MTC Week #91 - Of Flexibility and 1994

So with the passing of Elder Richard G. Scott this past week, the choir, orchestra, and organists had some rearranging to do. All the songs we were going to sing today, were changed, and we held rehearsal and the broadcast in the Conference Center instead of the Tabernacle -- since the latter was being made ready for Elder Scott's funeral. 

The reason all the songs were changed is because there was no room for the orchestra in the Conference Center. Which may sound funny if you realize how big the Conference Center is. But the stage itself was being setup for General Conference this coming weekend and thus the orchestra was left without any space to accompany the choir. 

Our wonderful organists were thus called upon to learn (or brush up on) the replacement pieces we did today and they, of course, did an excellent job. 

I just marvel sometimes, at how flexible this rather large organization, is. But it helps when you have a good attitude and when there are people all around you who are adjusting and adapting to the new plan. 

Life, itself, can suddenly change your plans without a moment's notice.

We are sometimes like a currant bush that
needs some pruning by someone
who loves us and sees the big picture.

Sometimes that's not very easy to adapt to. It gives way to complaining, bemoaning, and being upset. But if we accept the new plan, recognizing that God is overseeing it, we will most likely come to know (at some future time) why the course correction came about. And I'm sure we'll thank God at that moment that He did what He did, because it helped us reach our eternal goals.

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Aside from the changes this week, I did want to comment on one of the songs we sang today. It was called "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need." It's one of my favorites and takes me back to 1994, when the BYU Concert Choir first recorded that song and performed it to an audience at the Harris Fine Arts Center. I remember being so grateful to have been there for its debut. 

There are two phrases that I love the most:

He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy's sake,

In paths of truth and grace.

There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,

But like a child at home.

The first phrase reminds me of a phrase from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, when we're reminded that all of us are "prone to leave the God [we] love." We all have times when we wander, when we leave God (if only for a few minutes, or an hour, or a day). But He wants us back and will give us opportunities to come back to Him. 

The second phrase is for all of us who simply long for a rest. A rest from the worries and cares of our busy lives and the cares of the world. Not only can we find such a rest as we come unto Christ, but we can have that rest be in a safe place. A place of love and security. A place that feels like home. A place where we can feel like a child who is receiving love and instruction from Heavenly parents.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC Week #90 - Odds & Ends

Today's post will be a bit random--just for the fun of it. While the broadcast today was as good as they come, and while I could easily write about it, I thought a change in pace might be in order.

$ There hasn't been much new news about next year's European tour, other

than choir members continue to be excited about it. Many who I personally associate with in the choir have been wondering for many weeks, the final cost

on bringing a spouse along. The original cost was estimated at $5000. It's now estimated at $6500, but we're still awaiting final numbers.

@ Finishing touches and final recording sessions are being done for the forthcoming "The Messiah" CD which will be released next Spring. Bro. Wilberg was recently in Zurich, helping with the recording of one of the soloist's who'll be featured on the CD. These soloists have been grateful for the opportunity and grateful for the guidance and constructive comments offered during the recording process.

! Today on the broadcast, the men wore the extremely rare WHITE suit coat (with a black bow tie). I've been in the choir for only a couple of years now, but during that time, I haven't worn it once. Why did we wear it today? No one seemed to know. But as we often say in the choir, everything is done for a reason.

# The upcoming Christmas Concert was postponed a week for "scheduling and logistics" reasons. Perhaps this has to do with our guest artist's schedule. Who knows. And we don't even know yet who the guest artist is... Speaking of guest artists and Christmas Concerts, last year's Christmas Concert "Keep Christmas With You" featuring Santino Fontana and the Sesame Street Muppets, will be on sale soon. You can pre-order your DVD now, via Amazon. (Why there isn't a bluray version is concerning, but I have no answers on that)

% The media dept released this week, a collage of choir members singing

"America, the Beautiful" at various locations while on tour this last summer. It's a fun little video. You can see yours truly at :39. :)

^ Tryouts to be in the Tabernacle Choir this year occurred as usual. According to memory, there were about 260 who tried out and that try-out process is still occurring. Good luck to all those who are going through the very challenging process!

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC Week #89 - The Ants Go Marching One by One. . .

I don't necessarily care for ants. Like all creatures, I'm sure there's a reason God created them--though I really don't know what that is. Despite not liking them, there ARE characteristics I admire about them. 

One of those is their enormous strength. 

Scientists have long stated and observed that ants can carry over 100 times their weight. 100 times! That would be like me carrying something that weighed 17,500 lbs. Impossible. But somehow, that ants do it. Some studies even suggest that certain species can lift up to 1000 times their weight (while their neck joints can withstand pressures up to 5,000 times greater than their body weight). However you slice and dice it, ants are very heavy lifters. 

Thursday night, our beloved conductor, Mack Wilberg, gave us a little talk about the topic of "heavy lifting." This was very timely, because in addition to preparing for our normal weekly broadcasts, the upcoming world-wide conference, and the annual Christmas Concert, we're starting work on a piece by Mahler (I don't even know what's it called, only that it's something like 80 pages and that we've been divided into two choir entities to cover the eight parts--which, incidentally, sometimes divide into more parts!). 

The temptation, Mack said, is there will be some of us who may not be excited about such a piece because of the work involved in learning it. There may be some of us who want to excuse ourselves from the concert that we'll be performing this piece at, not only because it's hard work learning the piece, but because it's taking 16 extra rehearsals to get it ready. 

He invited us not to give into that temptation. "Each of us need to do the heavy lifting," he said. 

And, indeed, we do. 

Along with ants being heavy lifters, they are also experts in team work. They each do their part to support their colony. Likewise, the team work mentality is an important part of this choir so that we can be successful in our mission. As we each do the heavy lifting, even in times when we're out of the glamour and spotlight, this piece by Mahler will sound extraordinary. And I suspect we'll learn a thing or two more about teamwork and becoming better musicians overall.

Choir members: let's lift!

Until next time, God be with you!

MTC Week #88 - Just Grateful

This morning's broadcast was just one of those that caused me to feel really grateful. 

I'm grateful that by climbing every mountain in my life, I can more effectively follow and achieve my dreams.

I'm grateful that God has, and continues to, help me choose the right road to take when two of them diverge and it's momentarily challenging to know

which one to pick. Choosing the right ones have, indeed, made all the difference.

I'm grateful that Jesus Christ is our song during the nights of both my life, and the lives of those I love. He may not take those nights away, either as quickly as I'd like or, at all, but He helps me, and all of His children, through them.

I'm grateful for what I learn when I run my race with

patience. Agreeing to God's timing helps me when the prize of peace and light.

And I'm grateful that despite all of the evil and heartache, tragedy and travail in this life, God's almighty hand continues to perform miracles and directs His most important work: the happiness of men, women, and children everywhere.

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One last thing: today was the last day for a friend, Brad Myler, who I got to know several years ago. What a great guy. Good luck Brad in all of your future endeavors! The basses (and your choir family) will miss you. And farewell to Spence Kinard as well. His 30+ years in participating in the Music & Spoken Word broadcasts is incredible. May he enjoy the next phase in his life and feel our gratitude for his devoted service.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC Week #87 - I Scream, You Scream. . .

The Choir does not have a lot of socials throughout the year, mainly, I think, because there's always so much to do and so little time for such things. Aside from a dinner event during the Christmas season, I honestly can't think of any other social get-together. That is, except for Ice Cream Social--which we had Thursday night.

Because I missed the one last year, I was actually kind of looking forward to this event. A chance to mix and mingle, and have some yummy ice cream. What could be better? I envisioned a large, open area outside (maybe on top of the Conference Center) where we'd all congregate and either Choir Administrators or choir members from some committee scooping creamy ice cream from 5 gallon containers onto cones or into cups. 

However, I was a bit naive and unrealistic. I mean, really? Hello Ryan. Actually scooping ice cream for over 500 people? 

I realize that now.

Instead, we met on one of the top floors of the conference center--sort of off to one corner--and got to choose from a wide variety of ice cream novelties (ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, and the like). 

In no way am I trying to sound ungrateful because let's face it. Free ice cream, in any form, is a treat from heaven. So thank you Choir administrators! It just didn't quite match my vision. Nor was the amount of happy, social noise quite my thing. 

An inspired friend suggested we return to the Tabernacle and leave the noise behind, which was a good suggestion. We wandered out the front doors and enjoyed some quiet and cool night air while conversing about this or that. During a few of those moments outside, I also felt grateful in my heart for the blessings of being in the Choir, for having good friends, and for being able to sing beautiful and inspiring music every week. 

A good ending to a brief, if not interesting, ice cream social experience.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC Week #86 - Of Least and Most

Hills.

Back in my cross-country days, our coach would supplement our regular training (running on relatively flat ground) with "hill training", which, just as its name describes, involves running up hills. You can imagine this was not a lot of fun. In fact, I don't remember anyone begging the coach that we could do more of such training. It was hard! And not only that, for us new to the sport, we failed to grasp the reasoning behind doing it since most of the courses we'd be racing on would be fairly flat. In the end, we had to simply have faith that the coach knew what he was doing. We had to trust that the upward climbing would pay off.

Thursday night we rehearsed a particular piece which looked deceptively easy. We quickly came to learn, though, that it was not--on multiple levels. It was a slow piece. It didn't move much. It was prone to intonation (pitch) problems. It required us to really think before singing any of the notes. I can't speak for the whole choir, only for myself and some around me, but we really didn't love the piece and didn't like how much it was extracting from us! It was very much like climbing a hill.

Felix Mendelssohn -  Composer of one of the songs
we sang today "O Thou the True and Only Light"

At one point, Bro. Wilberg (amidst some loving frustration) told us that he knew it was a hard piece. "But it's a beautiful piece, and we're going to do it," he said. That caused me to reflect. Our wise and talented director was finding beauty in something I was not. Furthermore, he wanted us to do this piece not only because it was beautiful, but also (making an assumption here) because he knew we'd be a better choir by rehearsing it, working at it, and perfecting it. He knew it would pay off--not just for today when we performed it, but when we applied what we learned to rehearsing other songs in the future.

It was then I decided to not let the hill get the best of me. I tried looking for the beauty and began noticing how pretty the orchestration was and how great the lyrics were. In fact, the lyrics spoke of God having mercy on those who had lost their way and about Him working to get them back--certainly a theme we can all relate to in one degree or another.

While the piece will probably not rank anywhere near the top of my favorites, I'm glad for the lessons I learned: trust in your leaders; if something is hard, do it anyway because it will pay off; look for the good in everything; and know that something you may like the least, may, just possibly, turn out to benefit you the most in the long run.

Until next time, God be with you.

MTC Week #85 - Abide With Me

Alex Sharpe - Guest Artist on Music & the Spoken Word, 8/16/15

We were privileged to be able to sing, this morning, with guest artist Alex Sharpe. Alex is from Ireland and is most known for performing with Celtic Woman (an all-female Irish musical ensemble) from 2008 to 2010. Alex has performed in various musicals, has sung with numerous orchestras and ensembles, but the thing she loves most is singing hymns. 

And singing a hymn is exactly what she got to do today.

While I have enjoyed the hymn "Abide With Me," it has never been considered one of my favorites. However, the arrangement we were able to accompany Alex on today, was simply amazing. The choir acted as "heavenly background angels" and the piano accompaniment was so very pretty. Part of the arrangement included the familiar verses from Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." and I think that was one of my favorite parts of the song. Words don't quite do justice to what I'm trying to describe, but I was really moved by this song today and was glad to revisit the lyrics to it.

Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!


I don't care who you are--you're going through something. Everyone is. Everyone is fighting a personal battle. And even though we sometimes get a small break from it (or rather, something good happens to offset the hardship temporarily), it still remains. And once it concludes, if it concludes, there's always another one to take its place.

But this song helps remind me that even when the darkness deepens and comforts flee, our Savior Jesus Christ is there to be with us. He's there to comfort us. Indeed, He's there to abide with us.

And that makes all the difference.

Until next time, God be with you.