The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey - My Musical Musings Blog | betsyleebaileymusic.com

There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today

5/22/2025

In the Wasatch Master Chorale, we are preparing for our last concert of the season. It is also our Bon Voyage send off for those of us who are going on a tour to New York City. (I did not plan to go because I had planned to drive my daughter's family across country that same week --- but now I don't have to do that. Oh well...) Anyway, one of the sets we are singing contains several Appalachian hymn arrangements. They are very fun to sing --- songs like "The Storm Is Passing Over," "The Unclouded Day," and "No Time."

There is something delicious about singing early American Folk Hymns. The melodies and harmonies may be a bit raw and unpolished, but they contain pure emotion, joy and worship. Several years ago now, I decided to write a set of hymn arrangements for solo voice. Some early American Hymns seemed like just the right choice to go into that collection. And though some of the hymns may not be exactly early American, they still fit that genre.

"There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today" was at the top of the list. It was actually the first sacred solo I wrote just for myself. My youngest son had gone off to Kindergarten, and that gave me time to devote myself to purely selfish projects. This hymn had become a favorite because of a dear friend who grew up in a deaf family. She told me that she always thought of her mother's desire to have the Lord hear the righteous *song in her heart that she cannot sing.

There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today - arr. by Betsy Lee Bailey
Text: Eliza E. Hewitt, 1851-1920, Music: John R. Sweney, 1837-1899

There is sunshine in my soul today more glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky for Jesus is my light.
There is sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is music in my soul today, a carol to my King,
And *Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing.
There is sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is springtime in my soul today, for when the Lord is near
The dove of peace sings in my heart, the flowers of grace appear.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is gladness in my soul today, and hope and praise and love,
For blessings which he gives me now, for joys laid up above.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face
There is sunshine in the soul.
There is sunshine in my soul today,
Sunshine in my soul today.

In this recording, my sister Bonnie Lee is singing and I am playing the piano. This and other solos are available for Medium High Voice in The Praiseworthy Singer Vol. 14 and 15

End of Year School Concerts

5/14/2025

Attended my granddaughter Abi's last band concert of her High School career last night. Her High School is very large and I have been especially impressed with the sports and music programs at Skyridge HS in Lehi, Utah. Some of my other grandkids go to schools in very small communities, so going to this very large school for events seems rather out of all proportion in comparison. However, for the most part, I have been very pleased with the opportunities these kids have been getting through school, no matter their locations and populations.

When I entered High School (you know, back in the dark ages), my first school was very large, very new, and very high tech. For example, the music that the performing groups could do there seemed amazingly high calibre to me. There was a lot of talent to draw upon. And they had so many groups --- several bands, an orchestra, and three choirs. It seemed so big --- more like a college campus than a high school.

My dad changed jobs after I had only attended Sam Rayburn HS in Pasadena TX for six seeks. Then we moved to Beavercreek, Ohio. After being in such a beautiful, new, high tech, well funded high school school in Texas, going back to junior high school for 9th grade in Ohio was such a let down. (Wasn't I lucky. I got to spend a fourth year in junior high.) Oh, well, they say that in a smaller school, individuals have more opportunities --- less competition, you know.

My mom and dad, bless their hearts, made sure that we kids had plenty of opportunities to grow and gave us all the support we needed. As usual, it didn't take long for my mom to ingratiate herself into the musical communities of the schools. She was called on very often to accompany for the choirs and help out for rehearsals for any school musicals or events, etc. Still, I couldn't help comparing going to that glamorous brand new school in Texas to the very old smaller schools in Ohio. (Sigh)

By the way, they finally got the funding to upgrade the Beavercreek High School to a glamorous new building --- but not until after I had graduated and gone on. It really isn't fair to compare school experiences with a school's outward appearance, anyhow. It's what happens within those walls that really matters. I'm sure the teachers work just as hard to provide good experiences for the students in all situations.

It has been fun, though, here in Utah to cross paths with other musicians I have actually worked with in different musical organizations. For instance, the director of my younger grandchildren's elementary school chorus is a member of the Tabernacle Choir, and the band director at Skyridge HS plays trumpet in the Orchestra at Temple Square. (Small world isn't it?)

I have many grandchildren nearby, so I get lots of opportunities to attend concerts and school events. Unfortunately, I can't go to nearly all of them. I have 27 grandchildren, and five of my seven families live near enough that I could attend events. Sometimes, I just have to respond according to triage --- last night I had to choose between Abi's last High School band concert and Ethan's first Middle School band concert. (Abi's seemed more expedient.) And there are others I also have to miss because of prior commitments. Being a grandmother is definitely a full-time occupation!

Ladies Who Lunch

5/12/2025

Ladies who lunch...

When I was little I couldn't understand why older ladies felt the need to go out together for lunch --- especially when I didn't get to go with them

Now that I am older, I get it. Getting together with beloved friends (without the kids) is great! It is so fun to see and catch up with people you have spent time with before and haven't seen in a long time. It is so nice to be able to renew old friendships and jog the brain about wonderful times spent together in previous years.

For the May 10th, 2025 Tabernacle Choir Emeritus Ladies Luncheon, many of us retired singers got to be together for a brief time. A lot of that time was spent hugging, laughing, and singing together. Not quite the same as singing together in the Tabernacle Choir, but delightful still.

We all wore name tags that also included the dates we sang in the choir. That really helped. As we age, hair colors and styles change. Who knew so many of us would go grey or white? (I guess that's normal, but it makes it harder to recognize people.) We get wrinkles, too. Not what any of us wanted. Our voices may show wear and tear, as well. But as we sang together, somehow the sound was still beautiful.

The noise in the room got louder and louder as we were visiting and laughing and hugging for the hour before the luncheon. I felt sorry for this one lady who looked very lost. She was struggling to be able to discern conversations. She was also having trouble finding anyone who had served in the choir during her time that she might remember. No wonder, she joined the choir in 1968 and left in 1971. And when she joined, she was only 17. There really weren't many left from that era, if any. (In those days the minimum age limit of 25 years old was not yet enforced.)

This was not a time for much in depth conversation. We could barely hear the "Hello! How are you" greetings above the din. But, we knew that we treasured the shared memories that were brought back into focus from being together again. So we whipped out our phones and took pictures.

Good times. Great memories. Lovely ladies who lunch...

When I retired from the Tabernacle Choir, I handed out one of my hymn arrangements. It contained a line I just loved: "...and there we'll meet in the heavenly choirs and sing His praises above." That summed up my hopes for the future to meet and sing with these dear people again --- even if it is not until we meet in heaven.

"Come All Ye Saints Who Dwell on Earth" SSAA and SSATB

Honoring Mom on Mother's Day 2025

5/9/2025

Carolyn Thompson Lee (1928-2011)

When I went off to college at age 17, I had no idea how spoiled I had been. The main reason I knew I was spoiled is because I had a fabulous accompanist at my beck and call, any time, any where. My mother. Suddenly, I had no one to play the piano for me to sing. For a singer starting off in a Vocal Performance degree path I suddenly found myself in dire straits. (It took a while, but finally I found an accompanist, a good one, too, Sue Neimoyer.) I'm not really complaining, but it did take time to find someone I could work as closely with like I was used to with my mother.

For example, it came as a shock that if I needed a song "jazzed up" a bit or transposed quickly, my mother just did it. Other pianists couldn't just instantly make arrangements that suited me or the situation. My mother could also write songs. I still remember parts of a song she wrote for me late one night for a Roadshow that was set to perform the next day. My part in the mini-show, she said, needed character development and a song would do just that. It was a nice little short song and gave my character the needed development.

She could play the piano, sure, and sing like a nightingale. The amazing bit, though, is that she could do those things and also carry on six different conversations while sitting at the piano entertaining for parties. She was, and still is, the only person I ever knew who could enter a room and within minutes know every person's name and their life stories ----- and also get invitations to stay at their houses should the need ever arise.

My mother was a terrific cook, too. Seems like she could make something special out of the basest of ingredients in the fridge before the Saturday shopping day. For most of my early life, Mom only had the use of a car on the weekends. It wasn't until I was in Middle School that my parents got a second car. It took good planning to be able to feed our tribe of six kids with only shopping once a week. She made even common days holidays.

My mother loved people. And people loved her. She had friends everywhere, including the many places we lived --- the schools, the neighborhood, at church, the grocery stores --- and she kept track of and remembered them. People were always begging her to teach their children piano or voice lessons. She taught students at very inconvenient times --- at 6:00 in the morning until school started and then after school until suppertime. She had to teach me a few recipes to get dinner started on lessons days. (Poor family! They had to endure my poor attempts at cooking.)

I only wish I had more recordings of her beautiful voice. This is an arrangement she entrusted to me now. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz.

Love you, Mom.

Elementary School Chorus Concert

5/5/2025

Boy was I surprised when I attended my 6th grade granddaughter's elementary school chorus concert last week! Most of the elementary school music concerts I have gone to have been less than impressive. And sometimes, my heart was really hurt knowing that the concert was all about getting the kids to sing loud (usually in a monotone yelling) rather than working on proper singing techniques.

But I have to say, that I was really impressed that this group sang in proper ranges for young children, were encouraged to sing in their head voices to better learn to match pitch, and also sang some pretty sophisticated music. I expected some 2-part songs, but was actually quite surprised when they sang some three and four-part songs! Granted, these were mostly canon parts, but also some actual three-part treble voicing - Soprano I and II plus Alto in sections.

My granddaughter has been taking vocal lessons with me for a couple of years now. She has been developing a lovely voice that spans about three octaves. She can sustain notes above the staff as well as sing alto notes below the staff. I am glad that she was in the soprano section though, because that's where I think her clearest "money notes" are.

All in all, I was really pleased that this teacher was so focused on having the children sing with proper posture, attention to vowels and good diction, and using their head voices. It made the experience as an audience member so much more enjoyable for me. I really enjoyed the choices of songs, too. There was quite a range. They sang songs about the theme which was "Music," such as "The Sound of Music," plus other folk songs, songs from various style periods, and even one song in Spanish. Well done, Teacher!

I wish all of the Elementary School Choral concerts I attended were as well planned and executed!

From Consonant to Consonant

4/27/2025

Choral singers come in many varieties. A choir may be made up of a wide range of vocal colors --- bight, dark, tremolo, breathy, etc. Whatever the vocal color, the singer will need to be aware of what they can do in order to blend with the other voices. The most important skills to learn are to have good vowel molds, good breathing, and know how to control the natural spin or vibrato of their voice. Those skills can be learned. The natural vocal quality of a voice should actually be celebrated as long as the singer can sing in tune and blend with the other voices.

Creating a cohesive sound over the entire chorus may take consistent effort from the conductor and the singers. The conductor may choose to work on one concept at a time before moving on to the next. "Singing from consonant to consonant" is an aspect of phrasing that involves both proper breath management as well as crisp diction.

Developing nuance within a phrase or line of music can be allusive, especially for a large choir. Even with all the effort that one singer might make, it won't be enough. The entire group needs to produce together as one big whole to get the job done. Breathing energy into the vowel sounds between the consonants in a phrase is what must be developed. We sing on the vowels. Consonants, of course, are essential to intelligible diction, but they usually break up the line.

We Americans tend to be lazy speakers. We barely open our jaws or use our tongues to enunciate when speaking. That does not translate well to beautiful singing. In order to make beautiful vowel molds, the jaw must be down in the "two finger" position which makes it harder for the tongue to work to create the proper vowel molds. We also tend to speak without engaging our abdominal wall muscles in order to project. We also forget to breathe deeply enough to have the power to support a tone through entire phrases.

Beautiful singing absolutely requires attention to good breathing, proper support, and utilizing the teeth, tongue and jaw to make the diction intelligible. But what happens between the consonants is what is so important to beautiful singing. The tone line should be disrupted for as little time as possible.

The consonants should only break up the line briefly. Some words have strings of consonants like "str," "rld," "schw," and "fths." Words with strings of consonants are difficult enough to pronounce while speaking and even harder while singing. A conductor may drill the chorus in difficult pronunciations in order to get the diction he is after from his group and quickly enough not to disrupt the phrasing.

Crisp diction is great but the nuance of dynamics and warmth of color still happen while the chorus is singing on the vowels. So be aware of what happens while singing from consonant to consonant.

When a group of choir friends helped me to record my original song "Forget Me Not, O Lord" we had just a few minutes to get the finished product. Fortunately, they were all very skilled singers and knew how to sightread music, quickly grasp the meaning and feeling of the song, and how to blend.

I am still amazed that we were able to get such a beautiful performance after singing through the song just a couple of times.

Reign in That Vibrato!

4/18/2025

Have you ever sung in an echo-y place?

Yodelers like to sing in mountain canyons where the rock cliffs are steep. Renaissance music specialists like to sing in very old cathedrals. The college kids at BYU like to sing under the overpass bridges to the Marriott Center. The open foyer to my house in Maryland had wonderful acoustics. I loved singing there. On a trip once to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, I couldn't help trying out the acoustics in the grand ballroom. There's nothing quite like singing a little something in a room built for performing. (The tour group didn't really mind.)

When the acoustics are just right, the singer feels such a rush soaring on those suspended and naturally amplified tones. However, a wide vibrato can spoil the whole effect. That's why many accapella groups try to sing without vibrato. Too many stray or uncentered pitches muddy the purity of the sounds

That's a problem for amplification with microphones, too. Last night at rehearsal, the sound technicians had trouble mic-ing the soloist who had a very wide vibrato. She had a beautiful voice, but her vibrato was inconsistent. Sometimes it was barely present, then other times she really let loose. It was loud and very wide. Had she been in a Cathedral with no mic amplification, her natural ability to make her voice project would have been appreciated. But in the very large hall where we were, her wild fluctuations in volume and vibrato really gave the technicians trouble.

My vocal coaches and choral conductors really worked with their singers to reign in their vibratos. If we couldn't control our vibratos, we were not allowed to sing with the groups.

Recording equipment can be very touchy, too. Some vibrato gives the voice warmth and expression. But too much or too wide of vibrato makes the machinery go haywire. Professional recording artists learn tips and tricks to safely get the best recordings possible with their own particular voice qualities.

I sure hope the sound techs can help our few soloists sound good in that enormous hall we are performing in tonight. Sound amplification is necessary, even with big voices, because the room swallows up sound so thoroughly. I hope they are magicians.

"Call Upon the Lord" - a song about prayer for this Easter Season.

Palm Sunday Hymn

4/13/2025

"All Glory, Laud and Honor" is a wonderful hymn that I don't remember hearing sung that often in my congregations. That is probably because our Easter "season" gets preempted a lot by General Conference. I don't think I even realized how old this hymn is.

"All Glory Laud and Honor" is an English translation by the Anglican clergyman John Mason Neale of the Latin hymn "Gloria, laus et honor" which was written by Theodulph of Orléans in 820. It is a Palm Sunday hymn, based on Matthew 21:1–11 and the occasion of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. "All Glory, Laud and Honor" is sung to the hymn tune ST. THEODULPH, which is also known as "Valet will ich dir geben." Melchior Teschner wrote this as a hymn for the dying, as his village was decimated by the plague in 1613. It was first published, along with a second melody, as Ein andechtiges Gebet, Liepzig, 1614. (See Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship.)

My arrangement was heavily influenced by the Classical (1750-1820) composers and even gives a nod to part of Mozart's "Requiem" which I had been singing at the time. (You really can't go wrong singing the "Hosannas" similar to Mozart's style.)

When I wrote this arrangement for my little ward choir, we had very few men who could dedicate time for choir rehearsals, and they were all basses. So, I decided to voice this for three parts. The usual way of modulating for a change on the last verse is to take the melody a step or two higher. However, as I mulled this problem over thinking about my singers and how I wanted unison in the last verse, I decided that I actually needed to put it in a lower key. My Altos and Basses thanked me later.

All Glory Laud and Honor - SAB with Piano

Draw Near Unto Me

4/5/2025

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you" begins D&C 88:63. My ears immediately perk up when a scripture is quoted in General Conference that I have set to music. President Henry B. Eyring quoted the rest of the verse as well. "Seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

This verse provided a powerful point of inspiration to set it to music. I must have been in a very Mendelssohn mode, though. I may have been singing or studying some of his works. I don't remember now, but it seems pretty obvious.

For those of us who have classical vocal training, we need the challenge of singing music that exercises our musical ranges. In the mid 2000's, I was looking for opportunities to sing music that harkened to the great masters but took their texts from the Book of Mormon or modern prophets. So I began writing some of my own. During that time, I wrote some Choral, and Solo and Duet works that had texts from prophets such as Isaiah, Nephi, Mosiah, Alma, Joseph Smith, and quotes from the Savior as recorded in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Break Forth into Joy
By Small and Simple Things
Come Sing to the Lord
Counsel with the Lord in All Thy Doings
How Exquisite was My Joy
Keystone of Our Faith
My Promised Land
O That I Were an Angel
Dedication

Draw Near Unto Me was a piece that started life as a Soprano solo. Then it became a Choral piece with a part for a soprano or tenor soloist. Then it morphed into a duet for Soprano and Baritone. I had always planned on recording it, but life got in the way. I actually haven't thought about it in years.

But when President Eyring quoted that verse in Conference, the words and music came flooding back into my mind.

He told how the promise made by the Savior in that verse was the prelude to many revelations. That reminded me of when I was trying to write this piece. I felt that it needed a companion scriptural quote to fill it out. So I searched through many references to prayer in the Doctrine and Covenants. When I came across D&C 98:1-2, I knew that was what I should use. I felt like I was taking dictation and it was hard to write fast enough to keep up with inspiration.

Enjoy "Draw Near Unto Me" Duet for Soprano and Baritone

General Conference Memories

4/5/2025

These people became such good friends to me, almost like family. These were my Tabernacle Choir carpool mates from about 2010-2016. Here we are just before one of the sessions of General Conference.

As members of the Tabernacle Choir, we were encouraged not to talk during choir rehearsals. We were to "Come, Sing, and Leave." We got to know the people we walked to and from the dressings room with or carpooled with, or spent time with on tours. But not many others.

Our time in the Tabernacle Choir is over now. But, how glorious it was for us during our years together!

General Conference sessions were the best! I am looking forward to hearing the Choir sing today and tomorrow for the 2025 April General Conference. I will be with the Choir in spirit.

The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey copyright 2020