LDS Music

"...lead Thou me on..."

"...lead Thou me on..."

The book of Moses has a simple little phrase that has made all the difference in my writing of sacred music.

"...for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration..." - Moses 6:5

Moses was referring to a "book of remembrance," or journal. But I believe the very same can be said for any kind of writing. Of course I'm thinking about composing.

Musical buddy system for the win

Musical buddy system for the win

My favorite type of music making is collaborative music making. 

To me there's nothing more fun than playing or singing music with others. Chamber music, art songs, barbershop quartet, singing in a choir, accompanying my kids at violin recitals, playing in an orchestra.

Maybe that's because I'm a composer and a pianist who spends a lot of time alone in the composer cave.

The girl with the flaxen hair

The girl with the flaxen hair

In September 2002, I sat in a master class at BYU-Idaho waiting for my turn to accompany one of the class violinists. 

I wasn't thrilled to be there because the new freshman violinists were all scheduled to perform and they were almost always out of tune and scratchy sounding. Not my favorite.

A beautiful freshman girl with flaxen hair had her turn and I was pleasantly surprised.