Greater Good Of All

Spirituality is a belief, thought or life having a spiritual tendency or tone. It is of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. It is the soul without the physical body. It is a higher understanding of one’s self and connection to God.

Spirituality may or may not have much to do with religion. It depends upon one’s perspective, upbringing and belief system. By definition religion is about God(s) and the worship of such. It is also about rules and consequences of disobeying those rules, largely made up by the patriarchy to “control the masses”.

Throughout history religion has been the cause of many wars and the downfall of many societies. Spirituality is what keeps and guides us in a higher way of being without the dogma, rules and guilt often supplied by religion. Spirituality allows us to go beyond the confines of a religion.

We are fortunate to be living on the Earth at this time because we are all part of “leading edge” spirituality as evidenced in all the information now available to us through a multitude of resources; Hay House Radio and publications, personal web sites, new age music, meditation techniques and an endless number of writings and books on the subject, including the scientific and medical community’s contribution through the discussion and exploration of quantum physics.

Although there are many folk heroes of the American music scene, Woody Guthrie was a true titan among men. He grew up in dire poverty on the Oklahoma prairie and began collecting the regional songs he heard older people performing. This marked the beginning of Guthrie’s legacy as both a songwriter and a musical historian. He kept many traditional songs from dying out completely over time.

In 1940, he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” a song that’s still identified with American civic pride. During his later years, Guthrie focused on writing protest songs in response to the social injustices he perceived in the world around him. He also inspired and mentored the young Bob Dylan. Woody Guthrie will forever be remembered for his ability to capture the spirit of the times in his folk music.

I’ve been fascinated with fine arts from an early age, but beginning in elementary school I started losing interest in school art projects. The teacher was so obviously disinterested, and his assignments lacked any inspiration whatsoever. Sensing this, I turned my attention to my personal computer. Back in the early ’90s, Kid Pix was the holy grail of computer art programs, at least from a child’s perspective. I spent hours at a time sketching and making printable works of art with the software.

I never really stopped experimenting with digital painting, eventually mastering Corel Draw and honing my skills to a high degree. Then a series of online art lessons caught my eye. They were taught by renowned painter Bennecelli, and I came away from the lessons feeling like I had undergone formal training. Art school isn’t practical for everyone; sometimes the online alternative can be just as instructive.

Guitar players tend to dread the moment when their strings become too frayed to create adequate music anymore. In some cases a string will even break, reminding a guitarist that the other five should probably be replaced as well. Begin by loosening the sixth string with a winder until it’s slack. Cut the string up near the tuning peg rather than along the body or the neck; this will prevent damage to the paintwork.

Take a new sixth string and feed its plain end through the bridge. Pull it toward the head of the guitar and through the opening in the tuning peg. Bear in mind that you’ll be turning the peg in order to tune the string, so leave a little slack. Turn the tuner in a manner that winds the string around the post. Bring it into tune and then stretch it a bit before retuning. Trim any excess string that’s sticking out from the peg. Repeat the process with the five other guitar strings.

Certain songwriters take months to write and rewrite the lyrics for an album’s worth of songs. They serve as their own scrupulous editors and critics, and the bar is set very high. Others operate in an entirely different way, improvising their lyrics and even some of the music right on the spot when they get to the recording studio. As a beginner, you should focus on the rehearsed style of writing.

Listen to a few of your favorite pop songs over and over, dissecting the parts that make them tuneful. Are there multiple-part harmonies, guitar solos or obscure instrumentation? Does the song sound “produced” or sonically sparse? These are the questioned that should be asked by a beginner songwriting for the first time. Don’t be afraid to use music production software, but don’t rely on a computer to come up with the ideas for you.

If you’re looking to learn a skill that is entertaining, soothing, and expands your mind, you can learn to play guitar. Learning to play guitar stimulates your mind and encourages you to come up with new songs, fostering endless creativity. All you really need is a guitar and a way to learn. You can try to teach yourself, but you’ll learn much more quickly and efficiently if you use one of the following methods.

A guitar teacher is the best way for many people to learn to play guitar. A trained teacher has an organized way to teach the skill, and they can help you avoid bad playing habits before they form. You can also have a friend or family member teach you, and this is even more beneficial if they have learned from a teacher or if they have taught before. You can also learn from guitar books or guitar instructions online, but you really need to focus on this self-driven method. You also lack the advantage of getting personalized feedback and correction from a real person. The final method is to learn from a DVD, which can almost be like having a real teacher with you, without the real-time mistake correction. This is a great option for those who are visual learners.

Founded in 1974, Taylor Guitars is a California-based company that makes extremely high-quality guitars and guitar cases. It specializes in hollow-body acoustic guitars and semi-hollow and solid body electric guitars. While Taylor guitars are not inexpensive, they are high quality and will serve you well for a long time. Many famous musicians play Taylor guitars, like Taylor Swift, Dave Matthews and Jackson Browne.

A Taylor acoustic guitar was even in the news recently, due to the breakout popularity of the YouTube video “United Breaks Guitars.” Canadian musician Dave Carroll was travelling with his band on United Airlines when he witnessed his $3,500 Taylor guitar being thrown by baggage handlers. It was broken, and United would not compensate Carroll after a year of his requests. Finally, he wrote the song “United Breaks Guitars” and filmed a YouTube video to go along with it, which finally prompted United to get in touch with Carroll. United even asked Carroll for permission to use his video to train baggage handlers, so other musicians’ Taylor guitars may be able to survive the journey!

THIRD STEP – Melody

It is my estimation that at best only about 10 percent of a congregation has an enhanced skill of music. So keep the melody simple and repetitive even if it may be boring to you. Target the understanding level of the masses. Here are some basic rules for effective congregational song writing (that I reserve the right to break. LOL)

1. I don’t use anything faster than an eighth note in the melody.

2. I keep the jumps between notes to no more than a third step.

3. I keep the melody within an octave range.

4. Use established chord progressions. For example a I, IV, V, I  or II-minor, V, I, VI-minor. There are other chord patterns to employ. Just make sure to use one that can easily be anticipated.

If after creating a melody, I have something outside these rules, I try to change it to fit the objective of making it congregation friendly…Karen Drucker is a master of writing repetitive phrases. She is a good case study for anyone who wants to improve their congregational song writing. Just notice how repetitive her phrases are and simple her chord structure is. It works!!

CONCLUSION

Understand that the steps above may come to you in a different order and that is okay. There are no absolutes to songwriting. These are only general rules but ones I have found useful that hopefully you can employ to write more effective songs for worship.

Happy Songwriting!

Chris Foster

FIRST STEP – Song Subject

The subject of a song is determined a number of ways. The aforementioned picking the minister’s brain or reading something are two good ways. Gather your lyrics about the subject and craft them into a predictable rhyming pattern. For those who have trouble crafting lyrics, here is a technique I have used on a number of songs:

Write down all thoughts that you associate with a chosen subject. Don’t worry about rhyming anything at this point.

Example: “Volunteering” is my subject.

As I am writing this I am randomly capturing thoughts that I think of when I think of volunteering. So here are my random thoughts. Friends, Community, serving others, meals on wheels,  4H club, YMCA, Boys Club, Adopt a Tree, Adopt a Road, Litter Prevention, Parks and Rec. department. This is a random strain of thoughts that I can now further the idea of what volunteering means to me. Come up with a half a page or so of thoughts before you try to find a story in your thoughts and try to rhyme anything. As I review my thoughts above, I see I have listed 3 Civic organizations in my thought strain. My next step would be to take the list of thoughts and look for words that rhyme and then in turn find ways to fit them into a predictable rhyming scheme. So what can I do with my limited example above?

Friend serving others

Sisters and brothers

Notice sisters and brothers wasn’t in the thought strain. As you start to piece your thoughts together, other thoughts will arise. Feel free to use them.

The subject of the song and/or lyrics can directly influence the rhythmic feel of the song. If we are talking about overcoming something or triumphing over something I will normally use an upbeat tempo and/or have it build to a climactic end. If it is about personal discovery or seeking to understand a situation (i.e, holocaust, war or societal conditions) I generally keep the feel of the song more subdued.

SECOND STEP- Rhythm

Establishing a repeating rhythmic pattern is essential to making a song catchy. For example, if you hear a song with a Bo Diddley feel, it would only take a brief moment to catch onto the beat. Even the severest rhythmically-challenged people (your congregation) can get a Bo Diddley song in short order. Sooooo with that said…Develop a solid rhythm and don’t waiver from it. If you change the beat, it can cause confusion to the less musical.

Stay tuned to part 3 for further songwriting tips.

Before the computer age, upstart songwriters had it tough. Options for laying their music down on tape were extremely limited. They had to scrimp and save just to afford some studio time to lay down a few tracks. Alternatively they could utilize a four-track recorder to capture their work in grainy low fidelity. The rise of songwriting software programs has turned that entire paradigm on its ear.

These days, songwriters can record professional-quality material from the comfort of their own home. But recording isn’t quite the right word. They can tweak their sonic creations to a tremendous degree, making them sound as sparse or layered as desired. Such software programs make the life of a struggling musician a bit easier; the only thing they can’t do is guarantee a big record deal.