“Worship Song” is not a style. Worship songs come in many styles.

Some churches still worship with pipe organs and hymns. Others use a guitar-driven Praise Band. In some you might hear flavors of country, rock, Southern gospel, Black gospel, blues, jazz, salsa, reggae or Gregorian chant. Some use them all together.

And that’s good. Different strokes for different folks with different comfort zones. Some might even feel culture shock in each other’s church service, yet each might love the Lord equally.

God is probably not much impressed with our musical taste (or the lack thereof). He’s looking for hearts that will worship him in spirit and in truth.

But to the human ears of our audience or congregation, style does matter. If our guitarist is playing country while our keyboardist is throwing in jazz chords and our drummer and bass are playing reggae, all at the same time, what we have is a distraction to worship, if not a disturbance of the peace. We call that kind of song a Mongrel, or Mixed Breed (Genus Anonymous).

Each of these styles has characteristics that make it what it is and distinguish it from others. Learn what these qualities are, and, although hybrid styles do evolve through cross-pollination, don’t mix them without understanding what you’re doing.

If you put one of these characteristics into a style where it doesn’t belong, (like a major seventh chord in a traditional country song or a blues chord in a traditional hymn) it may produce a jarring effect that damages the song’s authenticity and your credibility.

As a writer, and especially if you’re an arranger or rhythm player, make it your business to become versatile in many styles. You don’t have to go to school to do this-just study recordings.

Know Your Styles
Each player should know what his instrument is expected to do in a particular style. In a rehearsal or recording session, if you just hand out chord charts without identifying the style you want, you can lose a lot of time muddling around trying to figure out what each player is supposed to do, and you may never hit on an authentic style. If you have capable players and can identify the style by name, the head arrangement should begin to mesh quickly.

For example: When we were recording the band on our Grammy-nominated children’s album, Ants’hillvania, we came to the last song, called “Come On Home.” After several attempts, it just wasn’t gelling. We had the tempo right, but it seemed that the improvising players were at odds with each other and couldn’t figure out what to do.  How could this happen? These were Hollywood’s finest.

Finally, one of them asked, “What style is this supposed to be?”

Someone suggested, “A samba?”

“Let’s try it,” I (Jimmy) said.

And that was it. Instantly it fit together like clockwork, because now that the style was identified, each player knew exactly what to do. And that buoyant feeling brought the musical to a happy ending.

Suggestion:
Spend some time over the next few weeks immersing yourself in various styles of music. Spend a few days listening to recordings of one particular style. Analyze the style by asking yourself a few questions:
1. What kind of chords are they using—triads or sophisticated harmonies?
2. What kind of instrumentation are they using?
3. Are the melodies reaching and soaring, or punchy and tight?
4. What is unique about the feel and mood of this particular style?
5. What is my counterpart player doing in this style?

Write down your observations and try writing a song incorporating some of these characteristics.

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Written by : Jimmy & Carol Owens

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