Friday, June 1, 2012

Song Story: 'Glory Hallelujah'

Unity is huge. It's not just huge in sports teams and in successful businesses. It's not just huge in committees or even families. Unity is huge to God. It's huge in churches, from the leadership all the way to the last attender and even more it's huge in terms of the Church with a big 'C'... the collective Christ-followers and the churches in which they worship throughout our nation and world. The verses in God's Word that discuss the importance of unity are prolific and the urgency with which the concept is discussed is palpable.

All that said, I wanted to write a worship song that, at it's core, could help unify the congregation singing it. I used 'we' language on this one--something I haven't used a ton in the past--because the lyric and theme begged for it, and I searched for words that could articulate the depth of unity that I believe God desires from us. I think the lyric I'm most proud of in this particular song kicks off the second verse:

All of our brothers and sisters through time have sung of the blood of the same sacrifice

This lyrics speaks to the beautiful truth that singing of His love and sacrifice for us binds believers together in a way that transcends even time. No matter what melody is being sung, no matter what chords are being played by what instruments, believers have been uniting together for centuries singing about the truths of Christ's glorious death and resurrection and all that they imply. To me that's an amazing reality, and one worth giving some serious real estate in our church services!

As for the song-writing fodder I promised... this one was fun to play around with as I wrote it. I used a hemiola passage in the verse (played quietly with a wurlitzer) and bridge (a little more apparent from an electric guitar) with three notes being repeated all the way through large 4/4 phrases. I also truncated all of the phrases in the bridge--all of them 3 bars instead of four--just to add to the urgency of the concept sung there. One of the things I think is most fun, though, about this tune is that the chords in the second verse are quite different than in the first even though the melody is identical... capped off with a 2sus chord replacing the typical 5 in the first verse. Yup... theory geek stuff for sure!

Hope that gives you some insight into the first song on the project! Come back and visit soon as I'll be discussing my first single next time... track #2, entitled 'Here With You.'

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who's Mark Roach?

I'm a Christ-following husband, father, songwriter, worship leader and St. Louis Blues fan.
It's worth noting that, while I am the Worship Arts Director at MSC, all the stuff found here is me... just me... and shouldn't be taken to represent MSC or any other entity, really... beyond just me. :)