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

Summertime Singing

5/4/2022

Some Ward choirs take a hiatus during the Summer. That is understandable since many families take vacations during the break from school. However, summer is a great time to sing. The Patriotic and Pioneer holidays are perfect themes for special musical numbers during the summer. Then again, just seeing the rejuvenation of growing things during summer is another wonderful topic to help choose music. It may be tricky, but it is possible to plan for the Choir to sing and still navigate around people's schedules.

"Forget Me Not, O Lord" is a song celebrating the beauties of nature during Spring and Summer. With words by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, from his famous talk "Forget Me Not" of October 2011, this song compares the little forget-me-not flower to our own yearnings never to be overlooked or forgotten by the Lord. The song is a good reminder that the Lord loves each of us and will always answer our prayers and give us comfort.

"My Promised Land" SATB is a song honoring the beauties of America plus paying tribute to the Book of Mormon prophecies that it is a choice land above all others. It was ordained to be the cradle of Liberty, that in as much as the people serve God, they will prosper in the land.

"America, the Beautiful" was written first for an a cappella Women's trio. It is a good to use for times when the venue has no piano or other means of accompaniment. Later, a part for Men (modified SSATB) was added for use in a similar situation when piano accompaniment was not possible. It is essentially the SSA arrangement with added parts for men, mostly combined unison. (This is an especially good choice in situations where the Women singers of the group are more numerous than the men.)

"Building on a Legacy of Faith" SATB with 2 Flutes honors both the Pioneers who crossed the plains and the new convert pioneers across the world who join the church due to the efforts of modern missionary work.

Always a favorite, "Come, Come Ye Saints" SSATB with Violin or Harmonica was written for a Pioneer Day theatrical production. The long introduction with speaking lines could be eliminated. There is also a Women's version "Come, Come Ye Saints" SSAA with Violin and Flute.

Summer is a very satisfying time to create choral music!

Phrasing, Word Painting, and Climaxes

4/25/2022

So many congregations have not heard choirs performing at Church in so long, that some people just don't know what they have been missing.

At Stake Conference yesterday, my daughter's choir sang for the first time in the history of their new Stake. Just 20 people and a piano, and yet they made a big impact on the meeting. The Visiting General Authority and new Stake Presidency swamped her with compliments before she could even stand up from her seat after the closing prayer. "How did you do that? Your choir was so small and yet they were just wonderful!" "No, really, how did you do that?"

What they really meant, I think, was that they hadn't been in meetings with a well-rehearsed choir in so long, that they had forgotten the difference live music makes. These choir members had only had a few rehearsals, but they were diligent, sincere, and had prayed to have the Spirit with them as they sang. Their impact was powerful.

Of course, as a choir director, my daughter worked with these singers (that she had barely met) to help them learn the notes, how to blend, and to work out good balance among the voices. With the help of a good pianist, they were able to sing the selections that had a few sections of 4-part hymn-style harmony, and several sections including counterpoint, but mostly they just sang in unison. This music was chosen specifically because it could make them sound grander than they were.

What a live choir can offer is real people singing their hearts out. The choir director helps them pay attention to musical interpretations like phrasing, word painting, and making climaxes in the music. But in a live setting, when the Spirit is invited to testify as they perform, the voices become more than the sum total of their parts.

So glad for their success. Hope they continue in doing good things!

Here are some pieces that were written specifically for Stake Conference Choirs:
Rejoice, the Lord Is King SATB with Organ
Redeemer of Israel SATB with Organ. Sop. descant, Congregation
I Know That My Redeemer Lives SATB, Sop. descant, Piano/Organ, Cong.
I Stand All Amazed SATB with Piano, Flute and Oboe (or Violin)
I Need Thee Every Hour SATB with Organ
How Firm a Foundation SATB with Organ
The Lord Is My Shepherd (Downing) SATB with soloist

The Short Spinet

4/10/2022

Similar to our short spinet

Most piano keyboards have 88 chromatic keys. But in my house growing up, my mother's little piano only had 77. Even though it was minus basically an octave, this little spinet served its use and was well-loved. It was also well-traveled. My parents moved 36 times over the course of their marriage, and always, their short spinet moved with them. But if anyone deserved and knew how to use all 88 keys, it was my mother!

When I was very young, my mother enjoyed teaching me how to sing. She had a beautiful high soprano voice, and she spent a lot of time grooming me to be able to sing the high notes with her. In fact, she used to test my range. When I was 4 or 5, I remember singing the scale up to the top note of our little piano. Then Mom would say, "If there was another note, what would it sound like?" Then I would sing the next, and the next, and the next right off the end of our piano.

She often got frustrated by not having enough notes, especially in the bass. Mom practiced some pieces that really needed the doubled bass. And sometimes when she and her students played duets, they would run out of notes up high, too. At that point, she had to make arrangements to continue lessons or rehearsals at the Church or someone else's house that had a full-sized piano.

We loved that little piano, though... when we got a chance to play it. Mom taught or rehearsed using it so often, my brothers and sisters and I rarely got the chance to use it. Until one day...

My brother turned 12 and started going to Priesthood meetings. He came home and reported that the singing was dismal. Nobody could play the piano, so they just sang a cappella, badly out of tune. Then he announced that he was going to learn to play some hymns for Priesthood meeting. Bob was very smart and had already learned how to play the trombone, so he figured he could surely learn one new hymn a week on the piano. He made a list of a few hymns to learn.

Bob decided that since he could already read Bass clef, he would work on the left hand first. He also decided that I should help him out by playing the right hand part in Treble clef. Then, once he learned the left hand, we would switch so he could work on the right hand. Later in the week he was ready to put both hands together. But while he played both parts in the mid register of the piano, I went ahead and played 8va. Little by little, he accomplished his goal.

I guess we impressed Mom by our efforts. She actually set aside time for us to play on our little piano. But that didn't last that long. After Bob got good enough, she was back to using the piano for herself and her students most of the available time. We actually had to beg for time at the piano! (Yeah, that's a musical family thing...)

Getting Teenagers to Choir

3/31/2022

Getting teenagers to sing in a choir begins way before they become teenagers!

I don't know why people have this notion that teens will magically want to start performing and singing in parts when the boys' voices begin to drop around ages 13-14. The poor boys that don't already sing hardly have the ability to make it gracefully through that awkward stage of life. And girls that aren't singing through their childhoods don't fair much better. Too many youth never find their "head" voice placement and fail to learn how to match pitches beyond their speaking vocal range, let alone develop beautiful tone or breath control or sight reading skills.

The best way to get teenagers prepared to be life-long singers is to give them lots of experience singing while they are children.

1. SING at HOME! Sing for fun. Sing while you work. Get them off their devices and sing in the car! A cappella! Take them with you to Ward Choir. Convince the director to sometimes do a "Family Choir" that features parts for Children's voices.

2. Encourage them to join CHORUS or BAND at school.

3. SING in PRIMARY, and please don't sing songs out of their natural singing range which is Middle C up to E above Treble C. Allow them to practice vocalizing in their "head" voice placement.

After all this preparation, the teenagers may actually be willing to sing in choir -- because they can!

Working with youth who have little previous exposure to singing and really don't know if they can sing takes MUCH MORE EFFORT!

I have had that opportunity more than once, believe me! The first time I was assigned to prepare a Youth Chorus to sing for Stake Conference in Baltimore, I just assumed the vast majority of youth had never learned to sing in parts before. We were asked to sing "True to the Faith" and "Come We That Love the Lord." I personally went to each unit to practice with the youth. Fortunately, we had good support from our leadership in each unit. Their Branch and Ward music people also practiced with them. I allowed several months to get the preliminary work done. Then we had a few practices together as a Stake. Guess what, the hard work paid off! The kids did great. (I did think it best to remove them from their phones during Conference, though. Our High Council Advisor guarded the phones in a box.)

After this big effort, I sure hope the Ward leadership continued on their success. Success breeds success. But you've gotta keep the ball rolling!!!!!

Support for Singing Skips

3/17/2022

Gregorian Chant was one of the first actually notated styles of singing. This early form of unison singing of psalms and scriptural verses developed from the plainsong of the 4th Century. The dots and quavers that were known to the early Christian Monks are not the notations we recognize today. But what we do understand is that most of the notes and rhythms moved in stepwise motion in rhythmic note groupings of twos and threes. This made singing fluid and sight reading straightforward. Because everybody sang the same melody, singing in tune was probably pretty true. Two-part harmonies and polyphony developed much later.

What singers notice when singing in step-wise motion is that they don't have to work too hard to stay in tune with the other singers. At the introduction of sudden skips of intervals of more than a third, however, more attention must be paid to proper breath support.

For example, the opening measures of "Joy to the World" are a descending major scale. The singers instinctively know that the first note is high and in order to reach it they must take a good breath and support the tone with their abdominal muscles. The opening phrase of "How Firm a Foundation" is quite angular. It starts with an upward skip of a 4th, repeated notes, then an upward skip of a 3rd, then a downward skip of a 6th. These skips stay in the outline of the chord and most singers can negotiate them and stay in tune with proper breath support.

More difficult are the melodic lines that stay mostly in stepwise motion or skips of small intervals in a lower register and then jump up suddenly a 6th or more. An example of this is the chorus of "The Day Dawn is Breaking." Supporting the tone is critical here!

Another example of this awkward jumping in the middle of a phrase on an unaccented syllable is in a song I wrote. What was I thinking?

Singing skips is much more difficult than singing in stepwise motion. Be sure to prepare to sing any big jumps up or down by taking a good breath and using those abdominal wall muscles. True pitch is possible!

Relief Society Birthday

3/12/2022

On March 17, 1842 the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints was established. Originally formed to provide relief to suffering individuals and families, it has grown into the the most populous women's organization in the world. Each year, congregations in the LDS Church throughout the world celebrate its great work.

Although technically, I have been a part of the Relief society for most of my life, I have very rarely attended meetings. Most of my Church service has been in the Primary working with young children. Nevertheless, I have an admiration of the service and teaching and loving and caring that the sisters in Relief Society render.

Over the years, I have been asked to write music for Women's (Relief Society) choruses on topics focused on love and service. Here are a few. Some of these came about in interesting ways. Clink on the links to learn their stories.

On an arranger's note: My sisters insist that I write featured parts for each voice part. And my low alto sister always expects "money" notes for her part --- that means plenty of notes below middle C. That's why I write a lot in 4 parts.

"We Are Daughters of a Loving Heavenly Father" - is a musical restating of the Relief Society Declaration.

"We are His Hands" - was inspired by a talk given by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf to the women in 2010 admonishing them to be the Lord's hands on earth to give service to the needy.

"Come and Sit with Us" - featuring the words of Lucy Mack Smith on the occasion of the establishment of the Relief Society in 1842.

"How Firm a Foundation" - hymn sung at the first founding meeting of the Relief Society in 1842.

"Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?" - upbeat hymn arranged for SSAA, Piano and Violin, on the topic of service.

"If the Way Be Full of Trial, Weary Not" - hymn with wonderfully sweeping melodies on the topic of ministering.

Singing with Laryngitis

3/9/2022

At the recent Company meeting for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, I was asked to provide the musical number. Normally, this would have been a good thing, but I woke up that morning with laryngitis. So, I spent most of the day sipping cranberry juice and steaming.

The guest speaker that day was a woman who had been Mrs. Utah and 1st runner-up to Mrs. America in the 1960s. For the last 50 years, she has given many, many talks. She usually dresses up as one of our venerated pioneer sisters and tells inspiring stories about their lives. JayneAnn Payne, of Provo Utah, now at age 93 and nearly deaf and blind, stood and told stories for 30 minutes without the benefit of notes. She dressed as Eliza R. Snow and told a little of her life, as well as several other pioneer women who made significant contributions in former days. She also told inspiring stories about Lucy Mack Smith, mother of the prophet Joseph Smith.

Lucy Mack Smith

I had taken a chance that she would speak about Lucy Mack Smith. The song I decided to sing was a song that I had written several years ago. It was inspired by Sister Smith's words about the future of the newly-formed Relief Society. A friend of mine, Paula Carlson, had sent me a card with these words done in beautiful handwritten calligraphy. “We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another, and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together.”

Near that same time, I was looking through the new Relief Society manual "Daughters in My Kingdom." I flipped to a page that had an interesting picture of some African sisters. It looked like a candid shot where they were just getting organized for the formal picture. The caption read "Come and sit with us."

Those words really hit me! So I got to work writing a new song: "Come and Sit with Us" SSAA

Originally written for 4-part Women's Chorus, I had no choice but to sing it that day as a solo --- with my hoarse voice. Oh well, the audience seemed to like it anyway. They want me to sing for them again someday when I don't have laryngitis.

Announcing New 2-Part Mixed Chorus Titles

2/1/2022

My understanding, from listening around to choir directors that have had trouble getting their Ward choirs started again after COVID, is that they need pieces that are very easy to put together with whoever comes, be it 5 or 10 or 15 singers. Perhaps they only have time for one or two practice sessions before performing. In an effort to be of assistance, I have produced several hymn arrangements and sacred songs in 2-Part Mixed Chorus format. Some have a few sections with optional divisi to accommodate the needs of lower voices. Most of the piano parts are designed for a medium skill level.

The Hymn Arrangement Titles in this collection so far are:

"Abide with Me 'tis Eventide" - a hymn of ultimate longing, of inviting the Savior's love and comfort to be part of your life. The lovely piano part provides interest to the simple vocal parts.

"Arise, O God, and Shine" - a powerful message of praise. I especially love the phrase "Let earth present her store in converts unto thee." This is a great missionary hymn. The 2 parts trade off singing melody and harmony. On the last verse, the women sing a fun countermelody obligato.

"Come Follow Me" - The rippling effect in the piano accompaniment is very fun to play and accessible for a medium level pianist. Although the verses modulate through different keys, the ranges stay consistent.

"Come Rejoice" - Stately hymn of praise in a Classical style. Very easy for both singers and pianist.

"Count Your Blessings" - This jaunty new setting gives new life to this old favorite hymn. During this time of Pandemic troubles, the reminder to "count your blessings, see what God has done" is so important.

"Hope of Israel" - This hymn is particularly appropriate for a Youth Chorus or Missionary Chorus, but it is flexible enough work for 2 part Men's Chorus as well. What a great message for the "youth of Zion to rise in might."

How Gentle God's Commands" - This hymn gently urges us to drop our burdens at the Savior's feet and trust his constant care.

"I'll Go Where You want Me to Go" - Favorite missionary-themed hymn with new piano setting and obligato for C instrument such as flute or violin.

"Lead Kindly Light" - Elegant and flowing, the haunting piano accompaniment and some interesting countermelodies breathe new life into this popular hymn.

"More Holiness Give Me" - This moving hymn speaks of the desire to become more like the Savior. This arrangement provides just the right amount of harmony and variety for the choir with little time to prepare.

Other Sacred Songs included are "Counsel with the Lord in All Thy Doings," "Anchored to the Truth," "Building on a Legacy of Faith," and "With All the Power of Heart and Tongue."

Something Old Becomes New Again

1/23/2022

Many hymn composers have been anxiously awaiting news of the new LDS Hymnal. They may have submitted their own hymns or just filled out surveys indicating their preferences for current hymns they feel should be eliminated from future use. (My sources tell me we still have years to wait.) In any case, they are having a hard time waiting.

Hymns, like other songs, may have their day in the sun, then people tire of them and they get abandoned. Apparently, that was the fate of some formerly popular hymns from bygone eras. For example, take "If the Way Be Full of Trial, Weary Not" by John R. Sweney (1837-1899) and W. H. Flaville (1829-1897). This hymn was first published in Christian hymnals in 1878. It was included 1909 edition of the LDS “Deseret Sunday School Songs,” and in the 1951 LDS children’s songbook “The Children Sing.” Apparently by the 1970's, it had fallen out of favor.

This hymn had a re-introduction into the LDS music scene when the Tabernacle Choir was requested to sing it on the "Golden Days, 85th Birthday Celebration Concert" for President Thomas S. Monson in 2012. The message is so typical of President Monson's ministry which can be summed up as "never tire of well-doing and always be ready to go to the rescue." What a great message of Ministering for these times of Pandemic trials, as well.

A Mack Wilberg arrangement sung by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square seems to be a great formula for bringing long-forgotten hymns back into the collective LDS memory. Other hymns left out of the 1985 Hymnal that people seem to be advocating for again are "Amazing Grace," "It Is Well with my Soul," "Come Thou Fount," "Love Divine, All Love's Excelling," and others.

Perhaps something that must happen for a hymn to become favored again is for the listener to have a profound spiritual experience with it. That makes all the difference. A great arrangement sung by a group whose mission is to be a conduit for the Spirit sets up that scenario perfectly. Many people, myself included, have had profound spiritual experiences singing or listening to these hymns in powerful, new arrangements. Something old becomes new again.

Because most Ward Choirs have no orchestra at the ready, my arrangement of "If the Way Be Full of Trial, Weary Not" has a piano accompaniment. This Treble Chorus SSA version is the latest addition to my SATB and Solo versions.

The Bread of Life

11/5/2021

Clearly, there are some choirs planning to sing their Christmas Concerts this year, after all. We composers have waited with baited breath to see if the Covid restrictions for choirs will ever be lifted. Apparently, some people have decided to push forward anyway because music is such an important part of worship and celebrations.

So it is with great surprise that I have seen an upsurge in sales of my choral music in the last couple of months. One piece that I actually haven't thought about in years was picked up by a large Men's Chorus in England. Oh how I would love to go hear them sing it!

One year we had a wonderful quartet of men in my Ward Choir. All had great solo voices but nevertheless were willing to blend! A good high tenor, a lead Tenor with a lovely ringing quality, a Baritone with no ego, and a deep Bass. I wanted them to have a special song to sing during our Christmas program that year. The program I planned was inspired by an article I had read about the Sacrament. It really needed a special song about the Savior, his mission and Atonement in relation to the Sacrament. I decided to write The Bread of Life especially for these four guys.

Until I read that article "Jesus, the Bread of Life" by Sherrie Johnson (Ensign, Dec. 1998, p. 47) I had not realized the deeper significance of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.

"Bethlehem" means the "house of bread." Jesus was born to give Living Water and the sustenance (or bread) of Life Everlasting to all those who believe in Him and follow His commandments. No wonder we take the bread and water in the Sacrament every week to renew our covenants with Him.

My quartet sang very well in that Christmas program years ago. I am hopeful that the British Mens Chorus will sing equally well.

The Music of Betsy Lee Bailey copyright 2020