Blogs By Benjamin

Paul Baloche emphasizes the importance of drawing ideas from intentional prayer and scripture reading in his Songwriting Youtube series. He points out that most ideas don't actually originate as strictly "song ideas", but rather as thoughts during time with God. For example, his song "Your Name", came about as he and a friend were simply reading scripture and casually playing the guitar and piano. Baloche also highlights the need to memorize scripture. He calls the Psalms the "vocabulary of worship" and stresses the importance of taking those words off the page and letting them dwell in our minds and hearts.  Prayer and scripture reading are spiritual disciplines. In case the importance of living with discipline in the Christian life isn't clear, the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9 that he disciplines his body so that he himself "may not be disqualified from the race". Isn't that something? That even the great apostle Paul was ...

Paul Baloche focuses on the importance of journaling in the songwriting process. He describes a portion of the process of writing a few of his well known songs, starting with "Above All". Much of the lyrics for the song came on the spot. Nothing was scripted, as Baloche sat with his guitar one day in the presence of the Lord. This theme of natural spontaneity  is prevalent in songwriting. Baloche makes it clear that in order to remember creative thoughts, they must be written down. The songwriter must write, not just think.  Humanity is naturally creative. We come up with innovative ideas regularly. However, the process of transforming ideas into a tangible end product, like a song, is jumpstarted when we begin to write ideas down. This not only helps us remember, but also is a sign of intentionality and commitment to being a songwriter. Also, an important anecdote from Baloche's songwriting experience is the way he relates his thoughts back to God. Whether it be looking ...

Paul Baloche, in his Youtube songwriting series, points out that many of his ideas for songs originate from sermons and prayers. He recalls multiple lines he heard from his pastor that resonated with him. He later expanded on them and added a melody to accompany the words and, before he knew it, he'd made legitimate progress in writing that song. This endeavor wasn't planned or pre-rehearsed, but rather the idea for the song came spontaneously. Similarly, Baloche describes thinking of other ideas through sitting in prayer meetings. His song "Open the Eyes of My Heart" came to be through hearing one of his revered church fathers begin his prayers with those very words. Baloche makes it a point to sit in on these church meetings to be, first and foremost, enriched spiritually. However, he benefits musically from them as well. Songs from truth. That's essentially where most of Baloche's ideas are coming from. Sermons are (hopefully) based on Scripture, the true W...

In Phil Wickham's workshop titled "How to Write a Worship Song", he outlines the general process by which he writes worship songs. He highlights the importance of life experiences and how they shape themes of songs. Wickham uses the example of God's goodness. Even though it's a common theme among worship songs today, it's possible to experience a different and more personal facet of the the goodness of God to kickstart of worship song. The idea of finding intricacies within themes to write songs is stressed multiple times by Wickham in the workshop.  Wickham describes writing a song like formulating a sentence. A good sentence has a topic with grammatical tools that assist in emphasizing that subject. In the same way, a song also has a topic that's usually amplified in the chorus. The verses and bridge are similar to verbs and adjectives that highlight the importance and applicability of that topic. When we think of songs as sentences, it should demand us ...