Last week we began a new regular (we hope) Friday post: Songwriting tips. Though it will be primarily geared toward worship songwriting, we hope to include tips that any songwriter would benefit from. Here’s Songwriting Tip #2:
The goal of a worship song is to engage the mind and heart with God through God-centered lyrics and creative, singable melodies.
“The tunes that are being written today are very, very engaging tunes. They have a way of awakening the affections. They’re not excessively complex by and large, or intellectual or demanding. But they catch up the emotions and the spirit in their mood. So two things are happening in the best worship songs…. The mind is being brought with God-centered lyrics in an amazing way into engagement with God and the heart stirred by these contemporary tunes is being engaged with tenderness, devotion and enjoyment.” –Frank Griffith, The Role of Singing in the Life and Worship of the Church, Reformation and Revival
As a worship songwriter, my goal is to engage people with God. First and foremost with theological truth. The great challenge is to deliver that truth with a great melody and creative music. Some write great truth but the music does nothing for it; others write great music but lame lyrics.
Let’s shoot for both solid doctrine and stirring music.
How about you? What would you add to these thoughts?
photo by jsome1
Written by Mark Altrogge
Topics: Songwriting