What It Actually Means to Write a Byzantine Chant If you’ve been asking “how to write a byzantine chant,” the shortest answer is this: you create a monophonic, modal melody…
What Is Russian Orthodox Chant (and Why Writing One Differs From Singing One) Russian Orthodox chant is the a cappella, monodic sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church, built on…
What Is a Taizé Chant and How Do You Write One? A Taizé chant is a short, repetitious musical prayer rooted in the ecumenical Taizé Community of France, typically built…
What Makes a Song Sufi and How to Start Writing One To write an original Sufi song, start with a core theme of divine love or unity, frame it in…
What Are Zemirot, and How Do You Write Your Own? Zemirot (singular: zemer) are the traditional Jewish table hymns sung during Shabbat and festival meals. If you’re searching for how…
What Is a Nigun? The Straight Answer A nigun (plural nigunim) is a Jewish melodic tune, most often sung with wordless syllables like “bam” or “yai” to lift the spirit…
The Straight Answer: How to Write a Chant Melody That Actually Works If you want to know how to write a chant melody, here is the unvarnished core: strip away…
To write a gospel song, start with a first-person testimony of grace, loss, or deliverance, then set it to a simple I–IV–V chord progression in a swinging 4/4 or 6/8…
Writing sacred lyrics is not about swapping everyday words for ‘holy’ synonyms. It is the craft of shaping language so that a song becomes a vessel for reverence, awe, or…
Writing a spiritual song means pairing a reflective, transcendent message with music that supports contemplation—not necessarily a worship anthem for a congregation. In my 15 years of leading songw…