{"id":15666,"date":"2015-04-20T14:14:11","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=15666"},"modified":"2019-07-22T12:07:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:07:32","slug":"writing-modern-hymns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/writing-modern-hymns\/","title":{"rendered":"(Re)writing a modern hymn"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We ran a session at a recent training day called “Modern hymns: how are they different? How to (re)write one”.<\/p>\n

Here are a few snippets from the session together with some of the new verses composed by our delegates for the hymn “Breathe on me, breath of God”.<\/p>\n

4 categories of modern hymn<\/h2>\n

Modern hymns tend to fall into one of four categories:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. New arrangement such as David Crowder’s All Creatures of Our God and King<\/li>\n
  2. Added chorus such as Chris Tomlin’s Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)<\/li>\n
  3. Completely rewritten tune such as Cornerstone (also adds\/changes the chorus) and Stuart Townend’s It is Well With My Soul<\/li>\n
  4. Brand new hymn such as Stuart Townend’s In Christ Alone<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How are modern hymns different?<\/h2>\n

    Congregations often love modern hymns. The hymn-like structure suits the “older” clientele who grew up singing Wesley, Watts and Crosby (Fanny Crosby is inexplicably absent from Wikipedia’s list of hymn writers<\/a>). Features of modern hymns include:<\/p>\n