Category Archives: contemporary worship music

When You Can’t Sing in Corporate Worship

“There’s no time like the present for worship leaders to put even more thought into the important ministry of putting songs on the lips of God’s people.” Continue reading

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The Best Contemporary Worship Music Songwriter of All Time, cont.

“Crouch’s songs are eminently singable, with firm attention to structure tools like voice leading and the use of conjunct melodic lines.  They are marvelously diverse harmonically, featuring chords almost never heard in cwm these days.  And their lyrics are Davidic in their balancing of first-person devotion (personal-story) with universal-Church exhortation (cosmic-story; thanks, Lester Ruth, for the terms).  Might more cwm songwriters aspire to Andraé Crouch’s creativity and industry!” Continue reading

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The Best Contemporary Worship Music Songwriter of All Time

“It would not be an exaggeration to use MLK-like adjectives to modify any nouns related to Crouch’s efforts in segregated Protestant America, another reason his contribution to cwm is so significant.” Continue reading

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Songwriting Tips from the Experts, Part 14

“Songwriting is hard for me.  It’s not like they just come rolling out of my ears or anything.  And the only difference between me and the other guy who is a songwriter is that I cull.  I throw away a lot of stuff.  I throw it away until what is left is good.  I’m willing to do that work.  I don’t keep something until I think it’s great.” Continue reading

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Songwriting Tips from the Experts, Part 13

“The process of writing, for me, is not very cut and [dried].  One thing for sure, it’s one long process of self-editing and self-critique.  I think a lot of [songwriters are not] . . . tough self-critics or self-editors.”  Continue reading

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Bidding Farewell to The Practice

“Those smaller fellowships that do survive COVID-19 might very well end up determining that the worship practices heretofore deemed immutably necessary for cultural relevance in 2021 and beyond no longer make sense for them in our current reality.  And that might look a lot like The Practice.  Here’s hoping.” Continue reading

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Songwriting Tips from the Experts, Part 11

I get to feature a Land-of-Lincoln homeboy in today’s post, Peoria-born Dan Fogelberg, who died far too young, 56, of prostate cancer back in 2007.  I’m partial to the singer-songwriters anyway, but I’m especially partial to Fogelberg, whose “Longer” my … Continue reading

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