Inspiration: Getting Started
Hello all you songwriters! Written any new songs lately? I hope so!
Possibly the most difficult part of writing a song is starting. It's one thing to want to write a song, but it's another to actually sit down and write it. So, how do you start? How do you know what to write about? What's the process for writing a song? Where do you get inspiration?
Inspiration can come a variety of places. I have found that one of the best place to write a song (at least a praise and worship song) is in my personal time with God. I often pick up my guitar and sing songs that help me enter into the presence of God. They may be songs I sing at church, or original works, but I have found that when I do, songs sometimes just come to me. When you get into God's presence, a natural reaction is to sing. The songs that come at these times are usually simple, and not very "polished" or finished-sounding. New songs rarely are.
Also, the Bible is a great inspiration for songs--and scripture songs are second only to praise in worship in their spiritual value. There is a huge volume of material that can be made into songs in the Bible--from the Psalms for praise and worship, to the New Testament revelation of the life of the believer. You may not find it all in one place (a concordance is very helpful), or it may all come from one verse, or be based on part of a verse. As a Christian, God's Word will be revealed to you and you can share what you have learned in your music.
Another source of musical inspiration is at church. Pay attention to what is being said and take notes--and mark what sticks out to you. One of my songs, "Alive," was written from an offhand comment made by a woman of God in our church before the service. She simply said "It's a great time to be alive," in reference to living in the last days. That phrase struck me and I wrote it down, and later I wrote a song using that phrase. I also wrote a song called "Sing Forever" that was based on a word (one of the spiritual gifts) that was given one night.
Tim Heider
Am I helping anyone? Got any songs or song ideas you would like to tell me about? Leave a comment--please!
Possibly the most difficult part of writing a song is starting. It's one thing to want to write a song, but it's another to actually sit down and write it. So, how do you start? How do you know what to write about? What's the process for writing a song? Where do you get inspiration?
Inspiration can come a variety of places. I have found that one of the best place to write a song (at least a praise and worship song) is in my personal time with God. I often pick up my guitar and sing songs that help me enter into the presence of God. They may be songs I sing at church, or original works, but I have found that when I do, songs sometimes just come to me. When you get into God's presence, a natural reaction is to sing. The songs that come at these times are usually simple, and not very "polished" or finished-sounding. New songs rarely are.
Also, the Bible is a great inspiration for songs--and scripture songs are second only to praise in worship in their spiritual value. There is a huge volume of material that can be made into songs in the Bible--from the Psalms for praise and worship, to the New Testament revelation of the life of the believer. You may not find it all in one place (a concordance is very helpful), or it may all come from one verse, or be based on part of a verse. As a Christian, God's Word will be revealed to you and you can share what you have learned in your music.
Another source of musical inspiration is at church. Pay attention to what is being said and take notes--and mark what sticks out to you. One of my songs, "Alive," was written from an offhand comment made by a woman of God in our church before the service. She simply said "It's a great time to be alive," in reference to living in the last days. That phrase struck me and I wrote it down, and later I wrote a song using that phrase. I also wrote a song called "Sing Forever" that was based on a word (one of the spiritual gifts) that was given one night.
It does take some time and effort to write a good, polished song, and it takes practice. Don't expect your very first song to be a huge hit or anywhere close to perfect. Only two or three songs that I have written came all at once and stayed pretty much unchanged. Most songs take anywhere from a few days to a few months to refine. Maybe I'll write some more about that next time.
Until then,
Keep on Singing!
Tim Heider
Am I helping anyone? Got any songs or song ideas you would like to tell me about? Leave a comment--please!
posted by Tim Heider at 7:35 PM
81 Comments:
Great stuff! I would have to say "ditto" to all. Don't tell our pastor this, but lately I've scratched a few lines of a new song in my notebook as he was preaching - lest I forget, you know?
Well, since your comment was posted, let's hope Pastor Loper doesn't read this blog!
you already know about my songs! i think? you're helping the masses Tim, helping the masses. have you thought any more on my magazine/newsletter idea?
Nope, no more magazine ideas yet...
A magazine takes lots of work, but it's a great idea. What would you call it if you had the choice?
Hmmmm....Kris, how about "Seagulls and Biscuits?" Just kidding. Or maybe "Spiritual Casserole." Well, OK, maybe we've got a long way to go on the title.
'Casserole' would be a good title, I think. With the right font it would look good and I think it would describe the content fairly well. Seagulls and Bisquits could be the title of a series of articles in the magazine actually, Tim! Yes.
Umm, no. Forget I wrote anything about a title.
Wouldn't go for casserole. If we're going for a "mixed" title, how about something like "Eclectic" or something?
No, we've gone too far to turn back now. It is forever 'Casserole'.
Umm, can I get a second opinion on that opinion?(Don't answer that!)I'm not sure how "Eclectic" would work either. Some synonymous titles could be "Eccentric", "Offbeat", or "The Symposium." Just exactly what are we putting in this magazine?
I was assuming the content would be articles similar to what we're doing now. And it WONT'T be casserole, or I won't put any of my ingredients in it!
stuff on music, faith, healing, food (yeah, food!), encouraging stuff....lots! There is alot to write about, Tim.
Ok, so what ties it all together? I don't think we would have an effective magazine if we published just a lot of stuff. We need to have a definite purpose. What's our audience going to be? Teens? Young adults? General church-goers? That will decide in a big way what we write and how we write.
I like the idea of being geared toward young adults/teens. They would be attracted to stuff on music, the stuff I write, and spiritual growth stuff - if it's presented in the right way.
Oh, and by the way, forgive my mispelling of "won't" in my last comment. Quite shameful.
yeah i agree with christa - i think it should be geared towards the young adult/teen age. aside from ourselves being in the young adult category, a large percentage of the population is under the age of 25, so it would appeal to a large group of people.
Yeah, I agree with both of you. We'll just have to be carefull that our writing style is something young people will want to read. I don't think my blog writing would really interest most young people, though.
i don't know what kind of writing style i have....you should tell me. I think Christa's writing would appeal to the ladies
Tim, you could gear your music writing to music reviews and exhortations on what's good to listen to and what's not. Spiritually speaking, that is. Kris, you have a very formal, eloquent writing style that's geared toward adults. All both of you would have to do is simplify your sentences and wording, and use lingo that's geared toward the audience (that's what I'm working on). Young people like straight and to the point breivity, too. It's always helpful to check out other mags to see what they do. That's all I've got to say on the subject . . . (No comments, please!)
I've got some ideas now of stuff I could write about. The only thing is--three people can't write a very good magazine. Eventually we're going to have to bring in some other contributors. For now, we might be better off having a free newsletter, kind of like the Nike Report.
Our young adults would probably appreciate that. The NIKE report seems so ancient! Hey, maybe we could advertise our blogs!
ooooooooooooooo - blog advertisement.......oooo....
Really, the NIKE report isn't that old. The last issue was, I think, in 2002.
Anyway, I think a one-page newsletter would be more managable at this time. Eventually we could turn it into a full-blown magazine with paid subscriptions. (Yes,paid. A magazine doesn't pay for itself).
Ah, gee, it doesn't?! (Kris, don't get so excited!) I still have my copies of the NIKE report. My pic and several of my articles are in them.
excitement is healthy! i guess a newsletter could work, but a magazine just sounds so good. I agree with the paid subscription part. :)
Yeah, a magazine sounds good, but I don't think we would be able to pull it off right now. Gotta start small.
Whoever proves himself faithful with little can be entrusted with much. I do however, think we could - with a little creativity - do a little better than the NIKE. (I don't think ya'll will have a problem with the creativity part)
I agree...on both counts. Maybe we could update the format so it looks less like a news letter and more like...something else. By the way, why was it called the NIKE report?
NIKE is a Greek word that means something significant to a Christian - but I can't remember what it is. Could look it up in the concordance.
I'm pretty sure Nike was a greek god. Hmmm. I'll look it up in Strong's.
Ok, here it is:
Nike: (Strong's 3529)pronounced NEE-kay. Conquest, means of success, victory.
Cool.
I knew it was something like that!
Just a thought - a foreign word adds interest to a title. You could put the pronunciation and meaning in smaller letters underneath. Or a saying, for example: NIKE - A Newsletter for Winners. Somethin' like that.
Maybe...but I kinda think it would be better to avoid foreign words. I think it would make the paper sound to academic, like it's for scholars only.
We could call it Agape Magazine: From revelation to revelation
pretty awesome
The "Love Magazine" . . . Hmmm. Or something that has to do withe end times. El Spirito (hee, hee! gotta throw Italian in there somewhere!) or God Fires or Generation End or . . . okay, I'm rambling. (=
GodFire. That's kinda cool. Agape sounds kinda 70ish. Like, the Agape Music company. It also reminds me of the Ichthus festivals in the 70's. If we use a foreign word, it should be one that people are fairly familiar with.
Somethin' with "Generation" in it could sound good, too. How about "Generation Joel"?
Maybe, instead of "Generation X" (which is what our generation is called)it could be "Generation J." Or sometin'
Yeah! I like Genteration Joel and GodFire(s)! It sounds like something young people would be interested in.
And . . . Generation Joel has some nice alliteration to it! (speaking of Poetry)
Kris likes GodFire - Kris doesn't like Generation Joel - Kris doesn't think much about what people had in the 70's
Tim also likes GodFire. What does Christa think. Tim does not know why we are talking in third person.
Christa likes GodFire. Christa thinks we're talking third person because Kris started it. Can Kris, Tim, and Christa believe they actually agreed on something?
OK, let's submit our idea for a title to the board of directors and see what they think...wait, that's us! Well, I guess we have a title for our newsletter/magazine.
Wow! I'm on a Board of Directors!? I feel sssspecial!
You ARE special, sis!
What kind of publication are we going to have? Monthly? Quarterly? Semianually?
Sorry, Kris. I can't publish your last comment...Blogger won't let me. But, you know, you can speak in first person and still say whatever you want.
Gee, thanks! Monthly might be a little much - considering our schedules. Maybe every other month or quarterly. If we went with Quarterly, we'd really have to make it a big deal - lots of variety. Or you know, we could do what they do in S'toon: make a little booklet that's stapled together. Ooo . . .!
Booklet would work. I'd probably go for a bigger size, though. Like using paper that is 8 1/2 by 22 inches. Then you have more room for graphics and the font doesn't have to be so small.
How's this for a title idea:
The title at the top (in big letters with a logo) would be "GodFire". Then, underneath that, in smaller letters, "For the Joel 2 Generation". Cool, yes?
That's cool. I had another idea for the subtitle, but I can't remember what it was persactly. Let ya know if I think of it.
Oh, another thing - GodFire kinda goes along with Pastor Loper's vision of tongues of fire above certain places on the map. Cool, eh?
You know, if we use the booklet format, we could still technically call it a magazine.
True. Especially if we use the bigger pages. And another thing . . . why haven't I seen a comment from you on my last two blog postings? Am I boring you?
We need to do some pricing at Kindos. Black and white shouldn't be too expensive. I think we ought to keep it in house for our first issue - to gauge how it goes over.
Ya. Although we could probably get the copier at church to do double sided printing by putting the partially completed sheets back into the copier. That would save some money. Should I start working on some layout stuff?
Sure. Or do you want to run it by Pastor first? Oh, and by the way, it's Kinko's, not Kindo's. (=
Does it feel like we're missing somebody in this discussion?
Yeah, we should probably run in by Pastor first. I know it't not Kindo's. That was a typo. Kindo's, Kinko's, Kristopher. I can't imagine who could be missing.
I think I'll call my little section, the music review section, "Sound Bytes." How does that sound?...byte....
sounds good, tim - i'm sorry i haven't been involved - partly because i never know when something is being written - but i've been busy and i had to respond to a blog entry and stuff and i've been postponing it because i've been wanting to watch movies instead (hehehe) sorry excuse, i know...but they were good movies! anyway, i'll have a blog up by next month, tim! hehehe...just kidding...2 months! okay, i'll do one soon. everything sounds good, but i would really rather have colored stuff - although black and white might look okay, we'll have to see....yep! Thank you for your time, comrades.
Movies, eh? Hope you don't watch movies instead of write your magazine article. :) I would like color, too, but until we get subscriptions, B&W will have to do. Seriously, doing a magazine will take commitment from all of us. We'll have to decide whether a magazine is something we really want to make time for.
Yes and amen! And I really would hate to start something that's going to peeter out after the first issue . . . unless we just wanted to do it "for fun" once or twice. In that case, I don't think I really want to do it. Doing something "for fun" just to get my name printed is pointless. Too much work involved - I'm up to my ears already! We'll have to discuss this thoroughly before we approach Pastor.
I like "Sound Bytes." Haven't thought of one for myself.
"You're a Princess" would work. I know, I know. It's the same as your blog.
I've been thinking about how much work we would have to put into this magazine and it may not be as much as we think. I'll see if I can break it all down:
If we're doing a quarterly publication (that's every 3 months, rocket scientists), we could set up a time table for everything. Suppose that our articles would be due on the first day of the first month of each quarter. Then, if we have a template set up, where each feature is on the same page each time, we could say that everything has to be formated by, say, the 7th. The rigid template, although kinda boring, would cut down on editing time.
Then, of course, there's all the other features, which would take some time also. We would probably want to assign a few of those to each of us. We could schedule them for maybe the 14th. Then, one night a week we could get together for the printing/copying/stapling and, eventually, mailing. So, probably 2 or 3 weeks for the whole publication. Sound like a plan?
Sounds like a plan. We just got to make sure that we don't "cram" and end up putting something mediocre (I've never spelled that word before!) in.
I was thinking about the purpose of this mag after our talk with Pastor last night. I could be one way of getting the younger generation excited about being in the end times. In fact, I want to do the first cover article, emphasizing what "GodFire" means and how they can be one. What'ya think?
I'd like something similar to my blog name, but slightly altered . . . maybe "Princess Power" or something.
And if that Mr. Molhusen doesn't start conbributing to this discussion a little more, I'M going to take up his article space! And you know I wouldn't have any trouble finding something to write about! Hee, Hee, Hee! (=
no, you can't take my article space - it was my idea! at least i launched the magazine discussion in the first place. and i hope you are all pleased to know that i wrote a new entry on my blog. That's right, i did it! anyway, i think Godfire magazine sounds awesome. i hope you don't set your heart on Princess Power, though. :) That sounds like a great organizing plan, Tim. Why does Miss Heider get to have the first cover article!? just kidding. Glad to contribute to this growing plan.
I've been thinking (a rarity, I know) about the size of the magazine. If we use two 8 1/2 x 22 inch pages folded over into a magazine, that will give us eight 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages to fill. If each of our articles takes up a full page, we will still have 5 pages to fill up. Some of it could be taken up by half-page or even full-page ads, but that's still a lot of filler. What do ya'll think?
The way I look at it, we only have three extra pages to fill. The cover will be the cover (of course) and the back of the last page doesn't really need anything at all (maybe the church logo). We could make the first page on the back of the front cover a table of contents. Plus, we can have really big 1" + margins if we need to.
Shall I write up a proposal to Pastor this week?
Yeah, that would work. I don't know about the big margins, though. I would still like to put side bars on a couple of pages. Maybe put the table of contents, i.e. "In This Issue" as a side bar on the first page.
If we're going to have a blank page at the end, we may want to make the first page a cover by itself, which would require cover art.
If we need it, we could also have a full page add for the Bible School. That would be kind of neat.
Yeah, I guess go ahead and send the proposal. You may wantto make sure that he realizes that this will be in our hands and will not require a lot of resources of the church.
Hey, Kris, I've got an idea for your article. You could focus on soulwinning and have soulwinning tips, methods and stories. You could call it "The Catch." I've even got a logo for you!
The full page add for the Bible School sounds good. Not sure when I'll get the proposal written, but hopefully this week. I think we should have dad as our "spiritual editor" to make sure all our doctrine, etc. is right. That might be reassurance for Pastor.
I suppose we could have dad as our spiritual editor, although I don't think there's much chance of us going off in our doctrine.
I was thinking of putting the big ad on the inside of the back cover. It would probably be best to go ahead and put the feature article (call it "The Feature"?) on the very front of the magazine.
"Anonymous" was me if you didn't figure that out already. (+ Don't know how that happened.
I'm sure we wouldn't go off doctrine, but it does give us some accountability before it actually hits the "press."
I think it would be "cooler" if we had a real front cover - just like a real mag.
It would be cool, but what would we put on the front cover? It would probably have to be different for each issue. It would also use up more ink and toner. It would also cut down on size by two pages, since we wouldn't want to put anything major on the inside of the front cover. That gives us 4 pages to work with.
5 pages - counting the page for the Bible School and the table of contents. Neither one has to be a full page. The ad for the Bible School could be a full page ad on the back. Plenty of options. The cover doesn't necessarily have to take up more toner. Totally depends on the density of the graphics we use. We'll talk about it.
Well, I think the usefulness of this online conversation has pretty much petered out. What do you say about the three of us meeting in person to work through some of the details?
Sure. I haven't heard back from Pastor yet. I'll try to ask him in person Wednesday.
It's a go! I'm excited! We've still got a lot of stuff to work through, but we're making progress! OK, let's dispense with this extremely lengthy conversation and set up a time to meet.
we're meeting sunday after the movie. Things are really moving along, aren't they? and it all started with a casually spoken idea. how awesome God is.
Shhh! No one's supposed to know! It's a rendezvous!
It was a good rendezvous, too! (There weren't any spies present, were there?) I think we've got some cool God-ideas! I'm working on my article tonight.
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