song isn’t a chorus or a verse? Maybe it’s a prechorus?
Or maybe it’s a bridge? Maybe it’s not
meant to be lyrical at all, and the melody needs
to become a lead line over the song’s intro? As
you observe the dynamics of the sections you
construct, commit yourself to recognizing when
they’d be better off in a different order. This can
require lyrical movement and changes as well,
of course, but it’s worth it when the song is
telling you what it wants.
A good song wants to have the same narrative
progression of any good story: an inciting
moment, rising tension, a climax, a resolution.
Everything in its right place. Those are the
stories that truly move us, and which have the
most profound impact.
If you’re listening to and writing in the style of the
sort of intricately arranged and highly dynamic
worship that is all around us, you know that
the bridge section of many songs has become
their defining feature. Younger writers may not
realize that it was not always this way. And if
you’ve been writing for a decade or more,
you might forget this shift when you set out to
shape a new song. Even if you plan to have a
bridge in what you’re working on, you might not
have recalibrated your focus so that you can
envision that moment and then craft the pieces
around it. The writing culture of many of today’s
top songsmiths and churches celebrates this
format where the bridge is a song’s supreme
statement. The chorus is still a memorable
refrain, sure… but everything meaningfully and
dynamically is building to that bridge.
Where songwriters used to ask, “What is the
chorus?” assembling everything else around
it, it may be more fitting today to start at the
mountaintop, asking, “What is my bridge?”
You’ll want to know some key things about
your song dynamically: How big are its most
explosive parts? How small are its most quiet
parts? And are the different sections I am
writing and arranging serving that narrative
trajectory? Is everything in its right place, or do
I have a section or two backwards?
If there are songs you’ve shelved that you’d like
to get across the finish line, consider dusting
them off and moving their sections around.
A verse can get thrown out. A chorus can
become a bridge, and a new chorus can be
written with the newfound perspective of how
that bridge is going to pay off. Drastic change
is often what is best when a song is stuck. I’ve
had a chorus become a pre-chorus that made
room for a new and better chorus. I’ve had the
original section that inspired the song become
the only part not to make it in the final piece.
I’ve had a verse section get replaced by a new
verse, with the original being repurposed as a
postscript—something to be sung when the
band fades and there are only voices left.
…Which reminds me, worship music could
benefit from more postscripts and codas. It’s a
musical building block that worship musicians
rarely utilize. Imagine the impact of sections
that aren’t made to play into any sort of chorusbridge
relationship. Sections that say what they
have to say once, and exist to buck the trend
of congregational music in “infinite loop.” They
can provide some powerful finality to a musical
and lyrical piece. Let’s explore those!
The only limits are the ones we impose
ourselves.
Kevin MacDougall
Worship leader, published and recorded songwriter,
musician and podcast producer.
[email protected]
August 2020
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