As Saints We Sing -- an Alternative Hymnal

A Hymnal! We've got a Hymnal! What need do we have for another hymnal?

It turns out -- plenty. This hymnal provides 176 new hymns written by various members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and some of them are quite good.

As some general authorities have recently stated, our day is an era of unfolding revelation, which includes inspired music. The arts are one way that inspiration has come and touched a lot of people. With this in mind, I don't believe an "official" hymnal is meant to be a closed book. There is always more room for more inspiration and little revelations.

"As Saints We Sing", compiled by Michael D. Young, represents a few years' worth of work. First, there was a call for hymns. A committee combed through the submissions, and chose the 176. And then the hymns were compiled.

The result is an attractive product. The paper is good thick quality. The spiral binding is strong. The pages stay open and sit nicely on the piano. Its dimension are similar to the "official" 1985 hymnal. And the overall format is also similar.

As for the hymns themselves, I now present a review mostly from a musician's perspective. On the lyrics -- I'll just quickly say they look decent and doctrinally accurate, and I'll leave it to others to judge artistic merit.

As for musical quality, most of the hymns are decent. Every now and then you'll find a parallel fifth (used incorrectly), some strange voice leading, and sometimes some strange rhythms. But on the most part, I like these hymns. Some are very good. I wouldn't be surprised if several of these make an appearance in the next "official" Latter-day Saint hymnal coming out in a few years. Some -- I don't care for at all.

But what most caught my attention the most was the willingness of the composers to try new and adventurous ideas. There was one hymn in particular that I disliked the first time through -- but then one minute later, the structure seemed to form in my mind and identify itself. I said, "Let me try that again," and I understood it the second time through -- a very interesting journey through different harmonies. If only we could see more of this to enhance our hymns!

Before continuing, I should disclose that I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not involved at all in the creation of this book, as I didn't even know any of the hymn writers until a couple of years ago. It so happens that one of my hymns will appear in a second printing -- but this has no bearing on this review.

So, to make this an honest review, I need to point out some "mistakes of men." As there are a few -- easy to identify within a few minutes. Keep in mind that I'm a perfectionist, so these mistakes may not even faze most people. I find the music print and the lyrics to be on the small side. I would space the music differently -- such as bringing two pages of music into one on several occasions. Sometimes the notes don't line up nicely. There are many hymns that span across a page turn. (The "official" 1985 hymnal has absolutely zero page turns in any given hymn.) I saw perhaps one or two missing words in the lyrics -- though I can't remember what hymns I saw them in. But then again, looking back at several historical hymnals, it's not too hard to find similar "mistakes of men." I should note that I did not find any obvious musical errors other than my personal engraving preferences.

Despite these "mistakes," I think most people would enjoy this collection. I would strongly recommend checking it out. It is geared more toward Latter-day Saint services, but many of these hymns are also compatible with other denomination's services. Overall, I'm happy that this collection exists -- that musicians and lyricists continue to create new music to help worship God -- even on some topics not yet touched in our current canon of hymns. I'm sure these could help bring the Spirit to any church meeting.

Choose Something Like A Star

This is one my favorites I sang in high school: "Choose Something Like a Star" set by Randall Thompson. Back then it didn't strike me as something phenomenal, but growing older, I've come to appreciate it greatly. The harmonies and melodies that were ingrained in me at the time of singing have stayed with me for decades.

And the words by Robert Frost are timeless -- reminding us that all of our problems -- the coronavirus, political strife, racism, murders, and all the hate are absolutely nothing in the universe. There is something larger than it all -- something to which we can all turn to and focus our attention.

The last four lines:

So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far, 

We may choose something like a star

To stay our minds on and be staid.

 This is one of the few songs that brings me peace.

Peter and the Ambulance

Here's one to file into the "curses of the perfect pitch people" file. My parents gave me the gift of perfect pitch when I was a little baby by playing nonstop classical music as I slept. I've yet to flesh this out to a full-fledged talent, but I still often get hit by these unsolicited gems -- I hear something, and the pitches remind me of something else.

For example, somewhere in this past decade, I started hearing Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" whenever I heard an ambulance siren, and I wondered why. I then realized -- oh -- it's the exact pitch contour of the bird theme -- the flute solo!

Say what? Here, let me demonstrate.

We'll start with that flute solo, here ...

 

Okay -- got that? This bird them starts somewhere in the middle -- goes up to a high Ab, and then drops down to a lower G, goes back up to Ab, and back down to G.

And now are you ready for this? Once you hear it, it might destroy your commute home. 

Compare with this typical ambulance siren...

Heh heh heh! Aren't you glad you heard this?

BTW -- some of you with perfect pitch may say, "Wait, Mel. This ambulance sound is actually a half step lower than the flute thing." And that would be correct -- the ambulance siren in that recording goes up to a high G and back down to a lower F#. 

But keep in mind that when you first hear an ambulance, the Doppler Shift is going to push the pitch higher -- bringing it back up to being between high Ab and low G. When the ambulance passes, the pitch will then drop to something lower (like Gb to F), but the ear worm damage will have already been done.

So, there you go. Now when you're driving home and you hear an ambulance, you can think of little birds. You're welcome!

Spotlight: Hungarian Rhapsody #6

When I first started this blog, I kept up with a Video of the Week ... that is until I entered my year of research into starting my publishing company. At first, they became "Spotlights" to get away from the "of the Week" nature, and then they disappeared.

So, let's try this again. I won't promise "weekly," but we'll see how this goes. 

Today, I present a breath of fresh air. There are a ton of good piano videos out there, but every now and then I come across a spectacular performance, and this is one of them...

Martha Argerich plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. If you're looking for technical perfection, she makes plenty of blunders -- but I bet most of you won't hear any of them. Despite these little misfingers, and unlike most piano performances I see, Martha actually plays this piece. This is something that happens when you go beyond practicing and technical perfection, and you deliver the actual music -- the real reason behind even touching a piano.

Also, I love the #1 liked comment to this video by bledredwine: "If Martha ever got into a fight, she could just play a C major octave scale on someone's face and they'd die."

So, here it is ... enjoy ...

The Sonata Book

People often ask me why I write difficult music. Would you believe it all started with a sonata book?

I was always a decent sight reader -- having learned very young how to read music. Even as a young teenager I could pluck through anything anyone put in front of me. I'd amaze my friends and show off to my parent's friends and participated in talent shows. I was hot stuff!

Little did I know, though, that my talent was just budding. There was a whole world I didn't know existed.

It all started with a desire to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It sounded easy enough. Of course, I was thinking of the slow 1st movement, like most everyone else in the world.

So one day, we were in the music shop and we saw this gigantic Beethoven sonata book. My mom paid $20 and I was happy ...

... that is until I got home and started trying to play some of the music. It was hard! There wasn't a single page I could play, and I didn't recognize any of the melodies. It made me feel like I had no talent at all.

And get this ... it didn't even have the Moonlight Sonata! You see -- we got book #2 and the sonata I sought was in book #1. Dagnabit!

So I left the book alone for a while and went back to my Lionel Ritchie and Billy Joel sheet music. At least that was music I could play.

However, I couldn't stop thinking about that book. My mom paid good money for it. Was I going to let it win over me? How could I be hot stuff if there existed something I couldn't play? So, I kept at it. My mom arranged for piano lessons. I got better. I came to recognize the Beethoven tunes. It was hard, but it started becoming more of a fun challenge.

It would take me years, but I was going to learn to play those sonatas. I was going to get my mom's money's worth. Somewhere in there, my mom also paid another $20 for the rest of his sonatas, and I had the full set of 32. By the time I went to college, I could play all of them except one, and make it sound decent. I'd ask a friend to pick any number from 1 to 32, and I would open the books to that sonata and start playing it for them. Any guesses on my bane? Yeah ... the Hammerklavier -- that 4th movement is brutal.

This whole episode taught me several valuable lessons.

#1) I was not hot. And I know I'm still not hot. I chose to pursue composition, mathematics, and computer programming instead of getting myself up to a concert pianist's level, but to most people I sound almost as good. No matter how good I may play any given piece, I know that some other whippersnapper has spent many more hours than I have working on that piece, and can do it better than me. There will always be music more difficult than I can play. I can always improve and enjoy the process, as it will never come to an end.

#2) There is a lot of excellent music at this higher level. Lionel Ritchie and Billy Joel are nice and entertaining, but the music of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev, and so many others are on such a higher plane of existence. Their music goes places that no pop song can even think of going. A lot of people are satisfied with their pop, but for those who are ready and willing, there is so much more out there -- all you have to do is explore and discover.

#3) The tenacity that I picked up carried over in other parts of my life. I've come to love very hard puzzles, and I seldom let them beat me -- even if I have to write code to solve it. It's helped me excel in all of my math and science pursuits. It's helped me at work to stick to it and solve issues that previous workers were unable to figure out. It even helped me win over my wife, who had told me to leave her alone ... but I didn't.

Now when I compose music, it's difficult for me to write "easy." You can check out my free copy of "The First Noel," which at first I tried to make easy, but it didn't work -- it just grew. And besides, in my church, there's already a plethora of easy music available. If anyone's looking for easy -- it's there, and many times it comes free.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw someone describing an "advanced" Latter-day Saint piano solo, and when I checked it out, I found it nowhere near the difficulty of a Beethoven sonata. I could sight-read it easily and even perform it in church that next Sunday if I had wanted to.

My composer friend tells me that publishers of Latter-day Saint sheet music prefer to dumb the music down, so as to increase the sales. If music has any level of difficulty, sales go down. He showed me instances in his own music -- before and after -- how he chose to remove octaves and some complexity while maintaining a semblance of the original. I could understand, but it still saddened me. I thought the original was a much richer creation, and much more worthy of playing.

It's not that I'm trying to purposefully make my music harder, or trying to "bring attention to the music." I'm just simply trying to share what I've discovered in my own life -- share the higher plane of existence -- becoming closer to God with music -- helping people to achieve more than they could before.

So, I've given up dumbing down my music. It saddens me that people are scared to play it, but it's there for those who are ready for it. Just like one gigantic Beethoven sonata book changed my life and helped me grow my talent, these harder pieces of music can challenge others and help them grow their own talents. All I can promise is a rewarding experience for those who work through the music I write.

There is so much more waiting for us in this life if we just simply reach out for it.

Music Goals for 2019

I see that I've been gone from this blog for over a year. It's not that I haven't been busy, but rather because I've been devoting my time to the Melkim Publishing Blog, which details all my music business dealings. In the meantime, I've been simply neglecting this blog.

Up next, I need to determine how to make this blog work with the other one. It feels like there's a great opportunity here for me to figure out.

Before I mention goals, here's a quick update on what I've been doing. In a nutshell, the publishing business has stimulated my musical output. It's given me a reason to compose again. Here's a quick count of pieces I've composed over the past few years. Notice the bump starting in 2016.

2014: 2 (short pieces)
2015: 3 (two choral and one piano)
2016: 7 (mostly Christmas piano and choral)
2017: 5 (large choir: "It Is Well with My Soul" and other short pieces)
2018: 6 (large choir: "Come, Come, Ye Saints" and other short pieces)

I've also updated my comprehensive list of pieces and where you can watch/listen/buy them.

Here is a quick list of Melkim blog entries you can read to catch up on what I've been doing:

• Melkim Publishing Launches - The official first post at Melkim Publishing.
• How to Make a Piano Book - A demonstration on how to put together a piano book with lots of fun pictures.
• It's My Turn - Why exactly did I turn to self publishing?
• Stats from 2017 - A quick recap from the first full year of business.
• It Is Well with My Soul - A story of how my music was rejected by a general authority and how I was able to come back around.
• Introducing Daniel Carter - how I invited a relatively famous LDS composer to join with the company.

Looking ahead, here is what I intend to accomplish in 2019:

• Compose at least one large choir piece.
• Continue working on my "Fourth Article of Faith" sonata -- next up is "Baptism." 
• Convert some piano preludes into organ preludes.
• Self-publish at least 4 of my own pieces.
• Put together an orchestrated recording of one of my pieces.
• Start publishing music videos in conjunction with my publishing business.
• Start the "Saving the Ward Choir" series.
• Prepare 5 hymns for submission to the Church.
• Prepare at least 2 pieces for the primary song submission to the Church.
• Reach out to other churches to have "It Is Well with My Soul" performed again.

I hope you have a great year!

Melkim Classical Launch

I'm happy to announce the launch of Melkim Classical, the secular arm of Melkim Publishing.

The launch introduces six of my piano collections, which I invite you to check out. You can also check out the latest Melkim Publishing Newsletter for more detail.