Ward Choir Mission Statement

A comment/question was recently posted on the LDS Choir group that I am a member of. I wrote an answer, included below, and as I wrote, I taught myself! Which means I wasn't doing the teaching at all, I know, but it is still a fun way to learn. I had been struggling a bit at "just" being the ward choir director. I had held three callings, and through this year the other two were given to other people who needed them more than I. I especially missed the teaching calling I had held, though at times it was a bit tough to teach every week and do choir, especially the weeks I taught, we sang in Sacrament meeting, and then had choir practice after church. So, it is better for my mental health to hold one calling, but it made me question my worth - just a bit. So, as I was answering this question, I was told the deeper meaning of my calling as choir director. The deeper meaning of the hymns that I choose to use, and the goal I should have in mind whenever I try to arrange music for Sacrament meeting. I feel so much more depth to my calling than I had, and got a little of the teaching bug into this calling.

The question was, "There's been an interesting discussion going on in another Church music group about what a "hymn" is and about what music is appropriate for sacrament meeting. I'm curious to know what the members of this group think."

My Bishop LOVES music, and is pretty liberal when it comes to music selection - perhaps even more liberal than I am! But, he taught me exactly what music is appropriate for Sacrament meeting. I had arranged a medley of Primary Children's Pioneer songs, and I submitted it to him for approval. He looked through it, and gave it back to me. He said he liked it, and it would be great for something else, but it was not appropriate for Sacrament meeting because it did not testify of Christ. I had known it was a light-hearted medley, but it was about the Pioneers so I didn't think that it wouldn't be acceptable. Once he told me why, it clicked into place exactly what we are doing with music.

Sacrament meeting is for one purpose, and one purpose alone. To partake of the Sacrament, and to worship Christ. This purpose is not always perfectly met, through thank-imonies and such, but anything the General Authorities have taught about Sacrament Meeting tells us that it is a time to testify of Christ, and for us to worship (ie: emulate) Him.

Since that singular experience, I've not had any troubles choosing music for Ward Choir. As I was writing this, I think I caught a greater vision of my calling. However frustrated I may get with others not quite getting the message about what we should be about during Sacrament meeting, especially Testimony meeting, I have the opportunity and responsibility to bear pure testimony of Christ through music.

This also applies to the arrangements of the music we choose. It should not be chosen based on performance, but on how well it testifies. If a piece turns simply into an impressive performance of music, it immediately is inappropriate, no matter what the words are about. The joining of words to music can become a pure expression of love and faith in Jesus Christ, and that is our main purpose and goal.

My new mission statement for Ward Choir: In everything, bear pure testimony of Jesus Christ through music. I needed that. Thanks for the question that prompted it.

The other benefit of only choosing music that testifies of Jesus Christ is, it doesn't matter what topic the speakers have been assigned, if we are singing of Christ, it will always fit. I have struggled with getting topics soon enough to choose music to perfectly go with the topic - it hasn't happened yet in the two years I've been in the calling - but I never feel it detracted from the topic if it was purely about Christ.

And though it was understood by me, simply not stated, another comment fits as well:

While testifying of Christ is one good measure of sacrament meeting-appropriateness, it cannot be the only one. There is a whole lot of testifying of Christ going on out there in Christian Music Land, and most of it would not be appropriate for our services. There must be a reverence for the subject in the music as well. (Posted by another group member)

And:

For me, I prefer stillness and peace in my Sacrament music. I want to feel the holy Ghost and receive revelation. This is a sacred service, not one for showing off abilities, nor talent, nor for drawing attention to the performer, composer, or anyone else. We are not idol worshipers. We don't worship the creation or the art itself, but rather good art should be invisible and allow us to see beyond the art. It is a vehicle to help us see something better. Art that draws attention to itself, for me, has no place in Sacrament meeting.

The application of this mission statement is far-reaching (as most mission statements are). Another site I was looking at recommended having the members of the choir share a spiritual thought at the beginning of choir. I thought that was a good idea, and planned to implement it. Now, I will have them use the hymn book and the music we are singing in choir, and answer the question, "How does this testify of Christ?"

Jesus Christ is the Root of All Christian Doctrine - learned from a talk by that name - and we should make Him the center of all we do in the church. If He is lost, then we are. Bringing everything back to Him is essential for what we do to live, to have the saving power. If we lose sight of Him, nothing we do can make up for the lack of it.

Who Would Send a Baby?

2009 Ward Christmas Program

Choir: “Sing We Now of Christmas”

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Jeremiah 23:5

“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” Zechariah 14:9

“I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” Psalm 89:3-4

“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Isaiah 25:9

“Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Psalm 149

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates: and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and te King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.” Psalm 24

Choir: “Baby, What You Goin’ To Be?”

“The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6-7

“But thou, Beth-lehem, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. Micah 5:2

For those who were watching, the signs of Christ’s birth were all fulfilled. The Wise Men saw it, and set out to find the child born under the star. The shepherds had the event proclaimed to them by an angel, and heavenly hosts. The Nephites and Lamanites knew of the coming of the Lord to the earth through signs prophesied to them. But not all were watching. Not all saw.

Choir, Were You There on That Christmas Night?

The Jews wanted their Redeemer to come and save them from the sins of others. They themselves saw no need to change. They dreamed of the glorious coming of their Savior who, like Moses, would lead them out of captivity, and set up a nation unto Israel, with a King of Glory at its head. How to reconcile that dream with the other scriptures, describing a humble man, suffering himself to be wounded, pouring out His soul unto death?

Choir, Congregation, Flute, Piano, Organ – What Child is This? Arr by Sallie DeFord

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand… Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:4-6

Choir, Who Would Send a Baby?

Do we sometimes think like the people of Christ’s time? When we think of our Savior, do we think only of the role we want him to play in our life?

Do we truly accept all Christ has to offer us?

“And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” Matthew 9: 28-29

“[And the father said unto Jesus], if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.” Mark 9:22-24

“And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” Matthew 9:20-22

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Choir, “Shine for Me Again: STAR OF BETHLEHEM”

Closing Hymn: Choir and Congregation, “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful”

Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

So, I have the Christmas Program done, and approved! :) Lots of music, so we're already practicing. I've only arranged one piece, the rest is "commercial" sheet music. I am always tempted to start with "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful" to set the tone, to invite everyone to come and worship with the choir. This year, I'm ending with it, and I like it!

I've arranged a women's descant for verse two and verse three, with a bit of a piano arrangement to spice it up a bit. I'm not the best at piano, and as I'm sure anyone who has used my pieces knows. Just a bit more flavor. The music shows only the women's part - congregation and descants. The men can just use a hymnbook, or perhaps sing an octave down? Interesting thought... though my basses would not like the high notes. The descant for verse two is different than verse three.

As always, if you do use one of my pieces, I'd love to know if it worked for your choir, and especially if you had any problems, made any changes/improvements. Leave me a comment telling me where you're from, and which piece you used.

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

We are working on Christmas in Ward Choir. I pulled out our first piece of Christmas music in June! I have a Bishop who loves music, and that has been a dangerous thing for me - six pieces that the choir will learn, plus the congregation singing "What Child is This?" from Sallie DeFord, and an arrangement for choir and congregation of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" that I'm working on. I'm really looking forward to the program.

Ward choir is not just Christmas, though, and we are doing a WONDERFUL arrangement of "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me" by Linda Pratt. The link to her web site is on the sidebar. I chose it because I like the hymn, and not being too talented on the piano, the first time I heard it was at ward choir. Awful, I know!!! I was BLOWN AWAY by the chords in the piece, the way it develops. I looked at the choir and asked them if they heard that! And we sang it again, and there it was. I'm tempted to put an .mp3 file on my page, because she doesn't have that on her page, just so you know how great this piece is! It is beautiful! So gentle, so lilting, with chords to die for. The piano arrangement is beautiful just by itself, something I am NOT talented enough to do. So, my recommendation to you is to go to Linda Pratt's web site and download the sheet music - one of the best free pieces you could find!

I Often Go Walking

This is a Mother's Day arrangement of the Primary song. It is simple, with the choir singing parts on the second verse. The Piano plays right out of the Primary songbook - you can get copies of the Primary songbook songs online at www.lds.org. Click on "Serving in the Church", "Music".

Pioneer Children: A Medley

This is a light-hearted Pioneer piece, combining some of the pioneer songs from the Children's songbook. It doesn't teach much, but I like the way the songs meld together. Songs included are "Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked", "The Handcart Song", "Little Pioneer Children", and "Whenever I Think About Pioneers". It is two part the whole way through the piece, but for the last 2 measures.

The Lord is My Shepherd

This arrangement combines the standard arranging of the hymn with the Women's arrangement at the end of the hymnbook. The first verse is sung unison on the melody, or as a solo, A'Cappella, with the choir singing the second and third verse. I like the Soprano part, but this may be the only hymn in the hymnbook where the Sopranos do not sing the Melody! I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone to hear the actual melody.

The Spirit of God

So, I'm using an arrangement of "The Spirit of God" by Vieve Thompson (link to her free music site is below). I'm planning on having the ward choir perform it the week after the Draper Temple Dedication, to help people to remember the dedication if they went, and just to bring the Spirit. I was struggling at first with the practices, feeling like the song was going to drag a bit, singing all the verses, that it would be too long. Well, last Sunday, I had the choir work on dynamic levels. I asked them to go soft at the beginning, as written, but not lose the energy, to punch every note, and be very crisp with every word. WOW! They started out, and they sounded like the MoTab would! I don't say that often, but it was wonderful! I always liked the arrangement, but now I love it! Props to Vieve Thompson! I love how the men are singing Hosanah under the women's melody! Beautiful! So, for anyone looking for a good piece, check out Vieve Thompson, and "The Spirit of God"! It has everything I only dream about being able to do!

Downloads

Well, my vanity was saved a bit when I looked at the site where I store the files for downloading, and saw that someone actually is finding the site, and finding the music worthy enough to at least download and look at! Thanks for considering me! I'm glad if I can help out other ward choir directors like myself!

This sounds SO CONCEITED, but if you have a hymn that you love, and have ideas on how it could be sung by a choir, but want help getting it in a "publish"-able format, I'd love to help! Or just to have your ideas on what could be done. I love working with music, and I just lack passion about the hymns I haven't yet messed with. I'm currently working on "Hope of Israel", because it was referenced in Stake Conference this past weekend. :)

Let me know if you have used one of my pieces. I really just want to know that I am being of service to SOMEONE! :) And, especially let me know if you practiced a piece, and changed something in it - I like feedback, and may choose to change the piece permanently!

REVISED - Christ the Lord is Risen Today

So, I ran it by people I trust, and got some good feedback. I've changed the piano to organ, and simplified the sheet music by having the organ follow the same line as the congregation (especially since the congregation won't have the music, they'll sing out of the hymnbook). Hope you enjoy!

Silent Night, Revised

So, once I started to practice Silent Night with my ward choir, there were things that weren't quite right. I fixed what I could, but I noticed that it was very hard for the choir to follow all the running notes and stay on key enough for the piano to come in. We fixed this by having the organ play softly along with the choir on the first verse, so as to keep the soft beginning, and help the choir. During practice it worked, during the performance, we had techincal difficulties... but I would still recommend it. I have uploaded a revised version of the piece today, so if you've downloaded it before, make sure to get the new one.

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

I emailed my Bishop and asked what he wanted the Ward Choir to do for Easter this year. He responded that he had looked at the calander (something I had yet to do!), and Easter was the week following General Conference in April, and that the Stake had assigned that day as Fast Sunday - meaning no rest hymn, and no special choir number. When I talked to the choir about it, someone asked if we could do a choir and congregation number, like the Sallie DeFord pieces we had done for Christmas. Our Bishop loves music, and was all for it. I searched the web for one that we could use, and couldn't find one, so I combined what I did find (a flute piece I found free for noncommercial use) into something the Choir could learn for Easter. I often have a small amount of men to women, so I tend to arrange my music around that weakness - so the male choir parts are unison, and fairly simply in nature. Just as a heads-up. The choir sings an into, and the first verse A Cappella with the flute, then the piano and congregation join for the 2nd and 3rd verses, with the choir, flute, and piano finishing with how they started to book-end the piece. I'm putting it up here just in case anyone else is in the same boat!