Hi, Was doing an interview kinda thing for some Australian Distributors recently and thought I'd share it in parts with you all as I thought some of it might be useful. Most of the questions are based on songwriting/copyright and publishing, the heart of a songwriter etc so here goes.
Part 1
The Heart of a Songwriter
The need and desire to put life experience i.e. the lessons we learn, the wisdom we gain, the sacrifices we make, the circumstances we find ourselves in, into words and melody that help move people, heal people and promote a response to a situation they find themselves in. Worship Songs? A desire to do all this and bring people before God in the midst of life to reveal something of who He is, what He has done, what He longs to do and what we desire to express to Him or commit to do as we live out a life that looks like the life Jesus lived. Simply: Songs that find the throne of God.
My heart as a songwriter is to take my experience of brokenness and healing and craft songs that allow others to move through life in all it’s pain, tragedy, joy and love, to a place of worship and praise. It is my hope as a songwriter that the words and melodies that come from my heart and voice will help connect people intimately with God - as a Father and as a Friend.
The heart of a Songwriter is OPEN. It allows God in, it allows people in, it shares itself in order that it would expand and grow in love.
Monday 6 June 2011
Friday 27 May 2011
The Last Year
So, it's been a while...
Over the last year a few big things have happened for me. I recorded the Lend Me Your Heart 3 track digital release which went out in August 2010 with great success. I then finished recording another 3 songs that would be the physical and digital release of 'Introducing Claire Hamilton'. The Introducing album was released in February this year and since then invitations are slowly coming in and the song 'Lend Me Your Heart' has already been re-recorded by Spring Harvest (which I'm so delighted about). There is also some other interest so that is soo encouraging for me. It's time to get writing again and get ready for a full length album.
In the midst of all this exciting I'm working in a full time job as a Music Teacher and so this is very much my hobby but something I am equally committed to. My job is where the lyrics of my songs get tested. It's where the Lord teaches me and gives me opportunity after opportunity to love, encourage, teach and make a difference. This is where the songs come from...not from simply leading worship at church, touring or gigging but by living life, working, committing myself to family, community and the local church.
I'll be sharing more on my blog over the next few months as I feel I have some stuff I want to share. I'm also writing for an Australian publication at the moment about songwriting, publishing, copyright, the heart of a songwriter and so those will be thoughts that I will publish here once I'm done.
I guess this is me re-introducing myself again and saying hello and get ready for some new posts. The next post I will share is my journey regarding worship leading this year and how and why I took a break.
Thanks for reading. Please pass on the link to my blog as I'd love to encourage and help equip other worshippers out there and share a bit more of our journey together.
Over the last year a few big things have happened for me. I recorded the Lend Me Your Heart 3 track digital release which went out in August 2010 with great success. I then finished recording another 3 songs that would be the physical and digital release of 'Introducing Claire Hamilton'. The Introducing album was released in February this year and since then invitations are slowly coming in and the song 'Lend Me Your Heart' has already been re-recorded by Spring Harvest (which I'm so delighted about). There is also some other interest so that is soo encouraging for me. It's time to get writing again and get ready for a full length album.
In the midst of all this exciting I'm working in a full time job as a Music Teacher and so this is very much my hobby but something I am equally committed to. My job is where the lyrics of my songs get tested. It's where the Lord teaches me and gives me opportunity after opportunity to love, encourage, teach and make a difference. This is where the songs come from...not from simply leading worship at church, touring or gigging but by living life, working, committing myself to family, community and the local church.
I'll be sharing more on my blog over the next few months as I feel I have some stuff I want to share. I'm also writing for an Australian publication at the moment about songwriting, publishing, copyright, the heart of a songwriter and so those will be thoughts that I will publish here once I'm done.
I guess this is me re-introducing myself again and saying hello and get ready for some new posts. The next post I will share is my journey regarding worship leading this year and how and why I took a break.
Thanks for reading. Please pass on the link to my blog as I'd love to encourage and help equip other worshippers out there and share a bit more of our journey together.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters
Hi,
I've just been contemplating this evening whilst learning some songs for some lovely session work with a friend and having a meal with my husband whilst chatting about life. I've been thinking about the 'success' of many of my friends who happen to also work in the worship industry.
It's such a privilege to be involved in leading worship.
It's such an unbelievable joy to work with other people (specifically those involved in recording and working with a record company) who aren't concerned about who might become more famous but who just want to simply worship the Lord and collaborate with others in the process. It expands my heart. It is good to be overwhelmed with love at times.
It's an honour for me to promote the people around me I love: Johnny Parks - true friend, fantastic songwriter, amazing thinker, truly humble, head screwed on!!!! A lesson to me in integriy! The Rend Collective Experiment - great songs, great guys, great hearts, great support and great creativity! (and kinda my band too! Thanks guys!), Brian Houston - charisma, great songwriter, a father of sorts. Kathryn Scott - lovely lovely friend, great role model, priorities in place, huge anointing, heart for the Lord that inspires me, example in purity and loveliness! Aaron Keyes - a lesson in pastoral care! a lesson in encouragement!
It might seem weird to list people in this way but these are my friends. To some they may be more famous and to others their names don't mean much but to me they mean a great deal because I've found people to work alongside who inspire me to walk a deeper walk with my Father. I'm genuinely thankful and trust that when you have the privilege of being led in worship by any of them or the countless others who lead, that you too will honour the work they put in to bringing you into the presence of the Lord. Some of these guys are in Ireland and some in other parts of the world but we are family. Our heart is to see people worship the Lord and know him more deeply. It is good to honour our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters!
God Bless
Claire
I've just been contemplating this evening whilst learning some songs for some lovely session work with a friend and having a meal with my husband whilst chatting about life. I've been thinking about the 'success' of many of my friends who happen to also work in the worship industry.
It's such a privilege to be involved in leading worship.
It's such an unbelievable joy to work with other people (specifically those involved in recording and working with a record company) who aren't concerned about who might become more famous but who just want to simply worship the Lord and collaborate with others in the process. It expands my heart. It is good to be overwhelmed with love at times.
It's an honour for me to promote the people around me I love: Johnny Parks - true friend, fantastic songwriter, amazing thinker, truly humble, head screwed on!!!! A lesson to me in integriy! The Rend Collective Experiment - great songs, great guys, great hearts, great support and great creativity! (and kinda my band too! Thanks guys!), Brian Houston - charisma, great songwriter, a father of sorts. Kathryn Scott - lovely lovely friend, great role model, priorities in place, huge anointing, heart for the Lord that inspires me, example in purity and loveliness! Aaron Keyes - a lesson in pastoral care! a lesson in encouragement!
It might seem weird to list people in this way but these are my friends. To some they may be more famous and to others their names don't mean much but to me they mean a great deal because I've found people to work alongside who inspire me to walk a deeper walk with my Father. I'm genuinely thankful and trust that when you have the privilege of being led in worship by any of them or the countless others who lead, that you too will honour the work they put in to bringing you into the presence of the Lord. Some of these guys are in Ireland and some in other parts of the world but we are family. Our heart is to see people worship the Lord and know him more deeply. It is good to honour our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters!
God Bless
Claire
Sunday 18 April 2010
Preparation for leading
There are many expectations on us worship leaders: to perform; to bring something new, fresh, vibrant; to satisfy the requirements of our audience who do indeed expect high standards; to live as examples of worship - pure, spotless, humble, talented, sacrificial, gentle, strong, resilient; to write songs without cliché or triteness; to play better than before; to lead with vision, strength, integrity and purpose.
So with all this in mind I consider leading worship in my local church. How can I prepare to lead worship with all these expectations of both myself and the congregation whirling round my mind?
Humility.
Not humility so that I can achieve all of the above. Humility to recognise that I am simply a child of God longing to worship my Father and praying that as I do, others will meet him to.
Simplicity.
Today I'm starting with James 1:21
"So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls."
My belief is that God is the author; he is more able to write the worship story for every individual I have the privilege of leading in worship, than any worship leader, band, pastor or ministry team. So today I fix my eyes on Him and humbly ask Him to write a beautiful story of worship in the lives my church community.
So with all this in mind I consider leading worship in my local church. How can I prepare to lead worship with all these expectations of both myself and the congregation whirling round my mind?
Humility.
Not humility so that I can achieve all of the above. Humility to recognise that I am simply a child of God longing to worship my Father and praying that as I do, others will meet him to.
Simplicity.
Today I'm starting with James 1:21
"So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls."
My belief is that God is the author; he is more able to write the worship story for every individual I have the privilege of leading in worship, than any worship leader, band, pastor or ministry team. So today I fix my eyes on Him and humbly ask Him to write a beautiful story of worship in the lives my church community.
Sunday 31 January 2010
The Plan
I trust that you are all well. I thought it’d be great to share with you some of my plans for this year.
So…to cut a long story short…I am going to be working with Survivor Records with the intention of doing a number of recordings this year. Songs will be available to download and then later in the year you can buy the CD. It is a very exciting time for me and probably time to sit down and do some work. I will start the recording process in February and will fill you in throughout the process.
Thanks
Claire
So…to cut a long story short…I am going to be working with Survivor Records with the intention of doing a number of recordings this year. Songs will be available to download and then later in the year you can buy the CD. It is a very exciting time for me and probably time to sit down and do some work. I will start the recording process in February and will fill you in throughout the process.
Thanks
Claire
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Update
Hi everyone,
Since going back to teaching after a year’s career break life has been FULL ON! I’ve been leading worship at Kingdom Culture, Dublin, supporting Mark Tedder when he visited Northern Ireland in the Autumn, and playing the odd few gigs with local singer/songwriter/musician Brian Houston. I’m still playing for the JohnnyParksBand and I’ve played a few times with Eoghan Heaslip including New Wine Ireland and Mission Worship, Eastbourne (back in November). More recently I have started playing for the Rend Collective Experiment…and as I write this I wonder am I far too busy? How do I get time to do my day job?
It has been an amazing journey over these last number of months and I am even more delighted and excited about starting to lead worship in CFC, Belfast (my home church). This is really where everything flows from and so I am grateful to this local family for welcoming me in.
I’ve been writing lots of songs and getting to co-write with some fantastic people and there’s more of that to come. It’s such a gift writing with other people and such a fantastic opportunity to hone the gift of songwriting that we’ve been given. I hope this time results in songs that bless, encourage, strengthen, bring healing and maybe even awaken us (the church) to things we’ve needed stirred up again.
The next year promises to be full, challenging, enriching and very exciting. I am going to be involved in a variety of projects and conferences which will be listed in the events section of my page. I hope that you can come along and that you will introduce yourself if we haven’t already met.
I'm going to start blogging again so I hope you'll get involved in the discussions!
Godbless
Claire
Since going back to teaching after a year’s career break life has been FULL ON! I’ve been leading worship at Kingdom Culture, Dublin, supporting Mark Tedder when he visited Northern Ireland in the Autumn, and playing the odd few gigs with local singer/songwriter/musician Brian Houston. I’m still playing for the JohnnyParksBand and I’ve played a few times with Eoghan Heaslip including New Wine Ireland and Mission Worship, Eastbourne (back in November). More recently I have started playing for the Rend Collective Experiment…and as I write this I wonder am I far too busy? How do I get time to do my day job?
It has been an amazing journey over these last number of months and I am even more delighted and excited about starting to lead worship in CFC, Belfast (my home church). This is really where everything flows from and so I am grateful to this local family for welcoming me in.
I’ve been writing lots of songs and getting to co-write with some fantastic people and there’s more of that to come. It’s such a gift writing with other people and such a fantastic opportunity to hone the gift of songwriting that we’ve been given. I hope this time results in songs that bless, encourage, strengthen, bring healing and maybe even awaken us (the church) to things we’ve needed stirred up again.
The next year promises to be full, challenging, enriching and very exciting. I am going to be involved in a variety of projects and conferences which will be listed in the events section of my page. I hope that you can come along and that you will introduce yourself if we haven’t already met.
I'm going to start blogging again so I hope you'll get involved in the discussions!
Godbless
Claire
Blog
Hi everyone,
Updates and a variety of discussion topics centred round worship will be commencing again on my blog. You can read these on my fanpage or can go directly to my blog at:
http://clairehamilton.blogspot.com
Thanks
Claire
Updates and a variety of discussion topics centred round worship will be commencing again on my blog. You can read these on my fanpage or can go directly to my blog at:
http://clairehamilton.blogspot.com
Thanks
Claire
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)