The dissolution of the hymnbook committee in the late 1970s brought the work of preparing a new collection of hymns for the worldwide Church to a halt. Approximately five years later, the First Presidency instructed Michael F. Moody of the…
Category: Music and Poetry
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 8: The Hymnbook that Never Was
Increased oversight by Church leaders caused by the Correlation movement brought the tension between the Church Music Committee’s ongoing crusade for more sophisticated hymns and general Church membership’s tastes for enjoyable music in the hymnal to a head. Correlation was…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks Part 7: The 1948 Hymns: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Sometimes musicians (both in our tradition and others) think of themselves, more or less, as musical dieticians for their religion when assembling hymnbooks. Some types of hymns are deemed to be higher quality (and therefore spiritually healthy) while others are…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 6: The Latter-day Saint Hymns
In the early 20th century, the LDS Church formed an official music committee of professional musicians to oversee the production of a new hymnal for Church use. By 1920, there were a variety of hymn books in use by the…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 5: The Sunday School Hymnals
The Sunday School played a prominent role in the development of LDS hymns during the late nineteenth century. In saying this, it is important to remember that in times past, auxiliary organizations had greater autonomy than they do today. For…
The History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 4: Latter-day Saints’ Psalmody
Original music for LDS hymns initially developed in 19th century Utah. For the faction of the Mormonism that followed the Quorum of the Twelve west to the Great Basin region, the Manchester hymnal continued to serve as the official hymnal…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 3: Emma’s 1841 Nauvoo Hymnbook
Two hymnals published in the early 1840s displayed a growing divide in opinion over selection of hymns in the Church. In October of 1839, a high council “voted that Sister Emma Smith, select and publish a hymn Book for the…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 2: The Manchester Hymnal
The history of Mormon hymnbooks is not always straightforward, with one authorized hymnbook following another. Following the publication of the 1835 hymnbook, a few unauthorized hymnals were published that influenced future hymnbooks. Recognizing a growing need for hymnals in Mormon…
History of LDS Hymnbooks, Part 1: The 1835 Hymnal
It has been stated before that “of all artistic endeavors . . . music may justly be named as the first to claim divine support and prophetic direction for its development in the fledgling LDS church.”[1] Mormonism began developing its…
The New LDS Hymnbook: Changes and Possibilities
Recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that they were going to prepare a new hymnbook and children’s songbook for use in the worldwide Church. Specifically, the goal is to create unity in hymn numbers and selections…
Being subject to Voldemort
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Donald Trump is likely to destroy American democracy while leaving the nation in ruins and the world in flames, and let’s further assume that all of these are bad things. (I don’…
Brandon Flowers and the Song of Redeeming Love
This is going to meander a bit at first but bear with me. Each semester I have to grade something like 1,340,567 pages of student exams. It is horrible. To dull the pain, I pick a new music group each…
King Noah’s Blues
I could see them before I crossed Michigan Avenue into Grant Park. There were probably five of them, holding big yellow signs with blocky letters, Bible verses. It seemed out of place, fifty feet in front of the entrance to the Chicago Blues Festival, but maybe I just didn’t understand the logic behind it. I don’t remember the verses the signs promoted, and the picketers seemed nice enough, holding signs but not harassing the passersby, passersby who, like me, basically ignored them. Maybe they’d picked out verses of scripture with special applicability to fans of the blues; then again, maybe these were just generic holy protest signs.
Literary Lorenzo Snow #1: Provo Sunday School
I love the first lesson in the Lorenzo Snow manual. It seems like Snow’s love of learning is second to none among latter-day Prophets. And his statements about learning are wonderful: “Though we may now neglect to improve our time,…
Authenticity and The Book of Mormon
I know, I said a year and a half ago that I wasn’t going to see The Book of Mormon. But then it came to Chicago and, in spite of the fact that it is sold out through at least March, a friend set me up with a ticket. So I’ve now seen the show. I’m not going to review it, though. It’s already been widely reviewed, and frankly, I don’t have the musical theater chops to provide a credible review.
Literary DCGD #1: On the Latter-day Dispensation
The initial lesson in the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History course of study points out that the revelations found in the text are meant for our time and cover our dispensation, while the history presented is the history of…
Glory to God; Peace on Earth
Some time ago while singing Christmas carols at a non-Mormon event, I suggested that the group sing “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains.” I was greeted with blank stares and questions. “What song?” “Never heard of it.” It turns out…
Religious Music
An Immodest Proposal
As Sarah noted, Saturday and Sunday bring us our Fall semiannual General Conference.
As part of our twice-yearly ritual, we’ll hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir up to three times: one session of Conference Saturday, one session Sunday, and the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast before the first Sunday session.
Literary BMGD #35: The Savior is Coming
Spiritual history is replete with types and shadows. The similarities that appear between events in widely-separated places and times lead to the conclusion that the Lord is trying to point out some truth to us, something we need to understand.…
Literary BMGD #30: The Saddest Death
As Alma talks with his son Corianton in Alma 40-42, he realizes that Corianton does not understand some basic elements of the Plan of Salvation. From what Alma teaches him, we can surmise that Corianton doesn’t understand that all will…
Literary BMGD #29: Two poems — Oh taste not of the cup; Be Slow to Condemn
Alma 36 to 39 contain Alma’s advice to his three sons, Helaman, Shiblon and Corianton, which led me to the idea of parental advice—something that usually accumulates bit by bit over years rather than all in one block as Alma…
Literary BMGD #25: To Elder L. Snow
Among the most beloved figures in the Book of Mormon are the four sons of Mosiah, who, after their conversion, take leave of their native land and homes and serve missions among the Lamanites. Where missionaries today serve for just…
Internet Radio and the Church
I recently bought a couple wireless speakers so that I could listen to my music collection away from my computer, without earphones. It turns out that these speakers not only play music off my computer, though: they’ll also allow me to listen to, among other things, podcasts, Pandora, and any number of radio stations, as long as the radio station broadcasts online.
Literary BMGD #10: An angel came down from the mansions of glory
Perhaps the most common theme in early Mormon poetry is the restoration. But while the Book of Mormon itself prophesies about the restoration (as it does in the 10th Book of Mormon lesson), it wasn’t until this hymn was published…
Literary BMGD #9: A Paraphrase of Isaiah 60
Scripture is often repeated in scripture, and poets have rarely been shy about re-using lines of poetry, often without attribution. Plagiarism is everywhere, and our view of it as a faux pas is really relatively recent—this view is certainly more…
Literary BMGD #8: Twas on that dark, that solemn night
Active Mormons hear poetry about the atonement each Sunday in the sacrament hymn, so finding a poem to go with Jacob’s discourse on the atonement in 2 Nephi 9 isn’t too much of a burden. The hard part is finding…
Literary BMGD #7: Joseph, From Out of the Dust
Lehi’s final counsel in the Book of Mormon is to his son Joseph makes an interesting literary link between Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the son of Lehi and Joseph Smith, Jr. But, LDS authors have largely ignored this link, especially…
Books of Interest to the LDS Nerd
A few of these are forthcoming, a few have appeared recently. I am compelled to read them all, as soon as I can get to them. Now Available Charles Harrel,“This Is My Doctrine”: The Development of Mormon Theology (Kofford Books)…
Church + Music = Fun
Music is a wonderfully enriching part of church life, both in worship services themselves and in church culture generally. It’s a blessing in many, many ways—including ways that are light-hearted and fun. Forgive me, then, for sharing the following not-so-serious…