Wikipedia:WikiProject Christian music/Structure

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to Christian music. WikiProject Christian Music is a project, created to help assemble editors interested in Christian music. The aim of this project is to standardize and improve articles related to Christian music and its sub-genres, as well as to create missing articles.

WikiProject Christian music is designed to improve:
 * Articles and lists about Christian music, Christian music artists, etc.
 * Biographies of Christian artists and groups.
 * The "standard" of Christian music articles.

This page contain their suggestions on Christian music article templates.

All articles must cite their sources. This is Wikipedia policy and beyond the control of this project, see Verifiability, Reliable sources. A discussion of Christian music oriented sources is at WikiProject Christian music/Sources.

Proposed structures

 * For the latest on the structure of an article about an artist, see Featured Music Project.

Solo artists
The proposed structure guideline for individual Christian artist is the following:

Christian artist name is a (nationality) Christian music singer (songwriter, keyboardist, etc.).

Early years
This is an OPTIONAL section to discuss early life (where they were born, went to school, etc). If there is not enough info to make a section, it should be included under ==Music career==. This information must be accompanied by verifiable sourcing. No POV's.

Music career
Some info about how he or she started, major relevant events, and general artist bio related to the music (personal bio is included below).

If there is enough information, the following sub-headings may be considered:

Music
The style of music, important albums, etc should be expressed here. This is also OPTIONAL with the same condition as above.

Influences
List artist’s influences only if found in verifiable print. Must state that the artist considers another artist or subject matter to be an influence. You may also list influence on other music styles, popular culture, or other noteworthy items if found in verifiable printed materials.

Personal life
Location of artist and family if only published in verifiable places! For groups of more than one person, keep this section limited or nonexistent (details should be on the respective group member's article).

Groups or bands
The proposed structure guideline for Christian music groups is the following:

Christian artist is a (nationality) Christian music group (band, choir, etc.).

Early years
This is an OPTIONAL section to discuss early years of the group before noted success occurred (where they were formed, how they were established, etc). If there is not enough info to make a section, it should be included under ==Musical career==.

Music career
Some info about how they started, major relevant events, and general group bio related to the music (personal bios should be included on the individual artists pages or in the ==Members== section below). If there is enough information, the following sub-headings should be considered:

Music
The style of music, important albums, etc should be expressed here. This is also OPTIONAL with the same condition as above.

Influences
The effect the group has had on the music industry (specifically Christian music or as a whole). You may also list influences on other music styles, popular culture, or other noteworthy items.

Members
A brief discussion of current group members. Personal bios should be included in this section if there is not enough information for an individual artist pages.

Albums
The proposed structure guideline for Christian music albums is the following:

Album title is a (nationality) Christian music album (DVD, video, etc.) released in (release year) by (Artist Name) on (record label).

Track listing
A track listing should generally be formatted as a numbered list.


 * 1) "Complete song title" (John Doe, Brian Smith) – 4:23
 * 2) *First verse: Name of rapper
 * 3) *Second verse: Name of rapper
 * 4) *Samples: Name of sample source (preferably, artist, song, album)
 * 5) "Complete song title" (Doe, Kelly Kalamazoo) – 3:24
 * 6) "Complete song title" (Doe, Kalamazoo, Smith, David Whitman) – 2:34

Personnel
Generally formatted as an unordered list of names and instruments, delimited by en dashes (see track listing section). Instruments should be written in lowercase, and linked on the first occurrence only. Remember to pipe the links if needed, for example "percussion" to percussion instrument and "keyboard" to keyboard instrument.


 * 1) Johnny Poe – guitar
 * 2) Sally Morris – glockenspiel, guitar, organ, kazoo

Certifications
An album's certification can be worked into the body of the article, or a table can be created if an album has achieved multiple certifications.

For more information and help on certifications, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Certifications.

Joining the WikiProject
It is hoped that the Wikiproject Christian music will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

If you feel that you can make a positive contribution to the project, become a member by joining the

. If you don't know what to write or where to begin, or if you have doubts or ideas on how to improve an article, please address the project's discussion forum.