on Mormons and their Music

When the subjects of Mormons and their music comes up it's not uncommon to hear gripes from the Mormon musicians themselves: Mormon musicians are all amateurs, the aesthetic is sullied by the absence (outside the few tabernacle organists and choir conductors, etc.) of paid positions for musicians ( a similar argument could, and probably is, made about clergy, activities coordinators, teachers, and virtually all of the day-to-day functioning of the church community). Often, musicians complain about 'tin-eared' leaders who have jurisdiction over their musical decisions, that the church music market is being flooded by pop music, or the amorphous and either loved or disdained genre of 'inspirational' music... and so the musings go. The one common string amongst many of the conversations I hear about Mormon and their Music is that it could be much better, and that most people want it to be better. (Speaking of which, there will soon be an electronic version of David Warner's BYU Arts Alumni lecture asking for LDS innovators in the arts - watch this space).

With this on my mind, I had a conversation today with the choirmaster and organist from a 6,000-member Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, who have been coming to BYU regularly for two years now to work with some of our choral musicians here. I was more than a little worried when the choirmaster began a sentence saying 'The Mormon Musical tradition is...'

Long pause...

'A very singing tradition. Mormons are a singing people. We want more of that in our church.'

And so, in the midst of introspection about what the state of Mormon music is, where it is going, and what it could be, let's take a moment to enjoy the fact that the average LDS congregation sings its hymns with envied gusto and fluency.