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Thanks for the Music

Dear Reader,



For those of you who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, participating in music is probably at least a weekly occurrence, if not more often. For those of you who are not members of the Church, you probably already know that every week during church meetings, there are always hymns and music being produced by the members. We sing hymns in sacrament meeting, sometimes in other Sunday meetings and put together special musical numbers for special events like ward parties. With all this live/untouched music, a question came to mind: why does the church not switch to using recordings of all the hymns in sacrament meeting or other common church events?

One of my favorite songs when I was growing up


Considering the secular side of music, why is it that we long to hear our favorite bands in person? Why do we jam stadiums, crowd clubs and book live wedding music?

The answer, my friend, is divine. Music is a source of creativity. Music requires us to use our wills and we love making it. Heavenly Father gave us the power to create music. He gave us the power to create.

There is another question, though. Why do we like making music with other people? There is a growing number of people who make their own albums by using music software and multi-tracks. One of my favorite artists is Tim Waurick, who has several solo A Capella albums. He does very well for himself, but we still want to see him preform live with other people. Why?

Because this form of creativity we call music is meant to be enjoyed between human beings.

Music is a gift from God for us to share with each other. People sometimes hear me say something like, "Everyone can sing." It's true that not everyone has the high potential of being a pop sensation or rock star. However, everyone has the opportunity to create music. There is always a way for people to participate in music.

There is a feeling that cannot be produced by recording music which is there for live music. So the next time you think about making music or listening to it, make the music.

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