I’ve written a good deal of music, and most of it is pretty cliche.  I’d like to think that my current batch of songs is thoughtful and unique, but it may be that within ten years I’ll think this stuff is silly as well.  When writing worship songs especially, it is important that we not fall into the pattern of constructing songs based solely upon what we know works.  It seems that we as songwriters take a mental and creative break when writing the majority of worship music, so I’ve constructed a list that might prove helpful in keeping the creative process vital and exciting.

10.Avoid use of the lyrics “here for you/me” or “there for you/us.”
Can you count the number times you have heard these phrases?  To me, these lines beg the question, “where is here?”  Often, you’ll hear these lines as filler to finish off a rhyming couplet.  Try to be more specific.  If you want to say that Jesus is concerned for you in your trouble, find a way to say exactly that; don’t be vague!

9.Avoid awkward melodies.
Think about the melodies that you are creating.  If you want to hear the congregation sing along with the music, you can’t use confusing or overly complex melodies.  Keep the lyrics simple, but more than that, keep the melodic line simple.  Your melodic lines should not have jumps larger than a fourth (an occasional interval of a sixth can be nice, specifically for the chorus), because it becomes very difficult to sing melodic lines with awkward jumping around.

7.Avoid simply writing the verses of the song just to get to the chorus.
Often, the verses of a song contain more meaning than the soaring chorus, because typically verses have more words than the chorus.  Lately, I’ve noticed that a lot of new songs seem to just drone along during the verses without saying much of anything until the song arrives at the chorus.

6.Avoid “topical” songwriting.
In seminary, ministerial students learn that there are two basic types of preaching: expository preaching, which involves simply taking a passage from the scripture and focusing the sermon on what the passage is saying, and topical preaching, which involves teaching a concept by compiling a lot of scriptural passages that seem to prove a point.  Both of these approaches are valid, however when one is writing worship music, I’ve found that the most meaningful songs (Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is our God,” for example) are based upon a single passage of Scripture.   When I try to write songs topically, I often write music that lacks the timeless quality which Scriptural songwriting possesses. 

5.Avoid worshipping yourself.
Remember, when you are writing worship music, your primary goal is exalt and uplift the name of God.  It is important that your songs do not dwell too much on how God makes you feel, or what he does for you; the most effective songs praise God for who He is.  I am not saying that a discussion of feeling is never appropriate material for a worship music, but we must be careful that we spend the majority of our time praising the Author of our feelings rather than our feelings themselves.

4.Avoid writing the guitar or piano riff before you have a concrete idea of the melody of the song. The absolute worst worship songs I have written have fantastic guitar parts.   When I start by writing a really great guitar riff, I find that I limit the vocal melody I am trying to write.  Start with a great vocal line first, and the guitar part will follow, I promise.

3.Avoid songwriting “because you have to.”
Sometimes, a great song comes from forcing oneself to write, but more often than not, songs produced through a strict regimen lack the beauty and originality that songs that flow from the natural course of life possess.  If you’ll listen to your favorite worship artist talk about where his songs come from, you’ll often hear the phrase, “I was just sitting around one day…”  It seems that with songwriting, as with many things in life, the harder you try, the more elusive originality becomes.

2.Avoid getting stuck into one stylistic mold.
Listen and learn from every musical style that you can get your hands on!  We all have musical preferences, but we must continue to listen to music out of our normal comfort/preference zone.  Some of my most interesting melodic and lyrical ideas came from listening to artists that I didn’t care for. 

1.Avoid writing music when you there is something between you and the One you are worshipping.
Sin, anger, and hurt feelings toward your King must be addressed before you can expect to honestly write music that magnifies Him.  Let me encourage you to take a spiritual inventory of yourself as you write your music.  He is the most powerful Source believers have for creativity, and without Him, we can’t hope to worship as we were meant to.

Some of these guidelines can be bent, and there are great songs and songwriters that break almost every one of these tenets.  I guarantee, however, if you’ll try to follow these guidelines during songwriting, you’ll find a freshness in your songs that perhaps you’ve been missing.  There’s a great interview with Brian Doerksen over at Christianity Today that deals with some of things, and I find his insights valuable as I think about creating music for worship.

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