With my song I will praise Him

1
With my song I will praise Him

• Sam Dando
• Sydney Conference
• October 2008

2

• Have you ever wanted to write a spiritual song or
  hymn?
• And maybe have it recorded by a famous singer?
• Maybe it could even hit the "top ten" chart of
  worship songs?
• If you have an idea for a song, you might as well
  write it down and organise it into a song. There
  is no set way to write the lyrics to a song, but
  there are a few basics that you will need to know
  in order to reach your goal of writing meaningful
  songs.
• In this session, you will experiment with
  organising your own personal thoughts and turning
  them into song lyrics.

3

• Something moves us
• to become
• the stenographers
• of our hearts.

4
Themes

• Kingdom ideals future and now
• Our mission extending Christlife
• God and his character
• Lament our failings and then us as better people

5

• In writing Christian music, lyrics have to
  bethe heartbeat of the song.
• After all, it is the lyrics that primarily
  distinguish
• Christian music from secular music.
• It's not the only mark of distinction, but it is
  the most important.
• Hymn Examples

6
LANGUAGE

• Outmoded vocabulary intelligible?
• Use proper syntax and avoid confusion.
• Look at the next three hymns for examples of
  dreadful vocabulary and sentence construction.
• Are the ideas understandable?
• Avoid gratuitous Biblical language
• Think about sensitivity
• Be poets!
• Hymn Examples (from the Green Book) 20, 26, 40

7
WRITING

• Decide who will be the audience.
• Subject /message / Chorus
• Title, usually from the chorus
• verse(s)
• V1
• V2
• V3
• V4
• Lines which rhyme (alternate rhyme lines 2 4
  rhyming couplets increase the pace)
• Avoid making it too long
• Next three hymns are conventional but
  well-developed in thought and expression.
• Hymns 76, 83, 123 from the Green Book

8
FIVE ELEMENTS

• HOOK
• SLANT
• CHORUS
• VERSES
• BRIDGE