Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Power of Music

I love to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing hymns with their trademark full-bodied sound. Such richness, such majesty, and such grandeur! Quite a moving experience! On Sunday afternoons, we turn the sound up on our Netflix TV screen and listen to them bring into our home a peacefulness, serenity, and happiness. The happiness occasionally turns to giddiness, but for the most part, the mood is just plain happy. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to sit in the conference center to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the hymns they’re famous for. I’m sure it would be quite overwhelming! (maybe one day….)

I get the maybe-not-so- sought-after calling of Primary Chorister and I really love it. When the children come into our early morning Primary quite solemn (or, in some cases, sleepy), its fun to get them up and moving through singing. They are all so much fun, yet we keep reverence amidst our practicing. I especially love it when the contest of singing loud enough for a hallway listener to hear, produces goosebumps! Such results should be had in all of our Sunday Sacrament meetings. With as many members as there are in our ward, we could actually produce enough sound, with our varied voices, to rival any choir, and an outside passerby would turn to look at our church building and marvel at our musical gusto! I’m waiting for that day! I love it when we go visit our grown children in their Sunday meetings and the congregation really sings! It’s great!

What an opportunity to worship through song each Sunday! There’s a temptation to pick up the rhythm and belt out each song. Music touches our spirits in a way that the spoken word doesn’t, and adds a great deal to our church meetings and our homes.

When our older kids were little, I had them sing in Sacrament meetings to songs by Janice Kapp Perry. They did quite well but hated it like kids sometimes do, but I liked it, it was good for them, and it helped us build memories they all laugh about now. A few of those songs became our family favorites.

2 comments:

Nonna said...

Music is very powerful and touches the heartstrings like nothing else ! It is wonderful that you enjoy your calling so much...it is a lot of work...I'm sure the children love you !!!

Rebecca Talley said...

I LOVED being Primary chorister. Such a fun calling and you're teaching them the gospel through music. I love music--I don't sing very well and I don't play any instruments, but I love music.