Church Music Workshop Devotional Address (BYU, 1998 – Excerpts)
I grew up loving music. My home was filled with it. My grandpa had me convinced at age 3 that every meadowlark was singing “Jani is a pretty little girl,” and my grandmother often sang sweet little folk songs for me. My own parents played in a dance band for 30 years-wonderful, toe-tapping music that everyone loved. Mother wrote and produced musicals for our church and community and taught her children to play the piano and enjoy singing. Music always felt good to me! When Dad came in from his farm work each day, he sat back in his easy chair and asked Mother to play for him. As she played her swing music from the dance band, or hymns, I had a peaceful feeling that all was well.
I’m thankful to belong to a church that values music and understands its power. I am inspired by the Hymnbook and the Children’s Songbook-works of true art and inspiration. They are almost as scripture to me and I deeply appreciate the writers who have given expression to the spiritual emotions of church members. Regarding my assignment here today, my prayers have led me to a desire to speak about the power of simple music in our lives and worship.
A few years ago a speaker at the Church Music Workshop, Minnie Hodapp, said: “I’m not in rebellion against the fine musicians. But as we admire orchids and roses, we also love sunflowers, asters and wayside offerings.” I appreciate and respect great composers and their works and have been generously exposed to them through my years in BYU choruses, bands, and orchestras and in my last five years as a member of the Tabernacle Choir. Nevertheless, today I just want to offer one sincere voice in praise of simplicity and the idea that sometimes, in music, “less can be more.” President Kimball once said, “The message from and about Jesus Christ is so crucial to mankind that it was and is essential for that message to be kept exceedingly simple.”
Elder Packer offers this strong statement:
“Some of our most gifted people struggle to produce a work of art, hoping it will be
described by the world as a masterpiece! Monumental! Epic! When in truth the simple
I am a Child of God’ has moved and will move more souls to salvation than would
such a work were they to succeed (Boyd K. Packer, The Arts and the Spirit of the
Lord, BYU, 1976, p. 585)
The power of music seems to defy description. We know that the words, the melodies, and the rhythm combine to affect us profoundly, but how? We may never be able to answer that question satisfactorily, but perhaps Brigham Young told us all we need to know when he said: “The Lord, Himself, gave us the capacity to enjoy musical sounds.” Elder Packer adds: “We are able to feel and learn very quickly through music… some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.” (p.577)
I had my formal training in music at BYU?in the late 1950’s. Then during the next twenty years I used that training only in our home with our own children, and in church callings. As I was approaching 40 our bishop asked me to write original music for a ward roadshow and I soon found that I loved writing and wanted to continue. I gave serious thought to what kind of music I wanted to write. I realized that very simple music had moved me most through my life-such songs as I am a Child of God, and When He Comes Again-music that looks so simple on the page, but is so profound in its meaning. I set my heart on adding to this simple music and have found the task very fulfilling.
I remember a specific night in 1976 when I composed my first gospel song. I knelt by the piano bench and offered a humble, direct prayer for guidance in my writing and then listened some time for the answer. The phrase “I’ll Follow Jesus” came into my mind and I loved the simple directness of that declaration. I wrote the first verse and chorus and a simple piano accompaniment, then I played and sang it over and over, finding unexpected joy in setting my testimony to music. I’m not sure any song since that first one has ever caused such a unique stirring inside of me. During the ensuing years my joy in writing simple gospel songs has only increased.
I’ll follow Jesus, I love His ways
I want to be a child of His thru all my days
And though I slip and fall, I’ll rise again
I’ll follow Jesus and be true to Him.
Since I had two months or so to ponder today’s assignment I decided to just be very aware during these 8 weeks of any experience I heard of or had myself where someone was touched by hymns and children’s songs of the church. I was surprised at how abundant these experiences were during that short period of time. Time will only permit the mention of 6 experiences:
One
I call my brother, Jack, weekly. One day last month he said, “Don’t you love the hymns!” Then he related the following experience:
Two years ago he had gone fishing in the High Uintahs with a friend who had been inactive in the church for years. Sitting in absolute silence by a lake with their lines cast in, the inactive friend said “I remember one hymn from my childhood-something about earth being accountable for Joseph Smith’s death.”
Jack said, “Do you mean Praise to the Man’?”
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<hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ />0001pt; text-indent: 25.2pt;” class=”yiv164344544msonormal”>“Yes, that’s it-do you know it?”
“Yes, I do. I know all four verses.”
“Will you sing it for me?”
Then he listened as Jack sang all four verses:
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah
Jesus anointed that prophet and seer
Blessed to open the last dispensation
Kings shall extol him and nations revere.
As the song ended, the friend turned his face away with tears in his eyes. Jack said, “The best part is that it’s all true.”
“Yes, it probably is,” replied his friend. They didn’t see each other for two years but their reunion was a joyful one as the friend had come back into full activity after the fishing trip. In that setting, and at the right time, the hymn had great power.
Two
My brother recently returned from a church history tour. He was appointed as music director for the tour and on the last day they decided to sing all the Primary songs they remembered from their childhood. This group of saints, mostly in their 50’s and 60’s, sang on for over 45 minutes, remembering all the words from 40 or 50 years ago. Some commented that much of their testimony was based on simple songs, such as Jesus Once Was a Little Child, Oh Hush There My Baby, and Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam.
Three
I just completed a three week European Tour with the Tabernacle Choir which performed some great music literature in the finest opera halls in Europe. Still, I always felt we saved the best for last when we sang I Am a Child of God as an encore. The non-member tenor soloist who traveled with the choir was overheard to say one evening that he felt we reached the audience in a special way when we sang the simple songs in their language-he saw it in their countenances and felt it in their response.
During our final concert in Lisbon, my husband stood in the highest balcony observing the concert. He noticed a girl and her grandmother enjoying the concert but during the encore, as I Am a Child of God was sung in their Portuguese tongue, they hugged each other and wept openly.
Four
I often think about my Tabernacle choir experience and all the wonderful music we have performed. I looked back in my journal this week at two favorite experiences where the music was simple but the emotion profound:
Toward the end of President Hunter’s life when he was failing quickly, the Choir stayed after one rehearsal to record a song to cheer him. I was so moved by the hymn in this circumstance that I had difficulty singing:
We ever pray for thee, our prophet dear
That God will give to thee comfort and cheer
As the advancing years furrow thy brow
Still may the light within shine bright as now
Another favorite heart touching day with the choir came after a broadcast of glorious Christmas music. A little girl came up to the choir loft with her mother, brought to Salt Lake City by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her wish was to hear the Tabernacle Choir before she died. Many choir members choked back tears as we sang for her that simple profound Christmas hymn, “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”
Five
In the Ensign this very week is the gripping story of a young boy slipping 30 feet into the crevasse of a Canadian glacier where his body was precariously wedged against the ice above icy rushing water. The mother went for help as the distraught father tried desperately to comfort his son who was screaming hysterically. The father yelled down for the boy to pray and sing his favorite song and Heavenly Father would help him get out safely. The boy prayed aloud and then began to sing at the top of his voice “I am a child of God, and he has sent me here….” By the time help arrived 1 1/2 hours later he had whispered his final prayer and a faint “I am a child of God.” Unseen angels then placed his frozen hands around the rope and he was pulled to safety more dead than alive. Through time he has fully recovered and was called to serve a mission in Canada, close to the glacier.
Six
One final personal experience that happened this month affected me deeply. As background, let me say that several years ago I was involved in a minor car accident while stopped at a red light. A car turning toward me misjudged and crashed into my driver-side door, smashing the window. Right at the moment of impact here is what played in my mind: “When you hear the crash, think of Jones Paint and Glass!” Later, I felt quite appalled that such a frivolous thought came to me in a moment of crisis. I began to realize how important it is to set the gospel to music so that something more meaningful could come to our minds in the different circumstances of our lives.
Well, now jump ahead with me to July 7, one month ago, just a few days after the choir returned from Europe. My husband and I were traveling north at the mouth of Provo Canyon, and he was beginning to turn left while adjusting his visor and did not see a car coming toward us out of the canyon at high speed. I cried out, but it was too late and we hit nearly head on and then we had a second impact against a cement wall.
Miraculously, neither my husband nor the other driver were seriously injured, though both cars were badly mangled.I had an obvious neck injury and by the time I was carefully transported to the hospital my neck was terribly swollen from internal bleeding and was very painful. Before they could proceed with treatment they needed a CAT?scan to be sure my neck wasn’t broken, a test that would require me to lie flat and absolutely still for 30 minutes. That seemed impossible to me at the time.
I was unable to swallow, was in great pain, and was on the edge of panic about not being able to breathe. I searched my mind and heart for something to hold onto for strength, and in my moment of utter need something important than Jones Paint and Glass came to my mind forcefully and I sang it over and over silently in my mind for the duration of the test:
Pray, He is there, speak, He is listening
You are His child, His love now surrounds you
He hears your prayer, He loves the children
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven
Power in Simple Music
There is power in the simple truths of the gospel when combined with appealing melodies. Through subsequent surgery and recovery at the hospital and later at home, I felt further comfort from listening to recorded gospel music. Even last night as I attended a temple session with my ward, I was sweetly prepared for the temple experience by an organist who quietly played primary songs in the chapel.
I appreciate those who have paid the price in preparation and personal worthiness that they might be instruments in the Lord’s hands in creating meaningful music for the church and the world. Our goal as writers and composers should be to someday be able to say as Jesus once did: “Not I, but the Father that dwelleth within me-He doeth the works.” Elder Packer reminds us that “Inspiration can come to those whose talents are barely adequate and their contribution will be felt for generations.” That statement has given me great hope and encouragement through the years of my writing.
Years ago, when I had written my first batch of children’s songs, I sent them to the Church Music Office hopefully. Brother Michael Moody, our Church Music Chairman, kindly advised me to use my music to “brighten my own little corner of the world.” I took his advice to heart and wrote many little songs for my ward and stake: I Love to See the Temple, I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus, Love is Spoken Here, The Army of Helaman, “A Child’s Prayer”-and if they had only been used in my ward or even just in my home I would have found that very fulfilling.
Where does our inspiration come from? President Hugh B. Brown said “Sometimes during solitude I hear truth spoken with clarity and freshness . . . heard only with the soul, and I realize I brought it with me.”
In the words of Elder Maxwell: “When we rejoice in beautiful scenery, great art and great music, it is but the flexing of instincts acquired in another place and another time. (Ensign, May 1984, p.21) I have had similar impressions during my writing and felt moved upon by the spirit one evening as I was writing alone and pondering the origin of my musical impulses, to write a song of gratitude to Him from whom our inspiration comes:
Thanks for the music that’s in me
Thanks for the warm and gentle magic of a melody
Is it a memory that birth could not erase
Rising within me from another time and place
Do I hear something that others do not hear?
Things that I sense I have heard before, but where?
Are these the sounds of heav’n that bring me to my knees
Saying thanks for the music in me
I am so thankful for the music in me, in us, and that the Lord gave us the capacity to enjoy musical sounds. I will feel completely fulfilled in my writing endeavors if in a time of temptation some child should have come to his mind the words “I’m trying to be like Jesus”; or in times of teen-age trials a young woman is comforted by the phrase “I walk by faith”; or if, in times of family contention, the words “love is spoken here” can help restore peace.
Our First Presidency in the preface to the hymnbook urge us to “use hymns and children’s songs to invite the spirit of the Lord into our congregations, our homes, and our personal lives.”
It is stated in the Children’s Songbook: “You will remember more easily what you have learned when you sing about it. The melody of a song helps you remember the words and also brings the feeling of the song to your heart.”
The very fact that you are here at this conference indicates that you have a strong desire to use your musical gifts to build the kingdom and I pray for his blessing upon you in that endeavor.
I would like to echo the words of Brother Newell Dayley speaking to this group in 1985:
“Music will not fulfill its sacred purposes until those who exercise musical gifts are endowed with power from on high, until they are fully able to receive spiritual guidance so that they can act in their office and calling with complete justification. We have been asked by our leaders to do this; to give up the practice of seeking the glory of the world, to seek to bring forth Zion in this day, to give unselfishly of our gifts.
It is worthy to desire musical excellence. We should do all in our power to increase our gifts that we might receive even more. We should hold to high standards. But, more importantly, we should be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and do that which we are “constrained” to do. Other musicians may see our most worthy efforts as missing the mark.
So be it. It’s well for us to remember that which the prophet Jacob said about those who lived in Jerusalem: But behold (they) were a stiff-necked people; and they despised the words of plainness, … and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them.” (K. Newell Dayley, Church Music Workshop, BYU, 1985)
I testify with all the sincerity of my heart that God’s power can be felt in the plain and simple hymns and anthems of the church. The musicians of the church have a special mission and stewardship to cause this power to resonate in the hearts of each member of the church.
Janice Kapp Perry: Composer, author, lecturer
All Perry products are available online at janicekappperry.com
