First of all, I’d like to bring attention to a new publication that has recently been published called Mormon Artist (http://mormonartist.net). It seems to be right up my alley, anyway, and features Mormon sculptors, painters, musicians, dancers (even glass-blowers, reads the site). Continue reading…
Archive for the 'music' Category
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Last week while I was playing the organ for Sacrament meeting, it hit me that often, the only time I feel touched by the spirit at church is while singing hymns or primary songs. I love singing songs at church. It makes me feel like I’m a part of a community of saints. So I asked the powers-that-be at Mormon Matters if I could do an occasional post here re: the hymns. So I will choose a hymn and post the text, an mp3, some comments about the scriptural references listed under each hymn, and some background info. about the composer or the history of the hymn, etc. I hope this can be a positive thread – I need some uplifting spiritual interactions.
If you say something true about Jesus, but your Jesus is a different Jesus, is what you said about the first Jesus still true?
What if you’re singing it? Continue reading…
“Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:16)
“All soldiers
They’re all gonna die
And all the little babies
They’re all gonna die
All the poets
And all the liars
And all you pretty people
You’re all gonna die” (Low, 2007)
2 Nephi 31:3 (emphasis added)
For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.
When I was a teenager, I had an angry, liberal, bisexual friend whom I loved. Not in a romantic sense, but in a sense that I truly understood her. She was incredibly creative and I wanted her to be successful in her musical and artistic endeavors. We once had a conversation that completely surprised me. She had seemed so anti-religion for as long as I had known her, so when she told me the following, I was completely shocked: “When I saw Tori Amos in concert for the first time, Arthur, I swear I felt something that I never have before. I think I believe in God now… when I saw Tori Amos I somehow knew that there must be a God out there somewhere.” Continue reading…
I attended the Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium on Friday, August 8th. I hadn’t been to Sunstone in ten years.
The last time I came, I was a young, single, childless university student. The world was my oyster, and Mormon Studies was, for me, a new phenomenon. I went to celebrity-gaze.
Whether I would continue to be involved with the Church was an open question for me. Continue reading…
I was recently asked by someone dear to me to join the fray here at mormonmatters.org, and I looked forward to the challenge. I must admit, due to my “distance” growing up from any major LDS hubs (I have mentioned elsewhere that I grew up in a small branch Western Kentucky), I have been somewhat insulated from some of the issues that effect the posters that post here, and never gave them much thought. It wasn’t that these issues didn’t exist, but, being that I was one of three Latter-day Saints in my high school, when asked about the Church’s position about, say, same-sex marriage, I just said something off the top of my head, using my intuition and what I knew from the Scriptures, and assumed that was the Church’s position. The Church was neither ubiquitous nor monolithic to me. It was a small branch comprised of about three big families. I am sometimes somewhat amused by the difference between the issues facing Latter-day Saints “Out West” and those for me. Continue reading…
Recently, I was in a meetinghouse in our area for the first time. On the wall directly above the entrance to the chapel, there is a small plaque. Continue reading…
No, not THE Alamo.
Years ago, my wife and I skipped our ward meetings to attend Music and the Spoken Word and thoroughly enjoyed it. Continue reading…
My favorite part of any church service is the music.
Even when the music is poorly done — which all too often it is — it has power to inspire, teach, and heal.
That said, I would like some changes to the music section of the handbook. If I were in charge, here are the rules I’d implement: Continue reading…
I count my enjoyment of film scores as my eccentric musical hobby. While others examine the credits of movie posters looking for actors or directors, I almost without fail look for the “Music By:” line. Some find instrumental or orchestral music terribly boring to listen to, but I feel that it grasps my imagination and makes me a part of the music in a way that typical radio tunes simply can’t.
I suppose that’s why I took such a liking to Brett Raymond’s album entitled “First Light: Scenes From the Restoration.” He explains that the album is is much like the soundtrack to a film—only without the film. It is rather the listener who is charged with the task of mentally generating the visuals to coincide with the sound. The 20 tracks follow the events of the early years of Joseph Smith’s ministry, track 1 beginning with a beautiful opening sequence where one might envision opening credits, and track 2 bringing us to a young Joseph on a quest for spiritual enlightenment. Track 3 continues with some poignant melodies that illustrate the “serious reflection” he went through as he pondered the words of James. Track by track, some in the form of songs, and others as simple instrumentals, this album paints a inspiring, powerful, and passionate picture of the ambiance and atmosphere of the early days of what we know as the restoration. Continue reading…
