Revive Academy

Looking back over history countless songs have been written that have transformed the culture of the church. New and old, it is easy to recall the great hymns and modern worship songs that have impacted generations. The greatest worship songs have always had the ability to shift atmospheres and soften hearts unhindered by time or seasons.

In this 12 week course Dan McCollam delves deep into the art and technique of worship songwriting. This module is designed to stretch, develop and refine your skills by identifying the technical factors that make a great song.

Offering foundational principles you will also have the opportunity to experiment through practical weekly assignments and participate in the forum with other students based on the themes of each week.

Highly technical with engaging, conversational content, coupled with weekly practical exercises for you to try, this is an excellent course for the beginner to advanced worship songwriter.

Each lesson contains:

A weekly MP3 teaching session with Dan McCollam and guests;

Study notes to read alongside the MP3 teachings;

Weekly practical assignments for you to try out for yourself;

Weekly discussion questions;

You will also receive two downloadable ebooks: “The Worship Writers Guide” & “Finding Your Song”.

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Study and deconstruct popular worship songs;

Song Hooks

• Identify, locate and write song hooks;
• Identify the four categories of song hooks for praise and worship songs;
• Craft your ideas into a song hook;
• Identify the 5 Main types of repetition;

Study Song Form

• Study different Song Forms;
• Understand the building blocks for great songs - song sections (Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Pre Chorus etc);

Songwriting Techniques

• Use different 'list techniques' for songwriting;
• Study Alliteration, contrast, slant rhyme as the four devices for writing;
• Learn the key principles in writing a great chorus;
• Identify foundational and rotational simple chorus types;

Lyrics

• Improve your lyrical content;
• Develop imagery skills;

Melody

• Learn how to create memorable melodies;
• Understand and identify the foundations of Melody: The musical motif, prosody, sing- ability, musical contrasts and emphasis ;

Finishing Touches

• Understand the importance of re-writing;
• Understand the benefits of co-writing;
• Learn what to do with a finished song;
• Understand the registration and copyright process;
• Submit your own song for review.

Please note: “God Vibrations” and “Redeeming A Sound” are recommended courses to take before you start this course as they provide an excellent foundation on the more spiritual aspects of what it means to release the new song of the Lord.