Getting Started with Worship Songs

One of the joys of teaching, for me, is working with students who compose music. I have students whose focus is creating worship songs. These students write music for non-denominational and contemporary christian worship gatherings. A few have gone on to have successful careers in the field of worship music. Others have used the works they have written for their own personal times of worship. (God inhabits the praises of his people. Psalm 22:3) 

Some students write song melodies with ease, while others struggle to write melodies. Some students are more gifted with words, while others struggle with writing lyrics. (Lyrics are the words to a song.) 

Occasionally, a student will work with a friend who complements their writing skills. For instance, a student who is a strong melody writer will pair with another student who is a strong lyricist to write a song. But more often I see students who want to excel both as a music composer and a lyricist.

One of the first things I ask a student, when they want to start a new worship song project, is "What type of worship song are you writing?" When a composer can define what they want to express in a worship song, the words and music come together a lot faster. Let's look at three types of worship song forms used today.  

The first song form is, perhaps, the most obvious: Psalms. Psalms use the words of the Judeo-Christian bible for the lyrics. Verses containing the inspired word of God from the old and new testaments are used. 

The second form of worship song, that we talk about in lessons, is the Hymn. Hymns contain a doctrinal truth. A doctrinal truth is something that was, is, and always will be.

The last form we consider is the Spiritual Song. In a spiritual song the writer shares a personal story of what God has done in their life through grace, mercy, or a miracle, from their personal point of view. 

Establishing the purpose of a song and narrowing down the details can be a big help to students. Though it seems too simple, this step, at the start of a composition will really help.

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Please note: There are other forms of music used in places of worship that have different criteria than what I have shared above. It is always prudent to consult with your worship leader so you have a full understanding of the music and lyric guidelines that are welcome at your place of worship. 

Self-discipline vs. Motivation

Motivation; The first time I heard that word, used generously, was when I taught classroom music in a school for gifted children in the 1980s. It was starting to be a "buzz" word in classroom education for slower learners. The school served children with learning disabilities and recognized that many children were not able to develop tools that are necessary for success in life. It became commonplace to hear statements like, Jimmy could not finish the task because he was not motivated.  It was a gentler way of speaking about a student's learning challenges. 

Self-discipline helps an individual achieve by building constructive habits that lead to success in sports, arts, science, religion, or any other field of choice. Motivation is feeling pressed to do a task because of one's emotions. A boy is motivated to attend soccer practice because he will feel embarrassed in front of his peers if he stays home to play video games. That boy is motivated. A young girl gets up at 4:00am every morning to catch the bus to go to the skating rink, and practice by herself, before she has to go to school. This girl has self-discipline. Let's take this to the adult level.

A man is motivated to go into the office, to a mundane job, every day, because he doesn't want society to think of him as a bum. He is moved by his feelings. A young woman starts her own clothing design firm and with daily perseverance through many failures, and self-discipline, moves from a once-a-week small farmer's market tent to opening her own successful store in a popular town. She is self-disciplined.

Your grandparents called self-discipline, a good work ethic. What do you think of when you think about self-discipline? Some don't like the word and feel it is too harsh.

Like every teacher, I see self-disciplined children who do excel. But more frequently, I see children who will only do work if there is an emotional component; which means they don't progress as far in their education as they could. Only doing a task when one is triggered by fear, embarrassment, fun, companionship, peer pressure, or jealousy, is not a healthy path to success. Failure, in many areas, can start to set in if every task is approached only when the person relies on their feelings to motivate positive movement. 

When you practice self-discipline, good feelings come as you see yourself improving. Use self-discipline to bring honest feelings. Don't wait for your feelings to cause you to act. 

It is my opinion that the re-structuring of education, with motivation (doing work because of an emotional component) becoming more important than rewards of self-discipline, has produced lower standards in many fields of education. 

I have a theory as to why motivation continues to be stressed ahead of teaching self-discipline in education. 

We now have a generation of parents who were raised within an educational system that employed motivation strategies. (This is not the fault of today's parents.) These parents are now raising children using the tools they were taught which were motivational practices. 

Sometimes I see myself as a one-woman-band trying to guide students in how to succeed with self-discipline. I welcome any educator who wants to join me. 

What Went Wrong at the SCTMA Pre-College Auditions? (Music Teachers National Association)

South Carolina piano teachers noticed a change in the way music performance evaluations were conducted during the 23-24 Music Teachers National Association season in the State Pre-College auditions for South Carolina. And they were not happy.

I received texts and emails from other piano teachers after last season's State evaluations for piano students. I tried to determine:  What was happening? Why were we not seeing evaluations or ratings? Typically, teachers would receive their student assessments within a week of the event. But there was no communication from the state level for weeks. The district director could not find any answers either. Was it worth it to continue in this organization's events? 

Judges typically give very thorough evaluations that touch on many elements which help the teacher and encourage the student to improve their playing going forward. For the upper levels we found this to be generally true - when the evaluations did finally arrive. It seemed that the upper level judges were honestly evaluating students and also scouting for students who might attend their music college in the future.  These upper level judges also took extra time to talk with the students during their evaluations.

However, the lower level evaluation sheets were sparse. Sheets came back without any actual evaluations only single statements like, "Great Job, enjoyed your playing!" "You looked so professional, thanks for playing." These types of comments are nice to end an assessment with, but they are not evaluations and, they don't help anyone. The teachers began to question the competency of the judges being hired for the lower levels. These vague evaluations were also a concern for some of the parents who drove their children long distances for the state event.

There were issues with reported grades that were emailed to teachers, verses the actual grades received on the evaluation forms. Initially, this past season, teachers were only given the rating grade for their students without being able to see the evaluations. This has never happened before and there was concern that the evaluations had been lost. When the evaluations finally arrived weeks later, teachers found that the ratings were not consistent with the actual rating given by the judges. Imagine having to tell children they didn't actually receive the mark that had been reported.

Despite the disappointment of the 23-24 season we hope for the best as we enter this 24-25 season. I am satisfied that our district director brought these issues to light with the state, and possibly, national organization. And I trust that our concerns have been ironed out. MTNA has always been a well respected organization for music teachers and students and we are all hoping this past season is a one-off that South Carolina won't see again.