“How He Loves” is probably one of my newest favorite songs. It is written by John Mark McMillan, but I think it is being made much more popular by the David Crowder Band, in both their “Church Music” album as well as Passion’s latest, “Awakening.” In checking on Grooveshark.com, I found even more people who had covered the song. I put a few in a playlist if you haven’t heard the song before, and here’s a copy of the lyrics (pdf).

The song has a pretty interesting story behind it, and if you heard John’s recording off his “The Song Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down” album, then you may have gotten a glimpse of it by what he finishes the song with. I think Integrity Music snagged this incredible musician up, and they’ve released a single of the song on iTunes, and while the song costs $.99, if you’re willing to fork over another $.30 they’ll graciously include a five minute video about the song. Personally, I thought it was worth the extra cash. The arrangement in the single is pretty cool, and the video was very insightful. John wrote the song as he was working through the grief of losing a very close friend. I like where he talks about how the song is not about pretty love, but how God loves us when we are at our messiest. It sounded as though the song had come out of his realization of the anger and plain old sin in his heart which were coming out in his grief (anger, frustration, etc.) at losing his friend. And then he realized that God loved him in spite of that.

What I love about the song is how it never justifies sin, or excuses it, but the emphasis in the song is upon losing one’s self in the love of God, a love that is glorious and gracious, and in beholding it we lose sight of (and our grip upon) our regrets and afflictions. The song really does focus upon God and his love.

The Structure

The song is pretty simple, structure-wise. There are a few variations between different recordings. In his “The Song Inside…” album, John does a Verse 1 -> Pre-Chorus twice before going into the full-blown chorus, as does the David Crowder Band in “Church Music”. But in the single he recently released through Integrity, John only does his Verse 1 and Pre-Chorus once before hitting the Chorus. I’m not so sure I like the latter option – it builds too quickly. In the single he starts dynamically much stronger, and I think it sounds so much nicer to start with just acoustic (as in “The Sound Inside…”) or even as Jared Anderson does in his version (of course I love starting on the piano…I’m a pianist!). But, then again, on the single John also throws in a pretty fun “Who-o-o-ah!” section at the end of his arrangement for the single.

The Dynamics

This is a song which is closely tied to its dynamics – if you can not get the contrast of quiet, build, and all-out working, the song is almost not worth it. However you structure it, the climax of the build is the chorus, you want it to explode dynamically on the first words of the chorus. If you are going to do the first verse and pre-chorus twice before going into the chorus, then you definitely need to start on a single instrument (be it guitar or piano).

A neat example of the way dynamics can shape the song differently is to compare how the David Crowder Band handles the second verse versus how John handles it. DCB makes it into a bridge of sorts, actually dynamically making that the climax of the song (which could have some pretty neat theological emphasis as well), while John always treats the second verse as the first until the last two lines, starting with “I don’t have time…” where the band begins pounding on the eighth-note – which is so much fun to play!

Instrumentation

This is an excellent song for a minimal band as well as a full-blown one. You can pretty much pull it off on acoustic guitar by itself (and probably piano, though I haven’t played around with creating an arrangement yet). But if you can at least have a guitar, bass and drums you can really draw out the dynamics. Of course, having an electric guitar on rhythm to fill out the arrangement wouldn’t hurt, and another to nail that lead line would be gravy, right?

Speaking of the lead line, we’ve done it at our church with a violin taking it. Beautiful, simply beautiful. It’s one of those lines which you could give to just about any instrument, especially woodwinds or strings. A Cello would probably give the line a little darker tone than the violin had. A clarinet would be different, and probably also add a dark tone with a touch of wistfulness. A Saxophone would probably contrast the tone of the elctric guitars nicely. But I’m not sure how a brass instrument (trumpet, French horn, trombone) would work with the line – though if you have one, I’d say give a whirl and let me know how it works!

As far as piano/keys, this song really lends itself to a deep, strong pad. I will admit, though, whenever I play the song I always switch over to our B3 organ for the build in the second verse and just jam out there until the end of the song. That adds a nice change in dynamic as well, if you have a good b3 sound in your keys (or are fortunate enough, as we are, to have someone who lets us use his B3!).

Special Issue: Lyric adaptation

This came as a little surprise to me. One of my favorite lines is “And Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss.” DCB changed the lyrics to “And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,” which is close, but not the same. Our [very wise] Worship Pastor chose to use DCB’s version. His decision was guided on the difference between performance and worship. As a special or offertory, he pointed out, the phrase would be perfectly fine. But during worship the language is a little crass, to be honest. And while the congregation would probably get used to it very quickly, any visitor would be distracted by the words. This logic seems to line up very strongly with Paul’s discussion on order in worship in 1 Cor 14. Something to consider as you teach your team and congregation the song.

A New Song for You

Okay, first things first. When you’ve got a new song burning in your music library that you’ve been wanting to introduce to the church, and the chance finally comes for you to use it – what do you do? This is a three-part series where we dig a little into the process. This first part focuses on suggestions for assisting you to learn the song properly. The second will focus on teaching it to your team, and the third will focus on introducing it to the congregation/church at large.

Before you try and teach a song to your team, you need to know what’s going on in it yourself. My personal preference is, if possible, to be able to play it either on piano or guitar (or both, if possible). That way I have a solid grasp of the chord progressions, the rhythms, the structure, and the dynamics. In fact, those four points should almost be a checklist in learning the song.

For simplicity’s sake I will assume you are trying to learn a song on the guitar…

1) Chords

The easiest way to learn a song is to have a recording to play along with. So get one (if you don’t have a recording I hope you have a great memory and/or can read music really well!). Secondly, acquire the chords to the song. This is a must. You can purchase chord charts or sheet music (online or in/through a store), or you can probably find it online for free (some publishers like Vertical Music offer their chord charts online for free!). If you can’t find or get the chords, then you’ve gotta figure ‘em out by ear. Good luck! (there is not enough space in this post to cover how to do that…)

Now just play the recording of the song, over and over, first time just listening to the chord changes and following the chord sheet. When you’re comfortable with the chord changes, start trying to do one strum  where each chord is first played or changed to. Be especially tuned to walking bass lines or progressions that walk through the scale – recognising these can be very helpful to your team in learning the song.

When you’re confident and comfortable with these chord changes you are ready to move onto the structure and rhythm of the song.

2) Structure

Now, stop the recording. Take a moment and analyze the chord sheet and how the song fits together. Somewhere on the chord sheet (top, side, bottom…) write down the structure of the song. Is it the classic verse-chorus-verse-chorus(2x?)-bridge-chorus(2x?). Many songs are a variation thereof. Many hymns are only “verses” with a latter section that feels like a chorus, though some actually are just a series of verses followed by a repeated chorus. Primarily here you need to understand how the song is put together so that you can articulate that in a simple way to your team.

After you’ve figured out how the song is put together, notice all the chord progressions in each section. Are they the same? How are they different? Usually a song will have one chord progression for verses and another progression for the chorus. Sometimes a completely new progression will be used for a bridge or tag – though sometimes that can be the same progression, just with a different dynamic. Where is the intro to the song derived from? Is the instrumental section’s progression the same as the intro, or is it from the chorus or verse?

Also note repetition and variation. Is the verse four chords repeated four times? Or are they repeated three times, the fourth being a variation on the original pattern? Or is the third time the variation?

Basically, in understanding the chord progressions, you want to try and figure out as many of the connections throughout the song as you can. That way you can break it down more easily for your team when you have to teach them.

3) Rhythms

After getting comfortable with the chords and the structure, take a look at the rhythms utilized in the song. Does the song have a straight rhythm or is it syncopated? Is it the same rhythm throughout? At this point you need to attempt as good an imitation of the rhythm of the song on your guitar as you can.

At this point, as well, make some notations on your chord sheet about what the drummer is doing where (as best you can figure). Having these will help you better direct your drummer.

4) Dynamics

Here is the real heart of a song. Make sure you know when the song is soft, when it is loud, when it builds, how long it builds, and where the climax of the build is. A majority of the music coming out of Hillsongs is incredibly easy as far as the chords and progressions go – and most of the rhythms are pretty simple as well. But they are masters of the dynamic. Every one of their songs is unique because of its own dynamics, and their “powerhouse” songs are such because the dynamics of how they build the song to its climax have been perfected. You cannot play a Hillsongs song correctly without paying a lot of attention to the dynamics.

So there ya go. These are some basics of learning a song, at least in my mind. As you learn more and more songs, you’ll develop your own system which will work best for you.

Also, this just addresses learning a song as it was recorded. If you want to develop your own version of a song, do these first. Learning a song how it was originally written is always essential to creating a new version of it which retains the same ‘heart’ as the original (at least that’s my opinion).

Next I will profer up some suggestions about teaching a new song to your team.

“I Will Wait for You There” comes from Phil Wickham’s self-titled debut album. I found some words/chords online here and here. Have a listen to the song:

I Will Wait For You There – Phil Wickham

Orientations/Focus: This song is vertical/man-focused. It is sung to God (vertical), but the focus of the song is man, specifically what man will do.

Theology: The real thrust of this song is a declaration of (and expressing the joy found therein) private time spend communing with God. I like the idea of “waiting”, because it is so different from the modern american mindset – we want what we want now, and many times Christians bring this mindset over into their quiet time. But waiting implies patience. It also implies that what will come is worth the wait. This song is quite passionate, and is structured and instrumented for an intimate feel, and it truly does convey intimacy and a passion for it. There is also an undergirding emphasis upon man’s dependency upon the Lord – he cannot make it on his own. Of course, my favorite part is the chorus, where he sings about what he will do in that intimate time with his Lord: he will express his passion for his God. When this song is used in a service, the goal would be to invoke a longing in the hearts of the hearers – you want them to identify with the singers stated passion and desire. It actually is a very simple theme of desire for intimacy with the Lord.

Music/Instrumentation: Obviously this song was meant to be played on guitar. I think it might be able to be done on the piano, but it would take a very well-done arrangement – you wouldn’t want the steady right hand chords with the left hand doing a baseline sort of thing. I would advise just using the same instrumentation as on the recording: one singer, one acoustic guitarist. The lyrics speak of intimacy, the instrumentation reflects that. Whatever you do, don’t add more instruments or singers, because then it becomes more than a song from one man/woman to their God.

Use: Due to the nature of the song, it is not really a congregational worship song. The nature of the song also would make it rather inappropriate for an opener or even for communion. But, on the other hand, it would make a great special or offertory. Specifically, if the message is going to be about one’s private prayer life or even one’s quiet time, I think this song would be especially appropriate. But if you’re looking at the resurrection, or the atonement, or forgiveness, or even the return of Christ, this song would not be appropriate. It is one song I would only use in specific circumstances, but in those circumstances it would be highly appropriate and effective in setting the tone for the message.

No, this is not the classic hymn everyone is familiar with. Though I would love to hear Christy Nockels work her magic on that classic, this is actually a song she and her husband wrote inspired by that classic written by the indomitable Martin Luther himself. And I’m glad they were so inspired. Take a listen if you’re not familiar with it (if you need lyrics here they are).

Pretty awesome, huh? Okay, let’s dive in a little and go over a few different aspects of it.

Orientations/Focus: Vertical, God-focused. Note in the lyrics that though the first few lines of each verse and the first line of the chorus are all horizontal (seem to declare outward, to men), the pre-chorus as well as the rest of the chorus is vertical, sung to God (note the much repeated phrase: “We will keep our eyes on you.”). It is God-focused because it speaks of God and his attributes.

Theology: Obviously, this is a very Biblical song. The primary theme is of trusting in (looking to) the God who will never fail. I like that the song starts off speaking of the righteousness of God – we do not trust in a lovey dovey God who wants to bless everyone, we trust in a Righteous Judge, who’s righteousness is akin to a flame, yet who rules with kindness and wisdom. And there is also an eschatological focus (“With You forever we will reign”). The nice twist done in the bridge where Christy first sings, “We will keep our eyes on You” and then switches it to, “We will set our hearts on You” is very insightful, and it challenges the singer (thusly your congregation) to think not only to where they are looking for hope, but where their heart is set – is it set on God, or our own pleasure and desires? Overall, though, the song has a driving, victorious feel to it. It is not a song of resignation (“God I can’t do this, so I trust in you”), but rather of confident expectation (“God you are an amazing God and I will set my eyes and heart on you because of how glorious and wonderful you are – forever!”)

Music/Instrumentation: The song is in the key of ‘C’, which makes it quite easy to handle on the keyboard, though the ‘Bb’ in the bridge is a little rough on some acoustic guitarists (I think our acoustic guitarist capo’s up to the fifth fret and plays in the key of ‘G’). Nothing too fancy about the chord progression, which is good – it can be learned easily and quickly by just about any team. The hard part is that most of the “heart” of the song is in the dynamics – the builds, the climaxes, and the quiet beginning and end. As far as instrumentation, it could probably be pulled of minimally with an acoustic guitar or piano by itself, though adding a djembe (or other pecussion instrument) would help a lot with those dynamics. To really mimic the recording you want to have a pianist, an electric and acoustic guitarist (a second on electric would provide some extra layering if available), bassist, drummer. Another keyboardist to pull out the strings would be a nice addition to filling out the instrumentation, but you can more than manage the full range of dynamics without one. And if need be, you could make do with only one guitarist, though I would suggest putting him/her on electric so they could really drive the last half of the song. As far as vocals go, two would be nice (song leader and someone for harmony), but any more you add will just fill out that chorus – which provides even more build.

Use: Though this song works excellently as an opener, an offertory, or even a communion song, I would highly encourage you to teach it to your congregation and have them sing it pretty regularly (not every week, though – that’s overkill).