Dear saints,
One of the most enjoyable parts of the EYPC every year is the presentation of newly composed songs. These songs become a gift, so to say, to the saints in the recovery as they facilitate more enjoyment of Christ. Even some of the songs that we will be singing this year during the EYPCO were composed during the EYPC last year.
Beginning this weekend, any songs which you will compose can be submitted here. The final deadline for submitting songs is Monday, 10 August and the top songs will be presented during Part 4 of the EYPCO on Saturday, 29 August.
You can also view the song composition video through the Conference Portal.
Practical points to consider when composing a new song:
- Make sure your tune facilitates the release of the spirit or outpouring of the saints’ love for the Lord.
- You can compose a song using your own words, verses from the Bible, outline points, or portions from the spoken messages.
- Make sure your tune and the content of the song match each other in a good way.
- Singability is very important. The song should be easy for the saints to learn without “tricky” spots. Another thing to watch out for is similar words which repeat themselves in the same song. If similar (but not exact) phrases are repeated but have the same tune, it can be confusing to the saints when singing.
- As much as possible, try to keep the meter of your stanzas the same. What is meter? A hymn’s meter indicates how many syllables are in each line of the hymn. If you open a LSM hymnal, you’ll see that most of the hymns have the meter indicated at the top of the hymn. For example, if a hymn’s meter is 8.6.8.6., that means the first line of each stanza has 8 syllables, the second line has 6 syllables, and so on.
Once you have your tune, see what the meter is, and if you have more than one stanza in your song, try your best to make sure the meter is the same for each stanza. This will make your song more “singable.” - For the sake of your song being translated into other languages, it doesn’t hurt to have a repetition of certain words or lines in your song. This makes it easier to translate your song into other languages. Often words in other languages have more syllables than words in English. For example, in the song “If we have an affectionate love, an affectionate love for the Lord Jesus,” the repetition of the words “an affectionate love” gives the translators more flexibility when translating the song into their language.
If you would like to join this year’s song composition activity, please start as soon as possible! The composition is not connected to your activity group, so you will have to use your own spare time to compose, sing, and record. Follow these three steps:
- Make notes on the conference messages. This will aid you in creating your song.
- Start composing your song during and after this weekend (individually or with a companion).
- When completed, submit an individual (or small group) recording of your song by Monday, 10 August at 12:00pm CEST using this link. The top 10 songs (approximately) will be chosen.
- If your song is chosen, you will need to record the final instrumental backing track and virtually gather a group of saints to sing your song. We will help you do a group recording using phone microphones and some audio editing software. This has proven to work quite well. More information will be emailed to you, so please check your inbox!
- The songs will be played during Part 4 of the conference; however, it is possible that some songs may be presented during Part 3 of the EYPCO, if submitted by Lord’s Day, 02 August at 08:00am CEST.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God (Col. 3:16)!
EYPCO Serving Saints