Music and Lyrics

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 re...

Dear Reader, There is a song that I do not know much about entitled "Consider the Lilies." The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings it from time to time, like President Monson's 85th birthday celebration in 2012. Currently, the Mountain West Voices  at Brigham Young University is preparing this song as part of their Barbershop Classic Concert . Today I want to highlight the lyrics of this song and how they are important for us right now. It also doesn't hurt my memorization... Consider the lilies of the field How they grow, how they grow Consider the birds in the sky How they fly, how the fly He clothes the lilies of the field He feeds the birds in the sky And he will feed those who trust him And guide them with his eye Consider the sheep of his fold How they follow where he leads Though their paths may wind across the mountain He knows the meadows where he leads Consider the sweet, tender children Who must suffer on the earth The pains of all of them he carried From t...

Dear Friends, As I have mentioned before, Barbershop is a big part of life. In "The Christmas Song," there is the line about tiny tots having a hard time sleeping because they are so excited to see if Santa is coming. When it comes to singing, I am like a tiny tot with a glow in my eye. It is the best! Singing with a group is one of the greatest experiences anyone can have in their lifetime. With that, I will share parts of the concert we put on last weekend. Combined choruses from Utah Valley put on a concert in Lindon. Below are the videos of our songs. Our quartet, Ever Higher, sang "The Christmas Song." Mountain West Voices with their rendition of "Homeless." Soloist: Josh Wiser.  The Short Version of "Silent Night." Soloist: Clayton Watts.

Dear Reader, I just have to say, I like you. Even if I don't know you, you are an awesome person. Just so you know. This week is all about getting to know people better and finding what you like about them, apparently. Let me share more with you about our travels through Andalucia, Spain. It was a blast! La Alhambra in Granada, Spain.  After leaving Sevilla, we made it to Granada, home of the Alhambra . This is a city within a city. According to our wonderful tour guide, Ester, it has more than 8000 visitors every day. Even with that many tickets to sell, it is difficult to get them. We are lucky, indeed. The highlight for me was the Torre de la Vela.  Atop the tower is a bell with a romantic tradition. There is a celebration every year on January 2nd in the Alhambra, during which if a person rings the bell on top of this tower three times, they will fall in love and be married within the next year. Unfortunately it is not January, so none of us could ring the bell....

Dear Reader,  I had a dream about Disneyland and the magic that is made there. It went something like this... “ Walking down Main Street USA at Disneyland, CA, is magical. On either side there are characters from beloved shows children grow up with. At the end of the street is the Disney Castle that is famous for firework shows and for being a symbol for Disney across the world. Most mornings the street is illuminated by sunshine, adding to the happy, magical atmosphere. There are several different aromas coming from shops on the street, each aroma adding to the excitement each guest feels as they walk down the street. “’Good afternoon! Welcome to Disneyland!’ There is a gorgeous red-head standing on the curb with a bright smile on her face and a large badge that reads Guest Relations. It is apparent that she loves coming to work every day. Her plaid vest appears freshly ironed and her curly hair is brought up in a pony that demonstrates a professional yet friendly d...

Dear Readers, That title actually has very little significance for this post. I thought you ought to know. Here's just a little update on what is going on in never-ending-music-land. Today we had a rehearsal with The Mountain West Voices . Yes, we are pretty awesome...the whole 8 of us who showed up. Anyway, we had a good long talk about what we want to accomplish with the chorus in this coming year. It was a hard conversation for me to be a part of because I won't be here in the fall, but I gave my opinion when asked. In other news, there will be somekind of barbershop arrangement of 'If I Never Knew You' from Pocahontas  in the future. The identity of the arranger is still in question. So, I guess I'll just share an awesome video with you today. Enjoy!

Dear Reader, Yesterday I was listening to  BYU Radio  (As is customary while I'm working) and heard another episode from the  Matt Townsend Show . The episode yesterday was entitled "Love." Obviously I was intrigued about what they would talk about. It was mostly marital advice, especially because one of the producers is getting married next week. It made me think a lot, though. What did I think about? Well, there were lots of things and the majority of them I either can't put into words or don't want to share publicly on the internet. There is one thing I will share. Love is surprising. There are some moments that come along and just smack you across the face as if to say, "Hey you! This is the best thing that you can possibly have in your life! Find THIS!" I had one of those moments last night. After seeing a good friend of mine, I realized that she is amazing and I want her around more often. Before I go off on a monologue of how amazing she is...

Dear Reader, Have you heard a barbershop quartet before? The most common thought about barbershop is an image of 4 guys in striped vests, most of the time in the musical   The Music Man.  Yeah, these guys are pretty cool. There are many quartets around the country that keep this line of music going. You can listen to   Storm Front ,   Ringmasters   or   Vocal Spectrum.   They travel around and keep the whole world singing. Yesterday was their day: National Barbershop Quartet Day! I also sing in a quartet. We call ourselves   Ever Higher . I think that name comes from Nick's incessant need to sing high tenor parts. Anyway, the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) was founded on April 11, 1938. This is now national barbershop day.  In honor of Barbershop, I want to write all about the chapter of that society based out of Provo, Utah. The group is   Mountain West Voices,  also has part to do with the Brigham Young Univer...