How to Write Music for Christian Songs
Writing Christian songs involves finding the right musical ideas to express lyrical content that appeals to the intended audience. The audience for Christian music is as varied and diverse as the audience for secular music. Christian songs range from old-time gospel to thrash metal and hip-hop. If you want your songs to appeal to youthful listeners, using musical styles that old and dated probably won't succeed. Music is vehicle for sharing a message and it is important to find the appropriate vehicle.
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Instructions
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Seek inspiration in your faith. Musicians and artists rely on their "muse" for inspiration and often speak of the mysterious aspect involved in creating music and art. Many songwriters say that songs "came" to them and they were fortunate to write them down. Christian songwriters often use words from Scripture for inspiration and lyrics.
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Select a musical style. There is much diversity in contemporary Christian music. It covers much of the same musical territory as secular music. In addition to contemporary musical styles like hip-hop and rock, traditional forms of gospel music are still very popular. Songwriters develop musical ideas from listening to and emulating artists they admire.
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Develop a melody or riff that fits the lyrics. Memorable songs depend upon an identifiable melody or a musical riff or theme that gives them structure. Songwriters use different techniques to find the right musical idea for the lyrics. The traditional approach is to develop melodic ideas on a piano. More hard-edge rock songs rely on a strong guitar riff and hip-hop experiments with different beats.
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Write music for the verse and chorus. Songs will typically have at least two parts: verse and chorus. To make the song musically interesting, the verse and chorus must complement each other while being musically different. A song's key determines the chords that are available for its basic building blocks. For example, if the song is in the key of C, the basic chord options are C, D minor, E minor, F, G and G7, A minor, and B diminished. In addition, dominant 7th chords can replace minor chords. Studying musical theory can provide valuable help in songwriting.
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Work out an arrangement for the song. The final stage in songwriting is to tweak and fine-tune the song. This involves writing a introduction and ending as well as working on the internal dynamics. The arrangement determines the song's tempo, overall feel, and sound quality.
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References
- Photo Credit guitar image by Victor M. from Fotolia.com
