On a recent blog post we discussed how to navigate the massive sea of worship songs and pick the best ones.
As worship leaders we need to be intentional about how we choose our songs. But the questieon still remains:
Where? Where do I look to find songs?
A valid question. The internet is a big place and knowing where to look is half the battle. Below is a brief list of ways I discover new music.
But get your comments ready, because I want to hear how you discover new music.
6 Ways I Discover New Music
1. Rdio or Spotify – I find streaming music services great for listening to a lot of music in order to wade through the mediocre and find what’s good. This is the first place I go for music discovery.
2. Twitter – I find Twitter a great way to discover new worship songs, as worship leaders are always posting their setlists. It’s a great way to stay connected to worship leaders all over the world and see what songs they’re doing.
3. The Staples – There’s certain albums I always listen to – anything Hillsong related, Bethel, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Passion, or Paul Baloche. There are others. But these are trusted guys who consistently put out great stuff. I stay up-to-date with these artists through social media.
4. Jesus Culture – I find Jesus Culture to be a great resource for powerful songs from other artists. I’m not as much a fan of their original music, but always find myself leading songs they’ve covered and made their own.
5. Worship Leader Song Discovery – What I like about Song Discovery is it offers songs from lesser-known artists. But this can also be its downfall, as there can be a number of weaker songs.
6. Original Music – One of the best ways to discover new music may be within your own heart. God is raising up songwriters to serve churches. Don’t disqualify yourself. For more on this, pick up my book The Worship Songwriter.
OK, now it’s your turn.
Where do you discover new music?
Who are your trusted artists?
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
Since worship is the best way for me to be refreshed, I’m always on the hunt for new music. Though you have a solid list of resources, I’d like to add one: hymns. I’m enjoying the trend of “modernizing” hymns. The words are already there. Add an easy to sing chorus and/or bridge and you’ve got a beautiful, theologically sound song. Of course not every hymn lends itself to being modernized; you need to be selective.
One source I’ve found to not be so good that’s on your list is original music. Most of my experience in this area is disastrous. Just because you’re a worship leader doesn’t mean you can write a song for a worship set. And I think the problem is found in the reason for writing the song. Instead of wanting to glorify God, instead of being invested in exploring the wonder of God, worship leaders want to write THE SONG, the next How Great is Our God or 10,000 Reasons. The result is a song ok for a solo album but not Sunday morning worship. I’m not sure what the answer is to that.
Holly, thanks for bringing up hymns. How do you know which hymn is a good one to “modernize”? Is there a certain criteria you have? Also – you’re right about original songs. Just because you wrote it doesn’t mean it’s a good worship song. But you also don’t want to disqualify your songs. There may be a gift there that needs uncovered and developed, you know?
You’re right about the original music. Someone may have a gift for writing that needs exploration. I like the way you emphasize the worship leader’s heart for The Lord above their job. Maybe that’s the deciding factor.
As for the hymns, I have a handful of cd’s from artists that are solely modernized hymns. Not all of them would work well in a worship set, though. I look for ones that are 1) at least somewhat familiar, 2) have uplifting words (Day Is Dying In The West probably isn’t a good choice) and 3) are singable. Hillsong has a song called Cornerstone based on My Hope Is Built. It’s easy to sing and the words are phenomenal. Last week, we sang Come Thou Fount. Beautiful.
My all-time favorite may have to be the Passion Hymns: Ancient & Modern project. Loved that back in the day!
When you say that worship leaders are always posting their set lists on Twitter, I am new to Twitter. So can you advise me on who specifically to follow or is their a #hashtag that will help me find these kinds of things?
Melissa, oftentimes worship leaders will use the hashtag #worshipset or #sundaysetlist. Good question!
Great post David. A lot of us don’t have the muse, or the ability to write songs so we rely on the music that’s out there. All the resources you posted are very good, and I’m sure I can speak for a lot of worshippers when I say that we like to try and nail the songs as close to the recording as possible. If you say no you’re lying to yourself… (J/K) But still, I always try to nail the major parts of the song so we (as a worship band) can at least get the exact chords, progression, dynamics, etc.. even when you don’t have all the instruments present or available. For song choice I sometimes do the “random iTunes download” method and it seems to work just fine. By doing that I’ve downloaded C3 Church’s Send Down Your Love, SEU Worship’s No Other Name and some other bands I can’t remember right now. YouTube helps a lot as well. Lately there have been a lot of worship guitarists showing off their gear (guitars, amps, pedals) and a lot of churches have their own YouTube page where they show tutorials on how to do swells, riffs, and their own songs also. One last resource that works for me is Instagram. There’s a bunch of accounts that highlight worship guitarists and their gear like: @knowyourtone @toneheaven @tonefordays @gearaholics @pedalboardfrenzy @pedalboardpeople @pedalproject @worshipgear along with pedal case builders like @sigcustom @chekocases and pedal builders like @jhspedals I know they’ve highlighted or sponsored artists like Mutemath and John Mark McMillan.
Marlon, this is so great. I wish I would have mentioned youtube! Instagram is great, too. Thanks for the usernames. Helpful.
No problem David. Yeah, Youtube helps a whole lot.
I also like worshiptogether ‘Song Cafe’… they send the best of Tomlin, Passion, Redman & HIllsong. I also use Youtube & Itunes to check out Baloche, Planetshakers, Gateway Music and Integrity and find out the top tunes from their releases. I also check out CCLI’s top 200 and Praisecharts to see if I missed any tunes there..
Good stuff, Mark. I haven’t tuned into the Song Cafe in a while. Good songs there?
Yes, I haven’t done much with Song Cafe either for quite a while. Now I want to check it out!
I look at Worship the Rock website. They have a category for posting set lists for the week. It’s a helpful tool if putting a set list together is not your strength. It also has many circles you can join such as songwriters for constructive feedback on your song after you post it or for tips/help. Pretty neat website! Great for networking.