Classed as Christian Rock, this ‘Worship’ song, much like my collaboration piece, was written in consideration to my own church band. It is not uncommon for a guitarist or percussionist or singer among others to not be able to read sheet music, so I opted to make a lead sheet. The overall feeling of the song reflects the genre and its main artists, who were also my references throughout. These artists include Hillsong, PlanetShakers Elevation Worship and Worship central, more notable their most recent releases and those in the past 10 years, some more notable songs include Hillsongs 'I surrender' and 'Even So Come' by Passion ft. Chris Tomlin.  The song follows what I would consider quite a standard layout, but as with most Christian songs, performed live the chorus and tag are often repeated multiple times at the performers’ discretion. Bearing this in mind I’ve used chords progressions that work well with repetition and a melody that can be built up well. In terms of dynamics, while this is also up to the performers I have written my own that I believe enhance the dramatic qualities of the piece with regards to my own layout.

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Many Christian Rock songs albeit not all, are written in major keys to reflect a joyous feeling as you’d likely associate with the concept of praise, as a result E Major was the chosen key for my piece. To give it a more unique feel and create more drama I used chords like G#m7 and chord 7, C#m. The melody I tried to keep quite simple for the verses and have a bigger chorus. The whole purpose of a tag is that it is short, definite and can be repeated multiple times; it is like a declaration that needs no thought. The melody of the song is supposed to shape the lyrics, increasing in pitch at lines such as ‘Soar high’ and ‘King’. Overall though, as the expectation of Christian Rock songs is to be sung by the general public, the melody still needs to be quite simple.  The purpose of the Song is to invoke and allow for the listener to express their emotions, and as such I tried to create a very dramatic piece, allowing areas to build up. One may note the several large gaps with nothing but repeated chords. In Christian rock, it is a common practice to have instrumental breaks while the public and vocalists improvise at their own discretion, even in the lead I believe this is an important part of a ‘worship’ that should at the least be suggested to the performer.

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One qualm I’ve had with this piece upon further inspection is that, although the song is actually quite long, for a ‘Christian Rock’ song it is quite short and lacks what I’d consider an almost vital part, a pre-chorus. As these kinds of songs are about repetition, sections of a song should be relatively short or contain a similar rhythmic pattern or lyric. While I would indeed say each verse matches the others quite nicely, my chorus repeats certain ideas and the tag is short, I personally feel there is something lacking in the connection of these 3 sections and a part that would add just a little more variety within the repetition.

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The process in which I went through in making this piece is one that would probably bring a few more questions. On the first Monday of each month at my church we have what is called presence day where the church is open all day for the general public to simply ‘sit in the presence of God while they work’. It is here that I write my lyrics, as verses and scriptures are displayed on the screens I write down the ones I feel are most valuable, select a few with a similar theme and write lyrics based on that idea. For this particular piece I ended up rearranging the lines between the many ‘sections’ I had written, before I had decided their specific section, chorus, verse or tag. As with most songs, the chorus and in this instance the tag as well, are the main points and as such should carry the overall main idea and powerful meaning, which I think is done quite well in this song. From there I decide chord progressions for each section. Once decided, I improvise singing the lyrics over the chord progressions until I find a melody I like, and from there it is simply a matter of notating my piece. Not as a reason but by working in harmony with the fact that this is the path of music I wish to put the most focus into in my future, this is the piece I am most satisfied with and believe work best with my strengths and resources.