Mormons and musicians

ByBret Pimentel
Mormon Tabernacle Choir and organ pipes
Photo, More Good Foundation

Some of you know that I am a “Mormon“—a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I find that sometimes fellow musicians are curious about my faith and how it connects to my career in music, so I’d like to share a few thoughts.

Music in LDS (Latter-day Saint) theology

Mormons embrace the biblical Old and New Testaments and find in them reason to consider music, both vocal and instrumental, integral to worship:

And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. (2nd Samuel 6:5, KJV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16, KJV)

Books of scripture unique to the LDS canon also promote music in worship. The Book of Mormon describes gatherings of the faithful in the ancient Americas:

And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done. (Moroni 6:9, emphasis added)

The Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations from the 19th and 20th centuries, includes divine sanction for music in worship:

And it shall be given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church.

For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. (Doctrine and Covenants 25:12)

If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. (Doctrine and Covenants 136:28)

Music in LDS services

Congregational hymn singing is essential to LDS worship services, and usually accompanied by organ or piano. The English-language LDS hymnal contains over 300 hymns, some of which are borrowed or adapted from Protestant hymnody. There is also a children’s songbook, and material from this book is well-loved by congregations and sometimes used in adult meetings.

LDS congregations have no professional music ministry (nor any professional clergy, nor any other paid positions). Music leadership and service positions within congregations are filled by members who accept assignments from local ecclesiastical leaders. This means that the technical quality of the music (though not the spiritual quality, most Mormons would argue) varies, depending on available talent. While musical ability is generally plentiful in large, well-established congregations in the western US, some resources are available for less-musical congregations, including hymnals with simplified keyboard parts, and even pre-recorded accompaniments.

Services may also include music performed by soloists or small groups. These may be vocal or instrumental, though a Church policy manual warns against the use of instruments with a “prominent” sound, and mentions brass and percussion instruments in particular as being potentially inappropriate. Final decisions on these matters are made by local leaders, and I, for example, have used the soprano saxophone on occasion, after assuring congregation leadership that it can indeed be played sensitively and worshipfully. As a musician, I find LDS congregations to be extremely attentive and appreciative audiences, although I do find the end of a performance to be a little awkward, as applause is considered inappropriate.

Choir music is also used occasionally in worship services. The well-known Mormon Tabernacle Choir is an official Church group, which contributes music to Church-wide conferences and other high-profile Church functions, and which also maintains a schedule of touring and recording both sacred and secular choral music. Local LDS choirs tend to be fairly casual compared to those of other churches that may have professional music ministries; rehearsal schedules are usually very light, regular church clothes are usually worn, and the performance may be nothing more than a well-known hymn, sung from the hymnal with little or no adaptation. However, more involved and ambitious choir programs are welcomed if there is talent and interest within the congregation.

Music in everyday LDS life

A Church-published pamphlet for teenagers gives the following guidelines for selecting music for everyday listening:

Choose carefully the music you listen to. Pay attention to how you feel when you are listening. Don’t listen to music that drives away the Spirit, encourages immorality, glorifies violence, uses foul or offensive language, or promotes Satanism or other evil practices. (For the Strength of Youth, p. 20)

As with many aspects of the LDS faith, the burden falls largely on the individual to interpret this. Some Church members go so far as to limit themselves to music with a sacred message, but most would see this as extreme. (Still, widespread interest among Church members in “safe” music has fed a surprisingly large Mormon music industry, despite some criticisms of the music’s artistic merit.) LDS theology lays claim to all “good” things, whether or not they are sacred in nature:

If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. (Articles of Faith, 13)

So, it’s common for Church members to enjoy a variety of music, though some find it easier to entirely avoid certain genres or artists that more frequently feature sexual, violent, or otherwise offensive content.

Music as a career

There are some well-known LDS names in the music industry. “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight, for example, is a church member. So are American Idol heartthrob David Archuleta, 1980s pop group The Jets, late punk rocker Arthur “Killer” Kane (who joined the Church after his days with the New York Dolls), and, of course, The Osmonds. My own experience is a bit lower-profile, but I do find that my faith affects aspects of my career.

One significant challenge is Sabbath observance, which in LDS theology includes avoiding working or doing business on Sundays when possible. Some professions require Sunday staffing (for example, there’s a Medevac helicopter pilot in my congregation), and some people may have to accept Sunday work in order to provide for their families. Since I can’t make an honest argument that I’m essential 24/7 personnel, and my Monday-through-Friday university teaching position keeps food on the table, I’ve been turning down Sunday gigs. This has been difficult at times, especially since my location in the Bible Belt means that many of the available gigs are on Sundays at (non-LDS) churches. I also choose to forgo practicing on Sundays, since it’s part of my work.

Alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs, prohibited by the LDS “Word of Wisdom,” are sometimes part of the culture of music-making. Although I have rarely felt serious pressure from fellow musicians to partake, there are some side effects to abstaining. Playing in bars with rock bands in Athens, Georgia during graduate school, payment often came partly in money and partly in free drinks, which of course I turned down, effectively agreeing to less pay than drinking bandmates. I also found that as the evening wore on and the band’s overall blood alcohol rose, the groove often got a little less solid, and the intonation a little less precise. The next day, my bandmates would rave about how great we had sounded, while my 100% sober experience had been a bit different.

Music and my relationship with God

It is my personal belief that I have been divinely blessed with a great love for music, and perhaps even some degree of talent for it. I believe that if I develop what talent I have been given, and use it for the benefit of others, that I will be further blessed and my talent will grow.

I also believe in the message of this passage from the Book of Mormon:

But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul. (2 Nephi 32:9)

Although the “performance” discussed here can refer to any act of faith, the fact that literal, public performance is part of my daily life gives this verse special relevance to me. When I allow my faith to permeate my music-making, it blesses my life and brings me closer to God.

Similar Posts

  • Why do some instruments transpose?

    ByBret Pimentel

    I find it difficult to explain to the uninitiated the concept of “transposing” instruments. The what is confusing. The why is worse.

    To get the what across, I usually have to resort to an example: “Okay, so it works like this. If I am playing an alto saxophone, and I see an F-sharp on the page, I think ‘F-sharp,’ and do the correct fingering for F-sharp, and then I blow into the instrument and an A comes out.”

    Sometimes a visual representation is useful (here are transpositions for some common woodwind instruments):

    Instruments Written pitch Sounding pitch
    Piccolo
    Down an octave
    Up an octave
    Clarinet in E-flat
    Down a m3
    Up a m3
    Flute, Oboe
    (non-transposing)
    Bassoon
    (non-transposing)
    Clarinet in B-flat, Soprano saxophone
    Up a M2
    Down a M2
    Clarinet in A
    Up a m3
    Down a m3
    Alto flute
    Up a P4
    Down a P4
    English horn
    Up a P5
    Down a P5
    Alto saxophone
    Up a M6
    Down a M6
    Contrabassoon
    Up an octave
    Down an octave
    Tenor saxophone, Bass clarinet
    Up a M9
    Down a M9
    Baritone saxophone, Contrabass clarinet in E-flat
    Up an octave and a M6
    Down an octave and a M6

    This system is, shall we say, “difficult:”

    • Composer/arranger/copyist: “What was that transposition for alto flute again? A fourth, I think, but was it a fourth down or a fourth up? Or was it a fifth?”
    • Conductor: “Let’s see, the alto saxophones have an E and a B, the tenor has a D-sharp, and the baritone has a D-natural. So that chord would be, um…”
    • Educator: “Okay, everybody play a B-flat scale. I mean, ‘concert’ B-flat. So C for clarinets and tenor saxophones, G for altos and baritones, E-flat for English horn… or is it F for English horn?…”
    • Gigging musician: “I need to buy the fakebook in E-flat. Hmm, and I guess I also need the B-flat, in case I play clarinet on anything. I wonder if I’ll need the C book for flute, too? Wait, let me make a phone call.”

    (And that’s just the system used for the modern band and orchestral instruments!) Read More “Why do some instruments transpose?”

  • Thinking through scales

    ByBret Pimentel

    My university woodwind students have to pass a scale exam as one of the requirements to progress in their degree program. They have to be able to play major scales and three forms of minor scales, plus arpeggios, through the “full range” of the instrument, from memory.

    Many of my students learned their major scales in their school band programs, well enough to have most of them in muscle memory. But some of them are less familiar with the minor scales.

    It can be a little overwhelming to keep track of 48 different scales. With plenty of accurate repetitions my students can get to the point of muscle memory for all 48. But in the meantime sometimes they get stuck trying to remember the right notes for the next scale, or get mixed up and play the wrong one.

    I find it very helpful to have a mental roadmap for thinking through the next scale, and especially so if I can relate it to something I already have in muscle memory. My map might go something like this, but there are lots of possibilities:

    • C major scale: already in muscle memory, little or no “thinking” needed. As I play, notice the first, third, and fifth scale degrees, so I can use them in the next step.
    • C major arpeggio: first, third, and fifth degrees of the scale I just played.
    • C natural minor scale: since it’s a minor scale, I’m going to lower the third from E to E-flat. And E-flat major is the relative key to C minor, and I have E-flat major in my muscle memory, so I can play that same pattern of notes without too much thought.
    • C harmonic minor scale: now that I’ve got C natural minor under my fingers, I just need to change one note to produce the harmonic minor: B-flat becomes B-natural.
    • C melodic minor, ascending: this one is just like the C major scale I played a minute ago, but lower the E to E-flat.
    • C melodic minor, descending: this one is just like the C natural minor scale (related to E-flat major) that I played a minute ago. Notice the first, third, and fifth scale degrees, so I can use them in the next step.
    • C minor arpeggio: first, third, and fifth degrees of the scale I just played.

    Another approach that appeals to some of my students is to think in terms of scale degrees: start with the major scale that’s already in muscle memory, and remember that for, say, harmonic minor, you have to lower the third and the sixth.

    Having an organized way of thinking through the scales helps prevent the paralysis and overwhelm of trying to conjure up the whole scale from nothing. When my students take their exam, nobody minds if they take a few moments to think before they start playing, but getting stuck mid-scale would be a problem.

    As you get better and faster at thinking through the scales, a good way to push yourself is to use a metronome, and limit yourself to a pre-set amount of time before the next scale starts. Maybe a certain number of beats (or, ultimately, zero beats) before jumping into the next one. If that doesn’t go well in the practice space, you know that particular transition is a problem spot, and can reorganize your efforts accordingly.

    Happy practicing!

  • Brand snobbery

    ByBret Pimentel
    Photo, Steve Rawley

    I recently met a fellow woodwind player, and the conversation inevitably turned to gear. We had each recently tried out an instrument by a relatively new maker. My new acquaintance found it not to his liking. “I’m a _____ snob,” he proudly explained, naming a very popular and well-established instrument maker.

    I also recently read a woodwind-related message board thread (why do I torture myself?) in which some discussion was taking place about an accessories maker who had recently branched out into a new venture. A commenter scoffed at the new product and at the maker in general, indicating his disinclination even to sample any of their (generally well-regarded) products. He offered no explanation for his strong and seemingly arbitrary opinion.

    Your gear choices are your own. But if you find yourself clinging to brand names, and defending those choices with something besides objective comparisons, then you might be missing out.

  • Isolating problem spots

    ByBret Pimentel

    Earlier this month I posted about a fundamental practicing concept that sometimes escapes my less-experienced students. Here is another:

    Me: Play your D melodic minor scale.

    Student: [Begins D minor scale, plays a wrong note in the second octave.]

    Me: Whoops, remember to play B-natural.

    Student: Okay. [Starts over, makes same mistake.]

    Me: Please start at the second-octave A, and play just from there to—

    Student: [Starts from second-octave A, makes the same mistake, proceeds to finish the scale.]

    Me: No, I want you to start at the A, play just to the B-natural, and stop.

    Student: [Plays.]

    Me: Okay, that’s correct. Now—

    Student: [Starts over, makes same mistake.]

    Practicing in overly large segments is an issue for less-experienced students for at least three reasons. The first is that is it makes it difficult to notice exactly where the problem is happening. Students may tend to “power through” a section and evaluate it as a whole (“That wasn’t very good”), then simply start over again and hope for the best. Sometimes my younger students are surprised when I point out that they are actually making the same mistake over and over. In their minds, it’s a roll of the dice every time, hoping that everything turns out right, and if it doesn’t, then start again and hope for better luck this time. Practicing in smaller segments makes it much easier to identify and isolate problems.

    photo, Basheer Tome
    photo, Basheer Tome

    The second issue is that even if the precise problem is known, practicing it within too large a segment increases the cognitive load—it’s hard to devote enough attention to the actual problem when there are so many other notes to think about. Plus, practicing too long of a segment raises the stakes in a way that often doesn’t work well for inexperienced practicers: by the time you actually arrive at the problem spot, the pressure is really on to get it right, since you’ve already invested a lot in this run-through. If you isolate the problem to a much smaller segment, it’s not such a big deal if you have to start again.

    The third issue is efficiency. If your goal is to correct one wrong note, which lasts less than a second, and you play 30 seconds’ worth of music leading up to it and another 30 seconds’ worth after it, then you can only get about one repetition done per minute. Even if you get it right, it will take you hours to really solidify that passage. But if you can narrow the problem down to two seconds’ worth of music, you can do many repetitions per minute.

    In most cases, the problem that needs fixing has to do with getting from one note to another successfully. It may be that the second note isn’t the right one, or that it doesn’t respond right, or that the articulation isn’t correct, or a variety of other things, but the crucial concept is that there is a pair of notes, and the first note is right, and the second one isn’t.

    Step one is to practice just those two notes, not just once through, but many times. If this is only accomplished with difficulty, it may be due to the second note having a less-familiar fingering, or perhaps some kind of particular response difficulty. Practice those two notes—and only those two notes—over and over until they improve. If they don’t, consult a teacher who can help to you diagnose and improve your technique.

    If playing the two notes is trivially easy, then the problem is something about the context in which they appear. Add one more note before the first one, and repeat it several times. If it’s still easy, add one more. Continue until the problem returns, and practice that sequence of notes slowly and carefully until it feels natural and solid. If it becomes clear that adding more notes before the problem isn’t what’s triggering it, then start again from the two notes and gradually add notes after them. Sometimes anticipating what follows can cause something to go wrong.

    Don’t be overly anxious to put the (former) problem spot back into the “context” of a whole scale or etude or movement. Make most of your practicing small-segment work, and very gradually reassemble the small segments into slightly larger ones. Repeat the slightly larger ones many times, then combine them again into still larger ones.

    Take the time to break your practicing down into smaller chunks, isolate the problem spots, and work them methodically and repetitively.

  • Performance postmortems

    ByBret Pimentel

    After a performance, I like to have a little talk with myself or with my students about how things went. Here are some examples of questions to ask:

    • Were there any breakthroughs? New accomplishments? Higher levels of performance than previously achieved? If so, what contributed to these successes?
    • Was there any backsliding? Things going worse than in previous performances? Why?
    • How was your mental state before and during the performance? Did it have an effect on how you sounded? What aspects of that can you control?
    • How was your physical condition before and during the performance? (Tired? Hungry? Sore?) Did it have an effect on how you sounded? What aspects of that can you control?
    • How was your preparation? Is there anything you would do to prepare differently or better next time?
    • What feedback, spoken or otherwise, did you get from your audience? Should, or does, that color your evaluation of your success?
    • Is there a difference between your objective evaluation of the performance and how you really feel about it? Why? Is this significant/important?
    • Is there a recording? Were there any surprises when you listened to it?
    • What do you hope to build upon, improve, or otherwise change for your next performance?

    Some post-performance reflection on both positives and negatives can be valuable for setting new goals and preparing for the next one.

  • Three Fingering Diagram Builder tutorials

    ByBret Pimentel

    Back in the olden days (2002), I wrote a paper for a college class on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s simultaneous playing of clarinet and saxophone on “Creole Love Call” from the 1967 album The Inflated Tear. (When I started up this blog, the paper retroactively became a blog post.) In my paper, I included two fingering charts—one for right-handed clarinet, one for left-handed saxophone—that I thought looked pretty good and only took me a few hours to make. Ah, how young I was.

    Right-handed clarinet fingering chart. Click for larger.
    Left-handed saxophone fingering chart.

    Clearly, the time has come to update these sad old charts, and the Fingering Diagram Builder makes it fast, easy, and, dare I say it?—fun. I’ll show you how it’s done, using three particularly cool features (if I do say so myself) of the FDB. We will take a look at the FDB’s custom styles, custom keywork presets, and Dropbox integration.

    Custom styles

    For now, my plan is just to create enough diagrams to replace the ones in these old fingering charts—just the fingerings I figure Kirk must have used. But I don’t think Rahsaan would want me limiting myself to just those fingerings in the future. I’d better set up this project in such a way that I can come back later with new one-handed fingerings I’ve discovered, and add them to the charts with a minimum of fuss.

    The problem is that, what with the FDB’s highly customizable diagrams, I may not remember tomorrow whether the ones I made today have lines that are “medium” or “thick” or “heavy,” or whether I sized them “small” or “tiny,” or whether I was saving the diagrams as .PNG files for onscreen use or .TIF files for better printed results. The FDB does, of course, remember my current settings between sessions all on its own, but I like to work on several projects at once (Rahsaan would approve, I think) and I’ll use the FDB’s “custom styles”  to keep each project’s configuraton a click away. Here’s how:

    1. First I will set up things just the way I want them. Currently, settings that can be saved as part of a custom style are: diagram size, line thickness, color, file naming procedure (let the FDB name them automatically, or specify each filename myself), file format, save-to location (my computer or my Dropbox), and, if I’m using Dropbox, which folder to save the files in.
    2. Once everything is just right, I’ll click over to the “Custom styles” tab in the FDB’s menu to review my choices, and select which ones I want to save.

      As you can see, I’ve set the diagrams to be small, heavy-lined, colored in gray, .PNG-formatted, and saved to Dropbox in a folder called “kirkismyhero.” I have un-checked the box for “File naming,” since I don’t want the FDB to remember that for my purposes on this project—I’ll just go ahead and use whichever system I’m already using that day.
    3. I’ll type in a name (“kirk project”) for my custom style, and click the “Save current settings” button (or press Enter).

      I’m done—that’s all there is to it. In the future, whenever I want to create more diagrams like the ones I’m making today, I can just go to the “Custom styles” tab and click on “kirk project.”

    Read More “Three Fingering Diagram Builder tutorials”

5 Comments

  1. This was very enlightening. I have been curious about Mormon approaches to professional musicianship but have never been comfortable asking. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply

    1. Hi Brett, I’m glad if this was helpful to you. My experience is that most Mormons don’t mind a bit if people ask honest questions about their faith, so no need to be uncomfortable about asking.

      Reply

  2. I am, myself, a Catholic, but seeing as there is only one God and only one Christ, that really doesn’t matter. For me, the Mormons have been a central part of Christmas since I was a child. Most unfortunately, T.V. has stopped showing short holiday “vignettes” that Mormons used to produce… they were truly inspirational.

    Can you answer this, or can you point to someone who might:
    The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra are probably among the five best in the world. I have been listening to them since my parents bought vinyl records of them in the early 1970’s when they sung with a pipe organ. Although they are absolutely astounding today, they had a certain flair, a different soul back in the simpler days of organ only. I have managed to find one of the Christmas albums (Spirit of Christmas) reissued on CD, but the other one, The Holly and the Ivy, really contained the best tunes, some of which have hardly ever been recorded since.

    Do you know, or can you point the way to anyone who might know, how I can find this album and/or CD reissue and/or MP3 archived files and/or….?

    Thanks and do maintain the musical sobriety!

    Reply

    1. Hi Robin, thanks for your comment. My quick searches turned up copies on vinyl on both amazon.com and ebay.com. As far as I can see it was never released on CD.

      Reply

  3. Hi there,
    I am one of those guys that some people think have 3 eyes and 2 noses and six wives and are so different to the rest of the population.
    Music is such a part of our life. I did a lot of research and found some notable Mormons in the music field and put together a web site based on that. I must say I was a little surprised at some of my findings. I hope you will have a look at my site. Many people hide their qualities under a rock.
    johnwright@internode.on.net
    John

    Reply

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