TCATS #273 - State of Things

There are times during the year when The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has A LOT going on. And this is one of them. This past Friday and Saturday evening, the Temple Square Chorale (comprised of 1st year/new choir members, along with the 2nd year members) and Orchestra had their concert in which Ryan Murphy directed, and the choir sang, “Te Deum in C,” followed by Leonard Bernstein’s 1965 choral composition Chichester Psalms. I was not able to attend, but Mack Wilberg gave it very high praise this morning at rehearsal--saying it was one of the best concerts he's been to. Well done, 1st and 2nd years!

This week is continued preparation for General Conference, which we'll be a part of this coming Saturday and Sunday (about 21 songs, 7 memorized). Following conference, we have about two weeks to get ready for this year's Easter Concert (10 songs, all memorized). Then after THAT, we have the Tanner Gift of Music concert on May 10th (unsure on how many we're singing). After that, we actually slide into "normal" schedule in which we just prep for Music and the Spoken Word each Sunday--for about six weeks. And then we work on preparing for the Pioneer Day Concert in July.

Today's broadcast went really well for me personally. An unexpected blessing came out of nowhere, and, I got to sing "It is Well With My Soul", too. I've blogged about that song numerous times, so I won't rehash all of that. Needless to say, I love everything about that song and it touches me on many different levels. Makes me grateful, happy, and excited for when Christ will come again and all we need to do still to prepare for that.

Until next time, God be with you.

Singing "It is Well With My Soul" today

 

TCATS #272 - Brazzle Dazzle

The Tabernacle Choir has several songs they sing from musical and movie

R.Murphy conducting his arrangement

soundtracks. These include such well known titles as Climb Every Mountain and My Favorite Things (Sound of Music), Tonight (West Side Story), Love is a Song (Bambi), One Person (Dear World), and Come to My Garden and Hold On (from

Secret Garden). These songs have been sung for years by the Choir and it's rare that we get anything "new". But a year or so ago, Ryan Murphy arranged a song from the movie Pete's Dragon, called Brazzle Dazzle Day, (original, Murphy's arrangement) and while the Choir doesn't sing it as often as some of the others, we did get to sing it today. 

At first listen, the song's happy, go-lucky melody may not seem to carry much depth. But some of the lyrics really are recipes for a happier life. And who among us doesn't want to be happier? Here are just a few things that the lyrics invite us to do:

Pete's Dragon stars singing Brazzle Dazzle

*throw off the past
*enjoy every minute, every hour
*shake away life's blues
*live the high life
*don't put off work that needs doing
*dwell on love instead of sorrow
*realize that each day has something *special to enjoy 

These are all things that I could do better at, and I suspect there are at least a few that you'd want to adopt more of, as well. I don't mean to trivialize the hardships of life and how difficult it is to get through such hardships. But sometimes small things bring about big results. And it may make all the difference in the world, some days, to just take one of these invitations above and try living it. 

I plan to try. And hope you will too.

Until next time, God be with you. 

PS: thanks to my wife for her suggestion to write about this song today!

TCATS #271 - Showing Support

Rather than talking about my Tabernacle Choir experiences directly, today, I want to share some thoughts about an indirect Tabernacle Choir experience I had over the weekend. A friend of mine, who's in the choir, invited me to come support him at the Northstar Conference that was held on Friday and Saturday. This friend of mine, along with some others in the choir, experiences SSA (same-sex attraction) and the Conference is held once a year for those who deal with that and other issues along the LGBTQ spectrum. The Conference is also for friends, family, and leaders within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to come learn more about how they can support this segment of LDS population that is sometimes overlooked and misunderstood. While a part of me was, honestly, hesitant to go, I ended up being grateful for the experience. I learned a lot about not just supporting those who have SSA, but I also learned much about how to support others going through ANY hard thing. Here are a few nuggets of doctrine and wisdom that were shared:

**LGBT church members have unique and important gifts to contribute to the building up of Zion. God has given each of us ways to use our talents for His work.
**Love is the fulfillment of the law. When we see others, we should see a reflection of the Savior's love for us, and we should see that, in them. I am he, and he is me.
**Our job is not to fix others, but to support them and love them. Each individual has their own journey. How can we best help them along that journey?
**God allows children to be who they are so that we can increase our own ability to love and accept and be changed in the process.
**God is full of grace and truth. We should be too. We should strive to find the perfect mixture between the two since too much of one, without the other, isn't helpful.
**Even when you're not on the front lines of a crisis or hardship, you can still bear the burden and pull part of the load. 
**When viewing healthy relationships, keep in mind mutual acceptance, being true to self, spending quality time, being vulnerable, having open communication, and not expecting the other person to fill personal gaps that you, yourself, need to work on.
**Own your feelings and then deal with them. Develop friendships to meet needs broadly, not specifically.
**You'll never look back on life and say that you hugged too many people! Hugs are an excellent way to show support.
**We don't need to meet some minimum standard of living before the grace of God kicks in. You don't need to "do your best" (what even is that, really?) before God grants His grace. He gives it freely for the taking as we stay on the righteous path.
**Making covenants with God is an act of inviting more grace into our lives. We need that grace to fully keep those covenants! 
**Come as you are, but don't expect or be OK with staying that way. God is all about changing us into better people while keeping our unique gifts and talents in-tact. 

All in all, I was grateful for what I learned, and grateful I was able to show some support to my friends and to others at the conference who needed support and love as well. The leadership at the conference debuted a touching video--THIS IS WHAT I KNOW--with everyone in that video belonging to the LDS LGBT community. I invite you to take five minutes and watch it. 

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #270 - BYU Singers 2019

We had some special guests join us today on Music & the Spoken Word: the BYU Singers! Every other year they get to come and participate and it was really nice to have them. I was talking with a friend during the break about how seeing them brings back memories of when we were in one of the BYU choirs, oh so many years ago. It seems like that time was in the far distant past--and yet, I can remember many moments of that experience with perfect clarity. Music does that for me--it preserves memories like nothing else can.

The Singers sang two numbers on their own, and joined us for two others. Of course they sounded wonderful. Exquisite, even. The whole program was a delight to be a part of and we ended the program with one of my favorites--"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." No matter how many times I sing that, I get chills and a warmth wash over me at the same time, every time. It's a powerful anthem about God's love and wanting to be with Him, again.

I guess that's about it for today. Short and sweet! I did want to say though, that when we got our choir announcements this week (they come out every Friday and keep us up to date on what we need to prepare for, which songs we need to memorize, etc), I fully realized how many songs I need to work on for upcoming events. Fortunately, I have most of the songs memorized for conference already, but the Easter Service includes a lot of songs I really need to spend outside time rehearsing. I'm sure I'll get there, but it's kind of like that feeling you get as you prepare for an upcoming final: overwhelmed, but trying to be confident.  

Until next time, God be with you.

BYU Singers on Today's Broadcast, Conductor Andrew Crane

TCATS #269 - New Recording: Let Us All Press On!

This week (Friday, March 8th), a new recording by the Tabernacle Choir & Orchestra at Temple Square will be available, titled LET US ALL PRESS ON. The whole Choir organization is really excited about this new compilation, and I'd have to say that out of all of the recording projects I've been a part of, this one has been my favorite. Why, you ask? Well, for me, nothing can top the spiritual and uplifting powerful that comes with Christian hymns. 

Some of you reading this might be tempted to think that another CD or streaming playlist of hymns really isn't THAT big of deal, is it? I mean, there are lots and lots of recordings of various hymns --so what really differentiates this new recording from all of the others?

While I can't provide you with a complete answer to that question, I can tell you that a lot of inspiration has gone into this new compilation. It was meant to be, and it was meant to come out, now. Our wonderful President Ron Jarrett stood in front of us today, before our rehearsal, and gave us a background story as to how this recording project came about. I won't relate the whole story, but originally, the project was slated to include different songs with a different theme. However, as changes started to take place within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the direction of President Nelson, Pres. Jarrett felt inspired that the recording project include a set of hymns to not only inspire the Church members to "press on" in their faith and devotion to Jesus Christ, but to inspire people throughout the world with "music that will appeal to people of all faiths and traditions." In addition, great thought and care was taken in developing the cover art for this recording. As you can see, the artwork depicts majestic mountains rising above clouds, on the backdrop of a sunrise. As Pres. Jarrett commented on the symbolism of this artwork, my take-away from his comments was that each of us, in going through really hard things in life (climbing our personal mountains), will eventually breakthrough the clouds and the fog and be able to see the light. Our daily, weekly, and lifelong struggles can be overcome as we "all press on" in faith and righteous living. All of the hymns on this recording (which, by the way, includes some of my personal favorites like "Standing on the Promises", "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling", and the included arrangement of "All Creatures of Our God and King") are designed to help each of us in our uphill climb.

That all said, I'd invite you to give this new recording a chance to impact your life. I promise you that it will. Yes, there's the CD you can purchase, if CDs are your thing. You can stream the album if you're an Apple music subscriber or an Amazon music subscriber. And I'm hoping it'll be added to Spotify, too, so that the younger generation who listens to music via that platform, can also be inspired by these hymns. 

I'm grateful for music that inspires, uplifts, and keeps us all going in the right direction. And I'm grateful for music that helps each of us feel God's love and approval as we continue our uphill climb. 

The music on this recording can do just that. And probably more.

Until next time, God be with you.

 

TCATS #268 - Unexpected One

On Thursday morning this past week, I was saying my morning prayers and had this thought come to my head regarding Tabernacle Choir rehearsal that night. The thought was that I needed to pray for a specific person who'd be passing by the Tabernacle that evening--someone who had no intention of going into the Tabernacle, but who needed to go in and listen to the songs we'd be rehearsing. That person needed to feel God's love for them. So, that's what I prayed for.

At rehearsal that night, I kept my eye out for all of the people who came in and sat alone. There were a few, but I never did get any impression of who that person was that I had prayed for earlier. It didn't matter though. I had hope that the prayer had been answered and that that specific someone was there, replacing their hopelessness with hope, and their pain and sorrow with love and light from above. It just so happened that two of the songs we were singing this week spoke of love: the hymn Love One Another, and, a song from the musical Oliver! called Where is Love?  As I joined in singing those two in particular, I hoped this person was having the uplifting experience he or she really needed. 

Until next time, God be with you!

PS: Here are a few posts, below, from those around the world watching the live YouTube feed of today's broadcast.

Jerrilyn Ramos: It's so amazing. It really is the fastest half hour to grace this earth. It is SO classy and beautiful! I love those dresses!

Przemek Brzozowski​: I love this choir all my heart 😀

Ernest De Leon​: glad to hear such a message each Sunday! helps me through the week!

Jonas Scoubes: ​Thank you Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for the amazing music!! This is ringing in our home!!

Rick Russo: ​Totally love The Tabernacle Choir!! 

Paul Jaikaran:  ​Great hymn...great tune ...great composition..thank you Tabchoir for raising up our spirits


 

TCATS #267 - It's the People

Four times a year, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performs patriotic music, and today was the first of those four for 2019. President's Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. There wasn't anything too unique about today's "President's Day Special", but it was both fun and encouraging to sing about the United States on an ideal level, and those people who have played a part in what this nation stands for. One of those people was featured on the Spoken Word portion of the program--George Washington. Here are a few sentences from his tribute:

"...more important than all of this is the imprint he left on the lives of the people who knew him—and, indirectly, on every American ever since. He was deeply respected for his unique combination of ability and humility. And in turn, he showed deep respect for others—especially those who stood by his side and fought for freedom in perilous conditions. The idea that General Washington would stop to help men build a bridge is perfectly believable because that’s the kind of person he was. The poetic words written for his eulogy in 1799 are just as true today as they were then: he was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” "

During the break between rehearsal and performing this morning, a few of us were going over the lyrics to John Williams' majestic piece "America, the Dream Goes On"--a song which was on the program. There are places in that song where the lyrics just move right along, so we were trying to memorize them a little bit. One person chimed in with parts of the song he liked--particularly the snare drum and how it sort of creates a picture in your mind of galloping on a horse. One person mentioned how he liked the lyric that talks about a song being sung in places where "you'd think there'd be no song at all." One mentioned how the song HAD TO BE tied to some patriotic movie (I mean, we are talking about the master movie soundtrack composer, John Williams!) At any rate, these are the types of fun discussions we have backstage--along with non-music related topics of course.

Before rehearsal today, the birthday committee announced to everyone that it was Mack Wilberg's birthday this coming Wednesday. We all stood and applauded while Mack quickly left the stage. He doesn't like such attention. But we're definitely grateful for all he does for the Choir organization. So happy 64th birthday Mack!

That's about the scoop of it today. We're releasing a new CD in about four weeks and I'm especially happy to be a part of this one. Check it out HERE.

Until next time, God be with you.