HSU Students Develop Songwriting Skills Through Worship Workshop

Hardin-Simmons University students spent two days sharpening their songwriting abilities and exploring the unique role of music in ministry during a songwriting workshop led by Nashville producer and songwriter Chris Clayton.

Hosted by Tiffany Stotts, assistant professor of Worship Leadership, the workshop brought together students interested in writing music for the Church and for the Hardin-Simmons community. Through four focused sessions, Clayton guided students through the creative and practical aspects of songwriting, covering topics such as Why We Write Worship Songs, Song Mapping and Song Structure, Lyrics and Melody in Worship, and Song Publishing and Administration.

The workshop combined classroom instruction with hands-on collaboration. Mornings were dedicated to teaching, while afternoons gave students opportunities to work in groups, brainstorm ideas, and begin writing original songs.

At the conclusion of the two-day event, students presented the songs they had developed during a showcase.

For Clayton, investing in young songwriters is an important part of his calling.

“Someone was kind enough to invest in me as a songwriter when I first started at their age,” Clayton said. “How do I keep passing that torch to them and continue that legacy? Because there are more songs to be written.”

He said his hope is that students leave with confidence in both their abilities and their calling.

“Practically, just confidence that they can write songs, that they have something to say, that there’s still plenty to say about the character and nature of who God is,” Clayton said.

For Stotts, the workshop is part of a larger effort to continue developing music that reflects the spiritual life and experiences of the HSU community.

Over the past several years, HSU Worship has written and released three original songs. As new students have joined the program, Stotts saw an opportunity to help them move from ideas and inspiration to a structured songwriting process.

“We’ve brought in a lot of new students with a lot of ideas, but we haven’t ever had a really set way of taking those ideas from just a thought to what do we do next,” Stotts said. “How do we write together? How do we write specifically for Hardin-Simmons?”

Rather than simply creating more music, Stotts emphasized the importance of writing songs that speak directly to the university’s unique context and community.

“These students pretty much live here for the four years that they’re here,” she said. “They’re in the conversations, they’re in chapel, they’re in classes. They know more than anybody what our students are walking through. If we can serve the university in that way by writing songs about God for HSU, that’s what we want to do.”

Stotts, who has known Clayton since he served as one of her professors in college, described the workshop as an opportunity for students to learn from someone with extensive experience in worship songwriting and production.

“Chris is really a unique person in the field of writing for the church,” Stotts said. “These last two days were him just downloading everything from his brain. This is how you structure songs. This is how you write together. This is how you make sure things are theologically sound and easy to sing.”

The workshop represents another step forward for HSU Worship as students continue developing original music that reflects the mission, faith, and experiences of the Hardin-Simmons community. Organizers hope the songs started during the workshop will continue to be refined in the months ahead and could ultimately become future releases from the HSU Worship team.