How to Pick Great Songs for Worship

Worship Leader Tim Hughes shares some great advice on how to pick proper songs for your worship service, along with some tips on writing great worship music. In an article over at PurposeDriven.com, Tim shares some criteria he looks at when picking songs for worship...

A good way to explore the practice of songwriting is to pull songs apart. When I think I might have finished a song, there is a process I always go through to see if it’s as strong as it could be. There is a series of questions I ask myself to help assess the state of the song. When working through songs, there is a need to be ruthless. A good songwriter should never settle for second best.

Does the song help you worship?
Songs of worship must be formed from a life of worship. And worship always begins with revelation to which we then respond. As we set our sights on God, there will be much to respond to. This has to be the ultimate place of inspiration. Looking through the Psalms, God is described and responded to in many ways. The poetry is heartfelt and vivid, and the songs have remained with us for thousands of years. Why is this? Is it because David and the boys knew how to pull a few heart strings and write some great songs? Did they know what the people wanted to hear? Of course not. They simply responded to what they saw.

After I’ve written a song, I’ll use it in my personal times of worship for a while – usually for at least a couple of months. If the song inspires me to worship and stays feeling fresh for a while, then I start to think that it might work in a church setting. There can be danger in forcing out songs. When we sit down and rely on our own expertise and skill to write a new worship song, we go through all the right motions, but our hearts become disconnected from the process. More than well-written songs, the Church needs Holy Spirit-inspired songs that release people to worship. These songs will only come from a hidden life of worship.

Is the song theologically sound?
These are exciting days for songwriters. Songs are ministering to people and being sung all over the world. Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, says that songwriters “have far more ability to impact people than preachers or authors.” We need to realize that a responsibility comes with this. People may sit in church and listen to sermons, but few will remember much of the content. Not many people go through the week reciting the key points from the pastor’s talk. However, some of the songs sung in church stick in people’s minds throughout the week. These song lyrics become deeply entrenched in their minds. Therefore, as songwriters, we have the power and influence to shape people’s image of God.

Imagine that someone visits your church every Sunday morning for a month and only listens to the songs you sing. They don’t hear any preaching, liturgy, or prayers – just the songs. What would the songs say about your church’s theology and beliefs? How would they reflect the God you worship? It’s quite a scary thought.

Are the lyrics original and fresh?
There are so many classic Christian clichés. Sometimes we can be lazy and rely on the same old lyrical phrases for our songs. We bust a gut writing a tune, and then we just want to finish the song, which in the end means that sometimes the final verse suffers. But we need to ensure that the lyrics stay strong throughout the whole song. The challenge is to find fresh and original ways of expressing who God is. When asked what makes a good song, Brian Doerksen, a worship leader and songwriter from Canada, said, “Songs that cross borders – borders of time, denomination, and musical style – and are universal and unique. People respond to them by saying, ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to say to God, but I never thought of saying it that way.’” It’s wonderful when we sing a song or a line that gives a fresh revelation of God. It helps us to see him more fully.

As well as being unique, our songs also need to be universal. A congregational song needs to be one that everyone can sing and mean. A lot of songs come out of personal experiences and are naturally very intimate. If we’re not careful, we end up writing lyrics that mean everything to us, but absolutely nothing to others.

Is the song complete?
It is always worth waiting for a song to be complete before using it in church. It can take a while to finish a song. The song May the Words of My Mouth took me about three years to write from start to finish. I could not find a chorus I was happy with, and at times I wanted to give up. There were a couple of choruses I nearly settled for, but now I’m so glad I didn’t. Perseverance is important in songwriting, and if you’re not 100 percent sure that the song is complete, then wait.

When evaluating a song, you need to go through each section (verse, bridge, and chorus) and each line to see if the song is a strong as it could be. If a line isn’t working, either scrap it or craft it until it fits well. Also ask yourself whether all the sections are in the right place. It could be that you’ve written a verse, a bridge, and then a chorus. Maybe the song doesn’t need the bridge. Would it work better with the verse leading straight into the chorus? You could always use the bridge as a tag section at the end. Perhaps you have a song with a verse and a chorus. It would be worth trying to write a tag at the end. This can give a song a real climax. When writing I’ll Always Love You, I initially had a verse and a chorus. I played it to a friend who suggested that I write a tag. The tag is now my favorite part of the song.

People often ask me how I know when a song is finished. I think one of the best ways is to ask others. There are three or four people in my life who I always play my songs to. They love me enough to be brutally honest. Although at times I get annoyed when I hear that a song I thought was great needs a lot of work, I’m so thankful for their input. They can point out areas that need work, lyrics that are cheesy, and tunes that are tuneless. The process of rewriting then begins. After I’ve changed things around, we sit down again. We keep doing this until there’s an agreement that the song is finished. Sometimes, as songwriters, we are not the best judge of our songs.

Is the tune singable?
The singability of congregational worship songs is crucial. You can have the most incredible lyrics and structure, but if the melody is difficult to sing, the song won’t catch on. With the tunes we sing, there need to be natural hooks that help people pick up the songs and remember them. The songs also need to be accessible, allowing people to enter into worship.

Most churches aren’t bursting at the seams with professional singers. Some people in church will be tone deaf and others will struggle to hold down a tune. If you fill your songs with falsetto notes or complex melodies, the majority will struggle to sing them. To make sure that my songs are not too difficult to sing, I always run my songs by Mike Pilavachi. To put it kindly, God hasn’t gifted Mike with the greatest voice in the world, but it’s been fantastic to play my songs to him and get his feedback. Usually, we’ll try and sing them together. Often he’ll point out a note or section that feels harder to sing, and most of the time I’ll play around with some different ideas and simplify it. Obviously you don’t want to end up with extremely simple and predictable melodies, but you do need to keep the congregation in mind.

The chorus of a song is particularly important. It’s always a disappointment to hear a song with an amazing verse that promises so much, yet when you get to the chorus it fizzles out. Matt Redman uses a phrase I like: “Don’t bore us – get to the chorus.” A strong, singable chorus can cause the worship to explode into life. I find writing choruses the hardest part of songwriting. You can’t force them out. It’s always important to wait until they are right.

Another consideration is the vocal range of a song. Because I can’t read music, it took me a while to realize that there is a difference between the male and female voice. I couldn’t understand why all the female singers at church complained that all the choruses of my songs were too high. I could sing them easily, so why couldn’t they? I was all set to suggest that they embark on singing lessons. Now I understand some of the differences, I am more mindful of making sure that my songs can be sung by everyone. I have a personal rule that I won’t write a melody with a note that goes above a top E, and I’m trying to discipline myself to keep it below a top D. Most people should be able to hit that note. A chorus will always fall flat if it is too high. People won’t be able to reach the notes and rather than sound like a strangled cat, they probably will give up and not sing. At the other end of the scale, I won’t use a melody that goes below a bottom B-flat. Here again, people are likely to struggle to hit these low notes, and the song may lose its effectiveness.

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This is just part of the article… you can read more of Tim’s thoughts here...

FOR DISCUSSION: What criteria do you use for picking your worship songs?

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This post has been viewed 2097 times and was added on July 12, 2006 by Todd Rhoades.
Filed under: Ministry-Specific Help  Worship  
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My name is Todd Rhoades, the 'behind the scenes' guy here at MMI. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the developer of a of a website called ChurchStaffing.com. I hope you'll enjoy your time here and tell all your colleagues about MMI!

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