From the 2024 Archive
Keeping Scripture Singable Without Making It Smaller
The work is to preserve the passage's movement, not merely fit its famous words into a chorus.
Scripture-forward songwriting can fail in two directions. Quote too literally and the melody becomes a container with no point of view. Paraphrase too freely and the passage is reduced to a familiar religious mood.
The stronger approach follows the text's movement. A Psalm may begin in fear and end in trust; the harmony should notice the distance. An image may carry the theology more faithfully than a chorus built from isolated keywords.
Singability is not simplification. It is translation into breath, memory and a melody a room can keep.
