you've written a few lines, do some experimenting!

But that's not really it. I knew you knew that, because you are smart!

Good

The thing I will say is that "good" is highly subjective, but there are some objective facts that we can nail down to make sure your song is as good as it can be. So I will amend my title from "how to write a song" to "How to write a song you are happy with!". After all, that's the whole point of songwriting (unless you are making big money - in which case, you should be writing this blog not reading it!).

Even if your songs never go anywhere, you need to be proud of your accomplishment and like it enough to want to release it to the world, which is what I am currently doing with my own music. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't release it. In fact, I have several songs that I don't like enough to want to release ... so I am keeping them hidden for the time being. I will pick away at them until I like what I'm hearing, then I'll release them. There are also some songs that I will never release.

Where to start?

The truth is it doesn't really matter where you start with songwriting. Some people write poetry, then put it to music later. Others start with the music and then try to fit words into the music. Either way, do what works for you, and experiment!

For our purposes here, we will start with poetry. Now, I've got to tell you that there is a lot of nonsense on the internet about how to write lyrics for a song. There is talk about buzzing like bees and "you make me feel so fine" type of silliness. Depending on the song you are writing, those lines might actually work by the way! But what I'm interested in is empowering songwriters to write excellent poetry which they will then put to music.

Poetry

Poetry seem to be nearly every high school kid's least favorite subject. However, it's vital to be at least a decent poet in order to write a good song. Being good at poetry doesn't just mean you can rhyme words. It means you have learned to say a lot using few words. It also means you have learned to describe things using imagery, metaphors, similes and other figurative language. If you paid half attention in your junior and senior English classes, you will already know this. 

As you start to write your song lyrics, there are a couple of  important things to consider.

1. Are you primarily left-brained or right-brained? You can take a little test to see: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3178

If you are more right-brained, try things like writing in a coffee shop where there is some background noise, or out in nature. The noise in the background might become white noise and can help you focus. Or it won't. Experiment to see what works! If you are left-brained, chances are you will want to have whatever writing space you use as neat and tidy as possible before you start. If you are very left-brained, you might be tempted to clean the house first - in which case, try heading out to your favourite quiet spot in nature, out to the back deck or to a nice park and put on some noise cancelling headphones - just for the silence they provide. Again, experiment and see what works. I lean toward the right-side of my brain, and when I write I like things to be neat and tidy and quiet (unless I'm writing music and lyrics simultaneously). But I love the sound of the computer fan, which creates white noise.

2. Hopefully you have found a place where you feel comfortable enough to start pouring out your soul. The next thing to consider is what your song will be about. The trick here is to focus on an event, an emotion or a snapshot in time. That's the general rule, but rules can and often should be broken. For example, you can write about 5 years ago and then bring the audience back to the future of today. It's all fair and legal. The key things are to focus on describing instead of telling, and storytelling instead of fact-giving. Most people aren't going to be interested in a series of facts put to music - but then again, some people are interested in that very thing - so ... it's all fair and legal! But if you are wanting your songs to be commercially viable on a wide scale, start by steering your songwriting toward things that are universal of the human experience like love, death, feelings, and especially dilemmas and the dramatic. For comedy writers, zeroing in on the ironic, silly or witty are staples. (think: "If I had a Million Dollars" by Bare Naked Ladies, or "Lunch Lady Land" by Adam Sandler).

Next up, we will talk all things poetry.