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Water - Dissertations - Songwriting - Part 9Living
Water - Dissertations - Songwriting - Part 9|
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"Variety is the spice of life." This is especially true with respect to songwriting because of the need to retain the audience's interest, and it's even more important in Christian music because of the potential impact of the message of salvation.
There are two sides to this issue. The first is that most people won't listen to music in just one style. The other is that for each person there are style which are relatively unpalatable. I can listen to [i.e. tolerate] one or two country-western songs in a row, but I'll change the station if the third one starts immediately after that; this isn't one of my favorite musical styles.<F1> On the other hand, I can enjoy jazz/fusion jazz for an almost indefinite period of time, and can leave my radio at that place on the dial - that is, at least until the DJ decides to play a style which I don't prefer. Bear in mind, however, that I'm not trying to discredit any particular musical styles: I'm just saying that they're not on my personal preference list.
I suspect that most of you are this way. If you scan your tape/CD collection, you'll probably find a variety of styles. Your own taste in music (or anything else) usually moves you to explore more than one aspect of the field because it's interesting, and, even more importantly, fun.
When we apply this to songwriting, it means that we need to experiment to develop new ways of communicating our message. You can look at this in the past tense and in the future tense - the present tense is the here and now in which you're writing your music; it's work in progress.
The past tense consists of looking back to pieces you've already finished for the purpose of determining what worked and what didn't. By this I mean that there may have been some aspects of a previous composition which had a favorable impact on the audience, and that there also may have been some which didn't.
An example is Alison's song, "Walk Beside Me."<F2> Personally, I think that the baritone horn solo worked extremely well under Mike Lyon's expertise. The vocals and piano also meshed together very nicely, and when they were combined with the baritone countermelody at the end, the effect was wonderful. I wouldn't mind writing another song with that sort of arranging, perhaps three or four years in the future.
There, however, were a couple of things which I felt didn't work all that well. A couple of lyric lines sounded a little strange (for instance, "Hello, my friend, how are you?"). The conversational approach was more curious than effective, or so I thought, and I don't know if I'll try it again.
A special case was the word transient." I admit to having a fairly strong vocabulary, and the word just poured its way out of my pen as I was working on the text to this song. However, it turned out that a lot of people in the choir didn't know what it meant, much less how to pronounce it. I suppose I was walking the fine separating comprehension and misunderstanding on this one. Consequently, I probably will be trying to make my song texts more understandable. But understand this: I believe that, as a songwriter, it's my responsibility to educate and to challenge the listener to some degree; I just don't know what degree that is.
Overall, though, "Walk Beside Me" went over very, very well. I heard lots and lots of very positive comments about it. Someone even told one of the choir members that we should sing the song again in the future! So, in spite of the few things that bothered me, I guess the Lord used this song as a very nice ministry tool.
As you write your music, I'd suggest that you deliberately try to infuse variety into what you compose. Play around with all of the aspects of the piece:
Once you get rolling and have written a few pieces, it's important to take a retrospective look now and then. You should do this to detect your compositional tendencies - for the purpose of breaking patterns! Check for habits / personality traits in your lyrics, your melodies, and your harmonies, as well as your voicings (how the vocals are arranged) and your accompaniments. Dave Ruder (Annette's dad) has told me more than once about how much he dreads looking through music by certain composers because they almost always use the same compositional devices (try eating the same chicken recipe three times a day for a couple of months and you'll see what I mean). You can decrease others' appreciation of your work by doing this to them; these particular composers are cases in point.
I find that my lyrics include words such as "forever," "all," and "every" fairly frequently. I've also found that I like to start melodies on the third tone of the scale (E in C major), and that I like bass lines which walk down the scale. Being a pianist, I tend to put fewer rests than I should in my music; and because I seem to have too much to say at times, my lyrics lean toward the long/complex side.
Having observed these compositional idiosyncrasies, I've tried to write music which changes one or more aspects. I recommend the same for you if you get into composing enough to detect your own predilections. Bear in mind, though, that this occasionally becomes a rather schizophrenic experience because, after all, you'll be composing effectively by trying to change your personality. I suspect that doing this can teach you a lot about yourself!
One more thing: Be aware of where the "appreciation envelope" is in terms of your audience. The purpose of writing music is to glorify God, and in order to do that the congregation listening to your songs has to appreciate or, as a minimum, tolerate the songs they hear. It's okay to "push the edge" once in awhile, but incessant envelope-stretching tends to be hard on your effectiveness as a minister in Christ's church. Keep the goal of ministry in mind even as you build the tools used in that ministry!