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Christian songwriting - the singer songwriter
It
is important to develope your songwriting skills. Songwriting is a
craft that can be learned like any other. There can be no substitute
for the skill of a writer using the basic tools of songwriting - things
like melodic shape, variety versus repetition, structure, the craft of
lyric writing, harmonic interest, making sure the song has a "hook"
etc- all these things are important and can and should be developed
over time.
"Making His praise glorious" means we must be masters of our craft.
There is no room for "good enough for gospel" here.
I
believe we should be doing everything with excellence, and I have
included some links to assist the aspiring songwriter to gaining access
to some of the necessary tools for developing their craft in this way.
We
are entering a new era of christian songwriting that cannot be so
easily taught or acquired - it is the prophetic dimension. For
examples of this style of songwriting go to The Secret Place.
Ray Watson
Yours in the joy of songwriting
Related Resources
This
is one great site for a songwriter! - resources, links, inspiration.
You have to dig around a bit because there is just so much here, but
honestly, it's worth your time.
If
you would like to write a song and need information about rhyming,
writing, lyric form and structure, how to get published, recording,
melody, a rhyme dictionary, how to make and sell your own CD's,
typical songwriter mistakes, songwriting ideas and tips and the music
business the BOOKS are listed here. Alot of the other links don't work
or are out of date so I found this a bit disappointing, but a good
selection of BOOKS are listed here for you to buy.
Here are the categories
Stategies
for success - We all need inspiration from time to time or we are are
tempted to give up! Here is a portion of an article written by Sara
Light at the "Craft of songwriting website." Recommended
"Take
Chances - I've heard it said that it's better to take a risk and fail,
then fail to take a risk. In an industry as competitive as this one, we
cannot afford to let our fears of failure hold us back. To "take a
chance" means something different for everyone. We all have different
strengths and weaknesses and different "comfort zones." What might feel
like a risk to one person might be a piece of cake to another. But, as
my favorite T-shirt says, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
I've been told that Jodee Messina walked right up to the head of Curb
Records, Mike Curb, and told him that he needed a redhead on the label.
If she hadn't done that, who knows if today she'd have three number one
singles and a platinum album. So keep in mind that if you're not
writing a song today, someone else is. If you're not calling a certain
publisher, someone else is. If you're not booking a gig - well, you get
the point. If we never step outside of what feels comfortable to us we
can't learn the skills we need to succeed. We must be willing to accept
possible rejection or failure and keep going in spite of it. A good
example of this kind of perspective and persistence is exemplified by
what Thomas Edison said to his wife while watching his laboratory burn
down - that's a good way to get rid of all those mistakes I was making
in there.
You've
already taken a huge step, just by allowing yourself to pursue your
dream. It's not always an easy thing to do, but don't let yourself give
up too easily. You can do it!" Sarah Light
free songwriting software
songwriting workshop
christian artist looking for songwriters
international christian songwriters
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