MTC#229 - Recording! (& Successfully Splitting Focus)

Being in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir now for almost five years, I've been able to participate numerous times in recording projects. Each time there have been challenges and each time there have been rewards--which, if you'd like, you can read about HERE, HERE, and HERE (past blog entries). 

This go around, things went pretty much as expected, including long hours, trying to perfect every note, having to go back, and back, and back to get it right, and learning lessons of humility and perseverance along the way. I was reminded, though, that there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you've sang the last note of a piece--letting it fade away into the walls of the Tabernacle--and then hear the words of Mack or Ryan say from the recording booth "Sounded great! Thank you very much."  (On to the next piece we go!)

As I thought about the recording process this time, I realized how hard it is to actually focus on the words and the message of the song when recording. This is mainly because recording involves being intently focused on musical perfection and making sure that music technicality is of the highest quality (intonation, blending, dynamics, etc). It's also because we start and stop so much. We take a few phrases or measures at a time, get it as perfect as we can get it, and then move onto the next section. 

As a result, for me, the complete message and emotional depth of the song and its building and layering continuity, is a bit lost.

The message of the song though, and conveying that message to the millions who hear us, is one of the primary and most important responsibilities we have as musical missionaries. Countless times in singing with the choir, I've had sacred and spiritually uplifting moments pondering the song's message and the truth it contains. And it's at those moments, I hope with all of my heart, that such truth, coupled with the overwhelming feelings I'm feeling, will be carried to the hearts of those listening.

How great it would be to capture those moments, on a CD. 

This, however, is where faith comes in. Faith that even though we, of necessity, and from a technical standpoint, need to focus on making the music itself sound perfect, God will take our consecrated start and stop, splice and dice efforts and help the listener capture the feelings and message portrayed as if we had sung and recorded the song in its entirety. 

I don't know...maybe this doesn't make much sense. And maybe most choir members during recording sessions are able to focus both on music technicality aspects as well as the music's message and spiritual aspects, simultaneously, better than I can. If so, my hat is off to them! Until I can be like them, I exert my faith and hope my small and at times, unbalanced contribution, helps the overall recording project be a success

Until next time, God be with you.

PS: I was thankful to sit next to Farrell Poll during our recording sessions. Farrell just retired from the choir but was able to come back just for the recording. He was our trusted bass section leader for several years, and a good friend.Those around him, including me, appreciated all of the fanning he did to keep us cool!

PPS: During the last recording session on Saturday (which I was not able to attend), President Russell M. Nelson sat down on one of the Tabernacle benches to listen! He addressed the choir afterwards, thanking us for our service and consecration, and told us to thank our families as well. 

PPPS: After the broadcast today, we sang an extra song for those in attendance, mainly directed to leaders and supporters of the NAACP. The song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is the NAACP's official song. See a short write-up on this song, HERE. Those associated with the NAACP actually stood as we sang (followed by the rest of the audience) and I suddenly felt a great reverence for this song that I had never known about before. It was a great experience.

MTC #228 - A Mother's Heart

Today the whole choir family (Orchestra, Choir, & Bells) was grateful to help make some uplifting music that celebrated mothers everywhere. If I received the challenge to put all of the song titles we sang today into one tribute to mothers like mine, my composition would look like this:

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On this day of joy and gladness, we celebrate mothers and those who will one day be a mother. We recognize their nurturing spirit and how they have helped shape the lives of children who grow up to be responsible, kind, and loving adults. We remember back to that time when we were little and would often say before going to bed "Mother, tell me [a] story!" Mom would take a book off the shelf or would rely on her imagination to tell us adventure after adventure. She would also reach for another book--the scriptures--and teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how important it was that we understood important truths to guide our lives by. Indeed, as we looked at our mothers, we came to see that our mother's eyes reflected the love of heaven along with the love of our heavenly parents. It reflected a deep hope that we would come to know, as she knew, how much we were loved and how many people both here and beyond the veil, were praying for us and our happiness. Our mothers helped us realize that the more we were found standing on the promises of Christ, the more ability and desire we'd have to do good. In fact, we'd make doing good the center of our lives by consciously praying for opportunities and asking throughout each day, "Have I done any good in the world today?"
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How grateful I am for my mom who not only fit this above description, but continues to shape my life today.

I also want to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for my sister Mary who, because of mental and physical challenges, never got to be an official mother during this earth life. She wrote once, to a friend: 

"...Because my health is so bad, the idea of having kids is unrealistic for me and one that I can even imagine. [But] a lot of soul searching has led me to know one thing about me--that hasn't and will never change--I definitely have a mother's heart.  I hope that doesn't sound weird but I think you know what I mean.  I've always loved motherly, nurturing type things and even though I don't have kids of my own right now, I can say that in my heart, I am a mother and I can't WAIT till Sam and I actually get to be parents."

Now that's she with Sam in heaven, I hope they get that opportunity to have children someday soon. And for all those women out there who can't have children for whatever reason, but who still have a "mother's heart", this celebratory day is to recognize and honor you, too. 

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC #227 - Lost in Wonder, Love & Praise

Each time the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings Sunday mornings, there's always something that moves me. It may be a certain lyric, someone in the audience, a spiritual remark made by a choir member, or simply feeling unified (in a world that is anything but). Today, though, two songs took the emotional spotlight for me and try as I might, the tears just wouldn't stay in my eyes.

The first was "Nella Fantasia"--a song sung in Italian based on the theme "Gabriel's Oboe" from the 1986 film, The Mission. Guest soloist Stanford Olsen did a fantastic job and as we all sang, I just thought about the men in the film who stood up to the military and ultimately gave their lives in trying to defend the cause of Christianity and the Guarani people (who were eventually killed). It also made me think of how strongly I try to believe in the cause of truth--and my goal of trying to live each day, according to that truth.

The second song was one of my favorites, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling". The song speaks of being changed, of being made pure and spotless, of accepting our Savior and wanting to be like Him. I think this song impacts me so much because when I'm in the middle of singing it, and I'm thinking about the words and what they mean, I realize that I really do want this! I want to be changed into the person I need to become so I can make it back to live with a Heavenly Father and Mother who love me and who have promised that families can be together forever. Remembering all of this, though, in every day life, it not always the easiest thing to do. My faith wavers. Trials hit and I want to give up. And just when I begin to wonder what I really DO want, I have experiences like the one today that bring me back to the answer.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in Heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

My soul just loves that verse.


Before ending today, I just wanted to say thanks to two new Choir friends. After almost five years of carpooling with just my good friend Ben, Alan and Willy (who just joined the choir this year) are now part of the carpool fun! What great guys they are. It will be fun to get to know them more as we ride to and from our weekly musical adventures.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC #226 - Hello New Friends!

With retirements happening last Sunday, it was a very happy time for new members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir since today was their first official Music & the Spoken Word broadcast. I did not get to sit right next to any of the new basses, but there were two in the row in front of me, and one in the row in back of me, which gave me the opportunity to see their excitement and feel their anticipation. I remembered back to when I was in their shoes, and part of me longed to be back there again.

Two other things that touched me today. First, some lyrics from "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise." As everyone is very much aware, we all have hard times and we're all going through at least one hard thing. Life is that way. So when I sang "That glorious rest will then commence" (speaking of Christ's second coming and the thousand years to follow) I just really longed for that rest. I don't feel entirely ready for that event to happen, but some days I don't care too much. I just want it here. Second, as we were singing "God be With You 'Till We Meet Again", at the end, I looked up at the far balcony to see a middle-aged man just wiping his eyes over and over and over again. That made me tear up, and I was reminded, again, that we're always singing for "the one". 

I guess there's one other thing I want to mention. Sometime during each Sunday, I try and actually watch the broadcast via YouTube. I've noticed recently, that videos that were recorded live have a chat window next to them for viewers to comment (maybe this isn't a "new" feature, but one I just noticed). It was pretty cool to read through the first few comments from today's broadcast. Below is a screenshot. It just goes to show how many people around the world are tuning in! (And even tuning in 53 minutes before it actually starts)

The Choir will be recording in a few weeks. I don't think it's been announced to the public exactly what we'll be recording, so I won't say. But I'm really looking forward to owning the eventual CD. I think you will be too :) It'll probably come out sometime next year. Until then, THIS ONE comes out this week and it doesn't disappoint! You can listen to a preview of each track, HERE (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Until next time, God be with you.

Click to enlarge

MTC #225 - 4623 - Closing a Door

The more time I spend in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the harder it is to say goodbye to choir members retiring each April. But today was the day to indeed say that goodbye to 24 fellow brother and sisters who spent anywhere from 5 to 20 years as a musical missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

To recap policy, members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are asked to serve at least 5 years, minimum, but can continue singing in the Choir until they turn 60 or until they've served 20 years--whichever comes first. It's rather remarkable, when you think about it--serving 20 whole years. That's 1/4th of a typical lifetime! But if you asked any of the retirees today if their service in the Choir felt like a long time, they would most certainly say "no" to that question. Time has a way of passing very quickly, especially when you're engaged in something so rewarding and spiritually fulfilling as singing in the Choir. 

Those retiring were asked to write down a few words (200 or less) recapping their thoughts about, and experiences in, the Choir. Brother Mack Wilberg had each of them come up one by one and then read their words. As I sat there listening to each of the tributes, I kept thinking what I'd want to say if it were my turn to leave. So much has happened in 4 1/2 years already! The more I thought about it, the more grateful I became. The East Coast tour, the European tour, ACDA, eight General Conferences, two Messiah concerts, four Christmas concerts, and over 200 Sunday broadcasts, just to name a few. I suppose if I had been retiring today, I could easily say it's been a very fulfilling experience.

While I didn't know most of the retirees too well, I enjoyed some good conversations with several of them over the years. They are good people who have served well and have impacted millions with their testimony and dedication. It was emotionally difficult to sing "God Be With You" to them, today, at the end of the retirement ceremony as their voices will no longer be heard in the loft, and their smiling faces won't be regularly seen in the underground hallways of the Tabernacle. But I suppose the character, Maria, from The Sound of Music, said it best: "Where the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." 

Until next time, God be with you. And for those who retired, may God be with you during your next journey in life!

PS:  Some shots from today's broadcast featuring some of the men retirees:

MTC #224 - Our Feeble Frame

There was a lyric in one of the songs we sang today that resonated with me. It reminded me of lyrics to other songs we've sang, particularly the well-loved "Come Thou Fount". 

The lyric today was from "Praise My Soul the King of Heaven":
"Father-like He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows."

And the one from "Come Thou Fount":
"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love."

The first makes reference to our feeble frame. And regardless of whether we feel confident and strong, spiritually speaking, we are feeble. We lack the ability, innately, to remain spiritually strong--on our own--should we even reach that level in the first place. In a talk my wife gave today, she mentioned the concept of reaching--reaching for your spiritual potential and stretching to maintain it. It takes daily, hourly, work. It's a choice we make over and over and starts and ends with "What do I really want?"

The second describes how we are prone to leave our Savior (which implies we found Him). So it's really the same thing. The natural man in all of us "an enemy to God" so it's always a struggle to keep our spiritual "order" from falling into "disorder". But it's the little choices we make that truly make all of the difference. 

Singing "Praise My Soul" on today's broadcast

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Switching gears, on the near horizon, the Choir has retirements next week (24 choir members are leaving), the new choir members have their first Music & Spoken Word the following week, and then we start extra rehearsals for six recording sessions mid-May. Extra rehearsals then start up for tour preparations, followed by tour in June. 

The train never stops.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC #223 - Refinement

OK. I admit it. I was a little annoyed during today's pre-broadcast rehearsal. Or maybe it was frustration. Or maybe a combination of both. Either way, I felt as though the choir could not reach the level of perfection that was being expected. We kept stopping, working, reaching, resetting, and once we actually delivered, we fell back again--and again. I was tempted to conclude that maybe we should just settle. Settle for less. But we kept at it, even though it seemed to take forever to arrive at the world of blissful intonation! 

Somewhere along the painful journey, I again realized that there are so many life analogies to draw from this experience. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get pretty good at something. It may be a hobby, or a skill at work, or loving your neighbor, or listening to a spouse, friend, or child. But once you get pretty good at something, we can't (or shouldn't) stop there! We'd do well to keep going forward and go from "pretty good" to "excellent". 

But oh! How hard it is to make that leap. Even harder than the "pretty good" journey was to begin with! It's ironic because if you apply some mathematics to this, you might label "pretty good" at, say, 80 or 90%. And getting to 90% has definitely taken some effort. But it's the sheer uphill climb we must be willing to undertake in order to move from 90% to 99%--a climb that takes an enormous amount of continual effort and focus. 

In the end though, it makes all the difference. And I think our broadcast today reflected that. 

Until next time, God be with you.