One of the messages for the Adult Session of our recent Stake Conference was "Ministering in a Higher, Holier Way." Our visiting Area Authority Elder Foster got up midway during the meeting and announced that we would next be singing a special musical number together. And because it was not a very well-known hymn, we would be singing along with a video by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. He explained that this hymn was a favorite of President Thomas S. Monson's and that it beautifully detailed the theme of Ministering. He also mentioned that we should not worry because he made sure the lyrics were included on the screen.
President Thomas S. Monson Once the music started, I recognized the hymn and the performance. The video was taken from the 85th Birthday Celebration of Thomas S. Monson (Golden Days 1:21:30) and I had been there singing in the Choir! I remembered how this hymn had not been in our hymnbook since the Deseret Sunday School Hymnal of 1908. I wondered if anyone in the congregation would recognize it besides me. Sure enough, the congregation dutifully tried to sing along for the first verse. That's the verse that is in a normal range. Then came the chorus with a couple of octave jumps up in the melodic line. Then came the verse that the men sing alone, then came the modulations to much higher keys. Soon I noticed I was singing the high notes by myself. The people near me were slinking down in their chairs or looking sheepishly around to see if anyone else was singing --- besides me, of course.
"If the Way Be Full of Trial, Weary Not" is a wonderful hymn by John R. Sweney. Other, more familiar hymns he wrote are "There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today" and "The Lord Is My Light." He was famous not only as a hymn-writer but an enthusiastic choral director. Also, he was known, as someone who could really make a congregation sing. But I decided that it really helps if the congregation actually knows the hymn and the arrangement to get them to sing out.
Later, I had the opportunity to thank Elder Foster for including that sing-along during the meeting. I told him that I thought it was such fun to sing with the choir again and mentioned that I had been in that video as a former Tabernacle Choir member. But I wondered why he chose that unfamiliar hymn to use for our congregation. He said that it was the message he wanted to use for the theme of his talk. He would have just played the video for people to listen to, but understood that if they felt like they were to participate they might actually read and internalize the words better.
Well, I hope that was what happened. I am not so sure judging from the comments I got. I think I may have been a big distraction. One man came up to me and asked if I was a professional singer or something. I told him that I just happened to know that hymn arrangement because I had sung in that video. He said, "I knew it! You had to have been in the Tabernacle Choir. My wife was right. She said that was the only way you would have been able to sing like that." Distraction or not, I still enjoyed singing that wonderful hymn!
"If the Way Be Full of Trial, Weary Not" is a wonderful hymn by John R. Sweney. Other, more familiar hymns he wrote are "There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today" and "The Lord Is My Light." He was famous not only as a hymn-writer but an enthusiastic choral director. Also, he was known, as someone who could really make a congregation sing. But I decided that it really helps if the congregation actually knows the hymn and the arrangement to get them to sing out.
Later, I had the opportunity to thank Elder Foster for including that sing-along during the meeting. I told him that I thought it was such fun to sing with the choir again and mentioned that I had been in that video as a former Tabernacle Choir member. But I wondered why he chose that unfamiliar hymn to use for our congregation. He said that it was the message he wanted to use for the theme of his talk. He would have just played the video for people to listen to, but understood that if they felt like they were to participate they might actually read and internalize the words better.
Well, I hope that was what happened. I am not so sure judging from the comments I got. I think I may have been a big distraction. One man came up to me and asked if I was a professional singer or something. I told him that I just happened to know that hymn arrangement because I had sung in that video. He said, "I knew it! You had to have been in the Tabernacle Choir. My wife was right. She said that was the only way you would have been able to sing like that." Distraction or not, I still enjoyed singing that wonderful hymn!
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