FAQ #1: WHERE DO I START?

Congratulations, you already have! By simply responding to the inspiration to create music you have begun the process. You are much further along than those who feel the inspiration but never do anything with it.

In their book, Music, Money and Success Todd and Jeffrey Brabec write, “Being a songwriter, a recording artist, or both is similar in many respects to any other business. Talent, professionalism, commitment, persistence, connections, luck, finding the right vehicle to get people to notice you, being in the right place at the right time, knowing the behind-the-scenes realities of how things work, having the right people behind you and being with the right company are all part of the formula for becoming successful…It is very rare indeed in this business for anyone to make it without years of working hard and making the right moves.”

The most important sentence in that quote is the last one. It takes years of work. Embrace that. Add to it your passion and joy but don’t kid yourself about the work and time required. The Gospel Music Association Industry Networking Guide states, “Your first performance opportunities will probably come from a relationship you have with a pastor or ministry contact. In most cases, artists who nurture these relationships…find the warmest reception and stand the best chance of being invited back.” Start humbly, it will take some time and involve a lot of work. But what sort of vision will help guide these efforts? How does this quest begin?

At the end of the 20th century, American culture, especially business culture was profoundly influenced by author, Stephen Covey. His book, The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People spawned a large cottage industry of workshops and derivative books. The second habit on Covey’s list, “Begin with the end in mind” was reflected in the Gospel Music Association’s AGMA Music Curriculum.

In the AGMA Curriculum, Don Cason, at one time the President of Word Music writes, “…the motivation for songs generally points toward different outlets. Each type of song tends to find a home in a particular publishing venue. The sooner you find out where you fit in, the better able you’ll be able to locate a productive relationship for your artistic endeavor. Often, the commercial life of a song is dictated by the reason it was created.”

This calls for a bit of metacognition; it helps to look inward a bit and allow some reflection on why you create music. A couple of pertinent questions might be, “What is the message I have to communicate?” and, “To whom is it intended?”

By identifying who you want to receive the message of your song(s) you can then take a few pragmatic steps towards reaching that audience. For example, if you write contemporary praise and worship music your starting place is obvious – your own church! Assuming that you are active in a church body you will intrinsically be aware of the spiritual needs of that body. If you reflect those needs in your writing then there is a good chance that your songs will resonate with that body. Start there.

If your music works in your home church you have served a divine purpose. Congratulations, well done faithful servant! Perhaps you can use the network of your church’s music pastor and others involved in the music of your church to share your songs with other churches and it will spread from there. Think of it as dropping pebbles in a pond. You keep dropping larger and larger rocks and the concentric ripples go out further and further to many different shores. You have no control over the ripples, that’s God, you just drop the rocks.

There is the example of composer Geron Davis whose song “Holy Ground” is a well-known staple in church music. Geron’s motive for writing the song in 1984 was to serve his Dad, a pastor who needed a song to christen a new church building. Davis wrote the song for his Dad and it served his church well. Over time it resonated with many, many churches becoming one of the most performed songs in the CCLI survey of churches.

Davis’ publisher, Meadowgreen Music, was very active is seeking recordings of the song but for unknown reasons no major Christian label artist happened to record the song. It still continued to increase in usefulness to the church body. One such usage occurred ten years later in 1994 at the funeral of then President, Bill Clinton’s mother in Arkansas. A local church singer sang, “Holy Ground” and in the audience of sympathizers was none other than Barbra Streisand. Streisand had an epiphany that day and went on to record a spiritual project. As the cornerstone of the project, she recorded – you guessed it! – “Holy Ground”. So, Davis’ song went from the status of having no major recordings into the repertoire of an American musical icon!

Here’s the story in Geron’s own words. “I am a pastor's son and my dad has pastored in Savannah, TN for over thirty five years. We were building a new church building in our little town on the Tennessee River. My dad asked me several weeks before we moved into our new building to write a song for the first Sunday service in our new sanctuary.

Being a typical teenager, I put him off. Finally, on Saturday night at midnight, I decided I couldn't put it off anymore. I sat down at the new grand piano we had purchased for the new building and started to think about what we really wanted to say when we came into this place for the first time. In about fifteen or twenty minutes the song was finished. My sister, brother and I sang it the next morning. I never dreamed it would be more than a song for that specific need. There was a need and I attempted to fill it.”

The point is this; Geron Davis had an end in mind, that of writing a song for the opening of his Dad’s new church. It was a goal he could achieve. He sought to serve that need and served it well. What happened after that was out of his control. Davis could not have orchestrated the divine interventions that occurred after that. Had he started out to write a spiritual song for Barbra Streisand in 1984, the song would have, in all likelihood, come out very differently from, “Holy Ground”.

Publisher Cason refers to this concept as, “bloom where you’re planted.” It is the idea of using your gifts to serve in your immediate circle of influence – your church, your friends, your community – with the confidence that God will take your “offering” and use it for His purposes.

Of course, creative Christians have goals as varied and beautiful as the many blooms in Portland’s rose gardens. Perhaps your dream is to write and perform music with a band that will be heard on rock and pop radio like Switchfoot and MercyMe. With that end in mind, how can you bloom where you’re planted? In the case of the two previously mentioned bands they didn’t start by recording big-budget records and selling out arenas. They started locally, in San Diego and Dallas respectively putting it out there to whomever would have it and it grew from there. It’s hard work and very unglamorous. Humility is called for and given. But you begin by simply doing, taking the steps to put your inspiration into tangible form – songs – and performing them and/or having them performed in whatever ways are available to you.

Perhaps you are a singer/songwriter who doesn’t live in a music center like Nashville, New York, or Los Angeles. You may have the option of moving to one of those communities. That approach has worked well for writer/artists like Michael W. Smith, Matthew West, Steven Curtis Chapman and CeCe Winans to name just a few. There are many others who have chosen to bloom where they’re planted and stay there; Jeremy Camp in Indiana, Third Day in Atlanta, Smokie Norful in Chicago, MercyMe in Dallas, Chris Tomlin in Austin. There is no one, solitary, exclusively sanctified way to do it. The key is simply…to do it.

Let us encourage you to be pro-active about creating opportunities for your music to be heard. Certainly, if you live in a community where there are opportunities to perform your music your starting point is obvious. Go! Audition! Play! If you’re not a singer, pray, and seek singers who can be the voice for your muse!

But if there are not ready made forums for your work don’t be dissuaded! If there is not a Writers Night or Open Mic Night near you, create one! Where are people gathering that you want to reach with your music; coffee shops, cafes, nightclubs? Go to those venues and try a dialogue that goes something like this;

Amazingly Creative Christian (ACC) to Venue Owner (VO):
ACC: “I love this place.”
VO: “Thanks”
ACC: “What’s your slowest night?”
VO: “Sunday nights, man this place is dead!”
ACC: “Here’s an idea, why don’t we have a Writer’s Night? I’ll borrow a sound system and screen some local writers’ material. You print up some flyers and posters. We’ll do the first one for free drinks and food, whadya say?”

You can adapt this idea to your own words and the particular setting but what you are doing is creating a “Win/Win” situation. Sure, you have your own agenda but you’re advancing it in a way that could be helpful to the venue owner and a blessing to the community. Schools and charitable organizations can always use some help. Consider using your musical gifts for a fundraiser for a local charity, school or church. You never know who will hear your music and what contacts they might have. Your responsibility to the One who created you is to use your gifts as best as you can. Put them out there and surrender the results to God.

It’s also very important to fellowship with other creative Christians. Joining songwriter and artist organizations, both national and local, is an excellent way to build community, expand your contacts, network and bloom where you’re planted.

We believe that Christians are inspired to be creative for many different reasons. It is critically important to enjoy the process of writing without fixating so much on the outcome (commercial or otherwise) that we rob ourselves of the inherent joy that exists in just being a creative person.

The inspiration we receive is given so that we will create music that will bless. Some songs will bless millions, some thousands, some our families, our friends and on across the continuum and we believe that sometimes we are inspired to be creative so as to have the time - THE PROCESS - for our own benefit. No reason for writing, whether it is to write the next radio single or to write something that makes a loved one weep with joy is superior to another. They are all valid and important purposes and make this a better world.

For that reason, we want to encourage you to always honor that place in your spirit that moves you to write. While there may be those who do not respond to your music as you desire, we believe that you are creative for a divine purpose unique to you and your situation. What you create matters.

Even if those professionals that you may consult do not have any ideas of outlets in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta or any other music center to suggest for your material, we are confident that it has been given to you for a purpose. Our hope is that you will have an acute sense of joy and wonder as you watch for that purpose to be revealed.