Songwriting Ideas : Part 1

Its hard to put a blueprint on songwriting because it is such a personal thing.
There are so many different ways to go about it but these are a few things that have worked for me.

When I decide I want to write a song it's usually on a whim. I hardly ever set out a time and date to write a song. Sometimes that occurs, especially with a co-write, but for the most part on a solo song I will just get alone at a random time of inspiration.

The part to watch for is just that though, inspiration.

Its good to try and carry something you can write with just in case that happens. (notebook, journal, phone, laptop) Write whatever it is that comes to your mind down and then think on it until you can get alone.

Once you have a main idea for a song then try doing a couple different things. Just start playing a simple progression that you can obviously change later if need be. Just sing!! If its a worship song then obviously you wanted it to come out of a real place of worship. Example: when a husband tells his wife she is pretty every day with no other adjectives it might get old and she might not believe it the 30th time like she did the 1st time.

Think about your life and the things you have been through that God has saved you from or brought you out of and relate it to the topic at hand in a new refreshing way. Try and change your mindset on how you explain things. If you were talking about the sky or ocean say something different than what everyone thinks of off hand, imagine you are explaining it to a blind person (someone who hasn’t seen what you have seen).

It's the same way with worship songs.

Get alone in His presence and He will show you things no one else has seen and then you can relate it to His people. On the flip side of the table is the part where we use our creative ideas given to us by God to make something up about God. What does this mean? It means you have the ability to write not only something God shows you but also something that you feel towards Him. Like I mentioned, using different adjectives to describe the beauty of a wife, we need to find different ways to describe God.

http://chrismartin.us

Whats been happening!

It has been a while since I have had a chance to sit down and write out everything that has been going on the last few months.

If you haven’t been able to follow recently, I was in a competition online to ultimately be in a band managed by Johnny Wright out in L.A..  There were several thousand people who tried out for this and I thought it was a pretty cool idea just to throw out my audition for fun.  I never thought that I would even hear anything back at all, but I was wrong.  Throughout the process of writing songs, changing some style, dancing and an assortment of other things, I quickly realized how much amazing support I had from my friends, family and the people I’ve built relationships with over the years.  I never realized how much support you can gain just from facebook and twitter! Hah!  

I went through countless things that seriously stretched me to a place where I wanted to quit several times, but knowing I had all of your support I knew I needed to stick it out.  You guys seriously helped me stay determined through everything and I can't express how much I appreciate everything you have done!  

Against all odds I made it through 3 months of grueling challenges to stay in the competition (view my progress in the challenges here: http://onthespot.cambio.com/profile/jarofclay01/), but in the end I was one of 11 contestants to make it to Los Angeles.  I met countless people who I had only ever seen on tv or heard of through a grape vines grape vine.  We worked with people like Doc Holliday, Candece Cambell, and John Taylor. Even though I was finally among some of the most well known people in the music business and they were teaching me and showing me ways to be better (a dream many musicians have) I still felt totally weirded out being there.  I knew from the minute I got off the plane that I didn't belong and couldn't wait to get back to Dallas! At this point I really had no ambition to be there or to win but I stuck it out, remained committed and trusted that in the end, God would work it all out. I knew that just being there was a great learning opportunity and took it as so.  

On the last day of the training camp, the final decision of who would be in the band was being made (view here: http://t.co/NMZZWoH ).  Before we started our last performance and last chance to sway the judges decisions in our favor, two of the contestants bailed out, along with one other guy who did the same thing the first day.  In the end I didn't make the band, BUT I was the only one who didn't quit or didn't make it, so I feel good about the way things played out.  I don't ever quit something I have seriously committed to doing and I trust that in the end it’ll all work out for the best.

Now you may be thinking, "What are you going to be doing now?"  That’s the best part!  For about 13 years I have wanted to be a full-time musician, but I have always had a strange tugging between two worlds.  I grew up with a love for worship music like no other.  I would sit in my room for hours and listen to early Passion or Hillsong albums and just worship.  Later on I found this awesome school called Christ For The Nations and it was there that music took me to a new place in God's presence that I hadn't been before.  During this entire time I was also a lover of music that wasn't part of the “worship” genre, so I began playing music that I believe has familiar ground in both worlds.  For a long time this confused me because I wasn't sure what I was called to do.  Was I supposed to be a worship leader, or was I supposed to play more positive music that would capture the attention of the world?  

After being out in LA and seriously having some alone time with Jesus, it all made sense.  The answer is “both”. Why not? Who says I can't write music that pleases Gods ear and Peoples ears?  This is the way I was created and these are the things that I love so I will do both!  Now I have come home with a new mindset and a new desire to chase the things I am called to now more than ever.  I have met up with the members of my band and have set into place a manager to take care of a lot of the details for event planning and traveling.  I have a goal and I can see the trail I am to run on, not just a big open field.  

If you are interested in bringing my band and I to do a Night Of Worship OR a concert of original music, please let me know and we will be there!

You can check out my website at chrismartin.us and it has all the details for booking information.  

I look forward to hearing from you and keeping in touch with each of you.
Thank you for your support!

- Chris Martin

What Now? (Things are strange)

    

Well it has been a little over a month now since my last posting.  I would like to say it’s because I have been so busy that I haven't had time but the truth is I have been so bored I haven't had the motivation.  Don't look at my words with those condescending eyes of yours, you know you have felt the same way before.  I left off on my last blog talking about the album release party that was coming up and giving up the right to hold onto anything in my life as "mine".  Well now it has been a month, the smoke and gold dust have dwindled and suddenly I can actually see myself clearly in the mirror.
          Now that schools around the country have officially started back for their spring semesters and all my friends are gone during the day, I suddenly feel quite strange.  I am not forced to get up early and attend class and I don't have an enormous school bill that is yelling at me every month (YET), but things are strange.  I am going to finish my college degree in the fall of this year but as of right now I have been incognito and things are strange.  So now I am faced with two options and I could use your help in the decision making even though I know then one that I need to choose already.  

1. Take the one semester I have off (in between the 3 years I just completed at one school and the 2 more years I will complete at this other school) to relax and not stress out.  You know just take a breather and set myself up for school in 6 months, this way I will "totally be ready for whatever comes my way"....or....

2.  Act my age.

These are two thoughts in one that I had today ...."It’s so hard to choose to be responsible and to stick with it when there is no driving force behind you pushing you every single day",  and that is when it hit me....."What has my driving force really been all this time? "I thought it was my relationship with God but was I fooling myself?”

Being out of school I realize how much I was being pushed by its momentum and was totally unaware of the fact that I may have been walking when I thought I was running.  When everyone around you is moving at a high pace you just automatically do the same.  But when you are no longer trying to stick with the crowd or the direction that they are moving in it is very easy to become sluggish and slow......... Maybe that is why old people keep having all these body problems and are always angry?  They all talk about how bad life is getting and what's hurting most this month more than what hurt a lot last month.  They all start slowing down in momentum and noticing all the horrible things in life rather than the good.  Props to the older people who still keep a smile on their face and look to the positive.  I think when I get old I am still going to hangout with college kids on the weekends, that way if I die it will be doing something worth dying over. lol  Like cliff jumping...(Sorry that was a rabbit trail)

So now I am going to get up early and continue spending time with Jesus (which I have been doing but it has just been at like 10 am hahaha) and not let this whole semester slip by only to look back and say I accomplished nothing.

Please if you are in a spot where you don't have to run, run.  Because everything you encounter that puts a desire in you to run was started by someone who was running before you.  – That’s my 2 cents of the day

Chris

PS The album is still for sale :)

http://www.amazon.com/One-More-Second-Try/dp/B004EXDYVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1295502454&sr=8-1

Release - "I am giving up"

Release : to allow to be known, issued, done, or exhibited: to release an article for publication. ALSO - to give up, relinquish, or surrender.

I was thinking about this word today because it is coming into play with much of my daily interaction especially my thought process this month.  In 7 days from today I am having a release party for my debut solo album.  I have been working on this for 6 years in some form or fashion and its kinda strange seeing it all come into play.  I choose not to say that it is coming to an end because I believe that this is just the beginning.  When you release something its supposed to go out into the world and hopefully keep going.  When reading the actual definition of this word al lot of things came through my mind.  One of the synonyms used to describe "release" was "Give Up".  This word struck me because its exactly how I have been feeling.  I am in the midst of "Giving up" a lot of things in my life.  I am two weeks away from graduating my Advanced School of Worship and Technical Arts at Christ for the Nations. 
          This place has been my home and I have grown to know and love many people here.  I know a lot about this place. When you are somewhere for a long period of time you start to notice everything about it.  I would have a million places to hide if we were to throw down with some "Hide and Seek" and I can tell whats for lunch (by the smell alone) before I even walk into the doors of the Christian Center.  I know most everyone that passes by me in one way or another and I have grown closer to a lot of the staff members than I ever thought I would have.  But in two weeks I am off to a new chapter in my life and I will be giving up the things I have grown to know and love here.  I will always have my memories but I know things change and when I come back years into my future I am sure I will to have that awkward feeling of uneasy unfamiliarity in my stomach. Who are all these people? Where did that wall go? What happened to so in so that was teaching such and such? When did Dr. Seif grow a mustache? When did they start letting students wear jeans? {HINT HINT}
          Back to Releasing; the album that is coming out is a huge part of my life and reflects a lot of ways that I view life.  As you can imagine that's a scary thing to release into the public.  That old thought keeps trying to pop into my mind, "What if people don't like this?"  It takes me back to when I was 16 and I got the nerve up to show my youth pastor my first real song.  Or that time I was in 6th grade and had to play Linus in the school play with my very own dance/singing solo.  Its a personal thing to share your thoughts to the world.  But I keep coming back to those two words, "Give up". 
          "Giving up" - so commonly viewed as a derogatory statement without the potential for good, in my opinion.  We are trained that way from day one.  Everything we seem to know in our modern culture revolves around being first or winning or pushing ahead even at the expense of others.  I started thinking about it and Jesus and His "theology" was obviously the total opposite.  He always gave up and always FOR the expense of others.  He gave up his life so that we might gain one.  He was never worried about what others thought about what He thought.  He knew what He spoke was the truth and when you have an absolute there is no way around it.  So in the end I have decided to give up not only my ideals and thoughts to you but also the right to weather or not you will enjoy and agree with them.  I want to live with the intent of changing my world for the one who changed mine and I know that the words and music that have gone into this album are total truth.  I love you guys and thanks for staying involved with what is going on in my life.

Chris Martin
Order "One More Second Try" right now!
http://www.cfni.org/store/cfnmusic/index.php?cPath=21_152

Album Release Party - December 7th @ Christ for the Nations
Album Official Release - December 10th @ Christ for the Nations (Night of Worship)

What's New? In the Blue!

          So its basically one week after the completion of my debut album "One More Second Try" and I have to tell you, I am ecstatic!  It has been a long two months but now looking back through all the late nights and early mornings, its all been worth it.  I guess that's how anything you work hard for is at the end of the road.  It usually starts out fun and exciting and you can't wait for day one, but then throughout the process things take a tole on you and its easy to grow tired and weary and begin to miss those days where you were lackadaisical and didn't have a care in the world.  There were several times where I was so tired I didn't think I could make it.  On top of recording an album I have been leading worship at an awesome church called Lakepointe Church, leading a student worship team here at school, working with CFN Music during the day and  going to school full time.  There were countless days where I was running on 4 hrs or less of sleep and if you know me then that's not a good thing!!!  I have this thing where if I don't get at least 6 hours of sleep (And that's pushing it) then I turn into this green monster and terrorise the surroundings at hand.
          Through all of this I began to really just pay attention to the lyrics to my songs and one song that really continues to help me out is "In the Blue".  This song is a story about a girl who leaves her home and her familiar surroundings  in chase of a bigger and better life.  She is obviously frustrated with where she is and believes that her true home is "out there in the blue".  She moves out to the "Big Screen" city only to find she had everything she ever wanted back home where she came from.  So in the midst of reading over the actual lyrics of the song and being frustrated due to a lack of sleep, budgets, deadlines and an array of other things I found myself listening to my owns words, looking into the mirror you might say.  Home is right here in the midst of the chaos.  So that's what I hope this blog relays to you.  Even when you have come to the end of the rope, kids are going crazy, didn't get that promotion, car broke down, haven't found "the one" yet, and whatever else may bring you down. . . .take a few min and count your blessings cause one day you will look back and it will all seem trivial. 

Chris Martin

Album Release is December 10th, 2010 - following the release party December 7th, 2010
You are Invited! Details to Come........

My First Life Goal Completed

So this has been the most intense, hectic, exhausting, rewarding and uplifting time of my entire life.  I went from going straight home after school to sit in my room and play my guitar all by myself and write songs I wasn’t sure anyone would ever hear; to writing and producing my first album in the matter of one year.  Things are going great and I still find myself stopping and really thinking about how I have always dreamed of doing this and never knew how it was going to happen.  It’s funny though, when you know God has called you to something and has continued to prove himself in his word, it’s hard to have any doubt if you are moving in that direction.  After submitting an application to work alongside Christ for the Nations in their first venture into supporting a mainstream artist, I was chosen.  Undeserving in every way I was humbled to step out onto this new path that God had lain in front of me.  

                2 years ago I was recording an album and traveling in a band called Della Rosa out of my home area in Nashville and the surrounding areas.  It was my first taste as a real musician and really opened my eyes up to what this business really is and how much work it takes to make it on your own.  We really worked hard at putting out good music and promoting ourselves to the local venues, connecting with people in the area, talking with labels and playing as much as possible. Through it all I was still missing something in it.  Though we put out music that blatantly glorified God and all that He was doing for us I still knew that my calling was in something else.  After talking with them about it and seeing their support even after all we had put into the band, I knew God was behind me as well as them.  I hit the road in my beat up 1996 Saturn Le that I had bought for 500 dollars.  Not knowing if I would make it to Dallas alive, I never felt more alive.  Since then I haven’t looked back.  I have been writing and serving everywhere I could just to chase this dream I have had in my heart so long.  Through all the painful sacrifice and lots of frustration I am starting to see Gods hand on my path.  I heard someone say “Anointing doesn’t rest on a PERSON but rather that persons CALLING. “  As soon as you step out of the calling God has placed on you than you step out of your anointing.  I have seen this play out from both perspectives in my own life and I am here to tell you first hand that following God’s plan for your life is the only thing to consider. 

Recently I have been working non-stop in the studio, setting up meetings for art design work, submitting lyrics to all the songs, figuring out web-design ideas and making contacts for booking after this whole CD pans out.  Last year at Christ for the Nations annual worship conference “Responding”, one of the guest speakers (Roland Worton) gave me a word that he felt the Lord give him.  He said this “In the near future God is going to be using you with worship throughout South America”.  This is great but if you had known that I was burdened with Brazil and had been praying that God would use me there for that entire year you might feel differently about it.  Last week, only 9 months from the word spoken over me I began setting up a 2 week tour across several very influential cities in Brazil.  This fell in my lap.  I didn’t go chasing it I only held onto the word God gave me this past year and continued to pray that God would make the way.  I started attending the weekly Brazilian Prayer meetings on Monday nights here on campus and continued to hang out with all my Brazilian friends so I could start picking up on Portuguese (Still working on that….eeek).  So in all of this I can only see Gods hand on this album and I know he is going to use it to touch many people, that hopefully being you and your friends and family, but also these Brazilian people God is sending me to!  Did I mention the Album comes out the day before I fly out to Brazil?  Yeah, tell me that’s not God!

I hope that you get a chance to get your hands on a copy of my FIRST album but please just know that through this whole process my desire is not to “have a CD” or to “Be the next big thing” I just want to use what God has anointed me to do, to impact my world.  My urge for you is to listen to that voice in your heart that is God’s calling on your life and to abandon all to chase after it with all you have. 

Jesus Bless You,

Chris Martin

Here is an acoustic version of my single "Until the Day" that you can check out before you pick up the album on December 7th 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG8cwbZ2co4