3 Things I Learned at the Co-Writeathon

1.Co-writing is not nearly as scary as it sounds

I had only done one official co-write before heading off to the retreat, so I was a little apprehensive going into it. I’ve been to plenty of classes and panels on the subject, but actually doing it was an entirely different experience. All those classes did come in handy though, especially a particular piece of advice I had heard from Ian about co-writing: “Dare to suck.” It really is good advice… to just throw out ideas and lines no matter how ridiculous you think they are. And of course, the quality and graciousness of the everyone made the sessions so much fun and nothing to be afraid of after all!

2. I am definitely more of a lyrics person than a melody person

As I said before, I pretty much write alone, so I’ve always written both lyric and melody. But as the years have gone by I have begun to suspect that I may be heavier on the lyrical side then melody, and this weekend confirmed that for me. Sitting down with those who are professed melody people absolutely blew me away. They put their fingers on the keys and gorgeous melodies just pour out of them. I may be able to crank out a decent melody now and then, but this weekend I found myself naturally gravitating away from the keyboard and back to my pen and pad. A great way to watch the body of Christ functioning with its various members and their gifts.

3. Any lyric sounds amazing if Maurice is singing it

I got to write with Maurice a bit, and I realized his voice can be very deceiving. You could write the most meaningless string of dribble but when he puts his melody and voice to it you think you’ve written a hit. I shared that with someone at the retreat (we won’t mention any names) and they said the true test of a lyric is to have Joel sing it, and if it still moves you then you know you it’s a great song!

I’d love to hear what others learned…


-Kristie