The Sheet Music Project.

Remember this song? 

It's called "True to Their Song."  It's a combination of 3 pioneer hymns: Come, Come, Ye Saints, True to the Faith, and Carry On.

Here's its life story:
I originally wrote it last year for a Stake Youth Fireside in Indianapolis, where they announced the upcoming pioneer trek the youth would be going on.  I sang and played it as a solo as part of the fireside.

This past summer, I found a BYU-Idaho communications student who was willing to video me singing and explaining the arrangement.  We put a few slides as part of the video and put it up on youtube to celebrate pioneer day!

Then, a month or so ago, a woman from Indianapolis saw the video and felt that she really wanted her Stake Youth Choir to sing it.  She contacted me and asked if I would be willing to arrange it for her choir.  I felt really good about doing it so I said yes.

Then I...
-went to sleep each night hearing in my head the possibilities of what the different voice parts would sing
-concocted the new vocal parts
-entered the piano part into my computer (using FINALE) through my keyboard
-tediously edited the piano part on my computer (which takes FOR-EV-ER)

-entered in the vocal parts, made some changes
-had my husband sing it with me and give me feedback
-made some more changes
-made about 100 mistakes trying to enter all of the lyrics, (which hopefully is a foundation I have now laid for future arrangements and won't have to make them all again)
-had my husband and good friend sing through the rough draft
-entered in dynamics, breath marks, and other particulars
-agonized over the page layout, changed things, changed them back, made a few irreversible mistakes,
-prayed hard,
-and ultimately ended up with a final draft!

Then, miraculously, I figured out how to
-make a pdf of my finale file
-upload it to my file server on my web site
-and link it to my website.

Whew!

So what that means is that you can now download and freely copy this arrangement by going to my homepage and clicking on the link.  (well, I hope so, at least.  I'm crossing my fingers that it will actually work. In fact, let me know if it doesnt.)

 Sally Deford calls notating music "a chore rather akin to cultivating your garden with a teaspoon."  I think she's right. And yet, it has been exhilarating to get this song into a medium that I can share!  I am thrilled to be heading to Indianapolis in January to hear this arrangement come to life as I direct the Indianapolis North Stake Youth Choir in singing it. 

Exciting stuff.  And yes, I'm already plotting future projects.  Now that I have the technological groundwork laid, I'm hoping it will only get easier from here! 

stay tuned for more?!...

Day #40. (Okay, #42.) The View From The Top.

(Ha!  I wrote this post in July and realized that it has been an unpublished draft this whole time.  Better late than never, right?  So this post should be dated July 27th. It is now September 21st.)

Well, Sunday was actually day #40, but I've been wanting to write up a kind of grand finale to this 40 day journey I have been on to look up and find the joy.  I'm glad I waited, because today is garbage day, and I learned something cool this morning that feels like the cherry on top of this whole experience to help me understand what I've learned.  

I woke up early and went for a walk this morning.  (My body had other ideas, so this required some serious "mind over mattress," but I felt like I should get up and go for a walk, so after a little cajoling and encouragement, my spirit was able to convince my body to get vertical and get a move on.)  To my surprise, both of my parents cars were already gone, so with sleeping kiddos I decided to just power-walk up and back the block right in front of the house.

It's Tuesday. Garbage Day.  So everyone had their garbage cans sitting on the curb.  Recycling in the blue bin, and garbage in the black one.  There were two containers paired up in front of each house.  I thought about how the garbage gets to those cans and reflected on all the sorting we all do every day.  We sort between clean and dirty, recycling and garbage, forks and knives, or blocks and cars.  And it's not very hard to tell, right?  We just take a look at the item--empty jar of applesauce--and determine what it is and therefore where it needs to go--recycling.

As I walked along beside these garbage cans (over and over!) it got me thinking, and I heard the Holy Ghost tell me in my mind,

"This is what your joy hunt has been all about."

As is typical with impressions I get, I didn't quite understand the first time.

"Huh?"

"This is what you've accomplished over the last 40 days.  You've been able to sort through all the events of this summer and sort through which actions and feelings will produce joy, and then kick the rest to the curb.  And when you get rid of all those other feelings that belong in the garbage, you have so much more room to be able to feel joy."

Oh wow!  That's a cool idea!  (I love it, I can hear the roar of the garbage truck, as we speak, going from house to house, beeping backwards and dumping.  PERFECT.)  I reflected on the events of the summer and realized that having such a clear focus on joy really has helped me to sort through all of my choices and has made it easier to just say,
"Oh, this is self-pity.  That doesn't go in the joy bin, so I have to just chuck it." 
Or  
"Oh, I know what this is.  This is anger.  That doesn't go in my joy bin, so I'm tossing it." 
What a blessing!  As I walked by the garbage cans and imagined what all the houses would look like inside if they didn't participate in the daily ritual of sorting and the weekly ritual of emptying the cans, I pictured entire rooms full of junk, and people tripping over cereal boxes, and kitchens smelling like old food, and bedrooms smelling like stinky diapers, and yuck yuck yuck.  That physical stuff is mostly obvious to us.  But what if we don't participate in the daily ritual of sorting out our choices and the weekly ritual of getting rid of the ones that don't go in the joy bin?  Well, we get bogged down with things like frustration, and fear, and hatred, and we start tripping over resentment and ingratitude, and envy and bitterness can bring a gagging aroma into our lives that makes us miserable and negatively affects everyone around us.

So I'm now thinking about the garbage truck.  There are a few conditions about the removal of your garbage, right?  It's illegal to just go chucking your stuff in some random dumpster.  You have to be signed up for the service, you have to have a certain kind of garbage can, you have to set it out at the right time, but if you do, then your garbage is permanently removed from your life.  You never have to deal with it ever again.   I felt this morning, in a surprising and delightful way, the reality of those principles for my spiritual life.  I don't need to just wish and hope that I will someday be able to get rid of negative feelings and sins.  I just need to keep sorting through daily, what things are of God and what things aren't, and then give up whatever doesn't tend toward joy.  Once I let go, God can permanently remove those things from my life. They can be gone forever in some spiritual landfill that I will never see.  As I go to church each week to take the sacrament, I can think of it as spiritually taking out the garbage.  I can take time to have sorted through the things that I have done and said and felt and thought, determine which things need to be chucked, and then ask the Lord to take them away.  I can set my sins on the curb, and He has the power to do the rest. 

As I finished my walk, I found myself asking,  

"what are some feelings I have right now that I need to throw away today?"

And of course a few things came to my mind, and the Holy Ghost helped me to recognize them for what they are, and I felt a desire to just get rid of them.  So I'm setting them out on the curb today.

 Well, I feel like I could keep writing about this for hours, (I'm imagining in my head what resentment would actually look like if we could pick it up to sort it--would it be slimy and drippy so we'd hold it with just two fingers, or would it be heavy and awkward, so we have to drag it backwards?  How about fear? What would it look like?)  but those sleeping kiddos are awake and life is moving on.  :)

So I am signing off from the blogging world for awhile.  This week we are getting ready to make the drive to Colorado, and then on Saturday we will be moved in to our new house, reunited with Kyle, and getting to start the beginning of the rest of our lives!  I'm excited.  And also grateful for the slower pace of life I've enjoyed over the last few weeks, and the things I've learned that I'm hoping to take with me.  I feel like I've climbed a mountain, and now I'm standing at the top for a few minutes just enjoying the view.


 Time to hike back down and get to work!!  But I think I'm going to be on a joy hunt for the rest of my life...

Day #39. True to the Truth for Which Martyrs Have Perished...

What a great pioneer day.  We decided to brave the crowds and have the experience of going to the "Days of '47" Pioneer Day parade.  My dad went early and staked out a spot for us and then we parked at my mom's work and walked to where my dad was. The theme of the parade was "Then and Now" and so each float had a representation of how things were for the pioneers and how they are for us today.  One float said on it, "From ink to hyperlink" and the front half was people sitting in old fashioned pews in pioneer period church clothes, with a man preaching to them and a giant quill pen.  The back half of the float had a huge silver satellite, and a family sitting on a couch looking at a huge screen of President Monson in General Conference.  It was neat to reflect on the things that are different and the things that are the same, and how we can each do our part to keep building God's kingdom and sharing the gospel. 

Tonight, I sat out on the back porch and read some more of this book that I am loving so much, "Fire in the Bones," about William Tyndale and the movement to translate and distribute the Bible in English.  I never really realized how much opposition there was to what seems now such a basic idea, and with that, never realized how many hundreds if not thousands of reformers and common men participated in clandestine operations to print and smuggle copies of the English New Testament, as they tried to avoid being punished by the church.  Ultimately Tyndale (and many others) was martyred for all of his "heresy" and wickedness," but he had a vision that was much greater than even his own life. 

"Some men will ask," he wrote, "Why I take the labour to make this work, insomcuh as they will burn it, seeing they burnt the gospel?  I answer In burning the New Testament they did none other thing that that I looked for: no more shall they do, if they burn me also, if it be God's will it shall be so.  Nevertheless, in translating the New Testament I did my duty, and so do I now, and will do as much more as God hath ordained me to do." 

I've sometimes wondered why the Lord "let" the earth be without the truths of the restored gospel for so many years, but I am starting to understand better the divine choreography of the centuries, and how so many people and causes and inventions and even rebellions had to be part of the whole master plan.  I am humbled and grateful for the countless men and women, named and unnamed, who spent their lives doing what God ordained them to do. Each of their little bricks combined together has built a mighty castle indeed.

I sat down tonight to play through my arrangement of Come, Come, Ye Saints in preparation to sing it in sacrament meeting tomorrow, and as I got to the part where I sing "True to the truth for which martyrs have perished" my heart was brimming with gratitude and respect and awe for William Tyndale and others like him who dedicated their lives to truth.  (my eyes were kind of brimming too.) 

I hope the rest of the song will be descriptive of my life, and that I will be able to accomplish the things God has ordained me to do.

"To God's command, soul, heart, and hand
Faithful and true we will ever stand."


Okay, and one more awesome quote from Mr. Tyndale--he wrote this in one of his treatises, but I think it's as good as scripture:

"Also remember, that His Son's blood is stronger than all the sins and wickedness of the whole world; and therewith quiet thyself, and thereunto commit thyself, and bless thyself in all temptation...with that holy candle."

Joy, joy, joy.
That's what I feel when I think about this stuff.

Day #38. A little recipe for joy.

My parents have this quote on their refrigerator, so I have seen it a lot over the last few months.  It's from Howard W. Hunter, a former prophet of the church.  I think that each of the actions he suggest for us to do can create joy for us and others. Every single one. So, I'll call this...
  

A Prophet's Recipe for Joy:

Mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a letter.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise. 
Forgo a grudge.
Forgive an enemy.
Apologize.
Try to understand. 
Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind.
Be gentle.
Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. 
Speak your love and then speak it again."


Isn't that the best?

I dare you to pick one an focus on doing it this week.  I'll do it too.  :)  

Day #37. The Video is Done!!!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!  I have been so excited to share this!  Happy Pioneer Day!

I found a lot of joy in writing this arrangement, and in feeling such a connection with my ancestors as I did.  I feel a lot of joy right now, that we have completed it, and that all the little obstacles in getting it to this point have been overcome.  You can  read about the making of the video here if you want a little bit more background.

So here it is!  The first video is the song itself, and the second video is me explaining some of the meaning in the music.  Enjoy!  (And share this with people who will too!)

Double click on the video and it will take your right to YouTube where you will get a wider view. :)

Day #36. Exercise!

I Dance Dance Revoluted for a good hour today.  I was sweating and breathing hard and having a blast.  Woo hoo!  And, my mom stayed with Jake at home tonight so I could swim laps while Ethan was at swim lessons.  I will admit that I was breathing embarrassingly hard after only 2 lengths, and after 4 my quads were screaming, but I kept at it for 30 minutes, and it felt good.  (And tonight, at about 10:30 I was STARVING.) 

Anyway, I'm mindful today that our bodies are an incredible gift, and I feel joy when I fill my day with things that help me take the best care of mine. 

Only 3 more days until my 40 day Joy Hunt will officially come to an end!  Just another week after that and we will move into our house and I will get to feel like we're married again! 

Look Up.  Find the Joy. 
Em

Day #35. Fire In the Bones.

I have loved and devoured everything I've ever heard or read by S. Michael Wilcox.  He is such a gospel scholar and so insightful, and has a way of making historical figures come alive as real human beings as he relates their stories.  He did his dissertation on C.S. Lewis and I love the hour long talk he gives, condensing the things he learned in that whole process.  Awesome stuff.

Anyway, so I'm reading a book of his right now called "Fire in the Bones," all about William Tyndale's journey and eventual martyrdom as he took it upon himself to translate the Bible into English, from Greek, for the first time in its entirety.  I am learning so many cool things.  If I ever think I'm too busy to read the scriptures, I need to read this quotation again and remember what an incredible thing it is that we have the words of God, in our language, at our fingertips:

This is about the itinerant preachers that John Wycliffe sent out in the 1400's. 
"They shared manuscript translations in taverns, village greens, forests, and private homes with all who dared to listen.  Because manuscripts were costly and time-consuming to produce, many of Wycliffe's followers traveled with a single gospel, committing whole books to memory to partially escape the prohibitions of the law.  In the twilight, after the days' work was done, the blacksmiths and coopers gathered by the flicker of a candle or the glow of a hearth to hear the prized words recalled from memory or read from tattered parchments until too frequent readings turned the rag paper to dust.  Many of those caught preaching scripture in the mother tongue were burned with the offending translations hung around their necks, tall conical hats perched mockingly on their heads. "

Wow, that just gives me the chills.  Do we read the words of God with as much thrill as those blacksmiths and coopers?  Do we treasure every phrase that is available to us--to teach us the true gospel and change our lives as we live by the teachings? 

What an inspiring image.  I found joy today in understanding a little bit better how many good men, for centuries, hacked away at the mission of translating, printing, and distributing the Bible to the common man--against incredible opposition.  And now, I have access to about 10 copies, in my house alone, that I can read whenever I want.  Makes me not want to be "too tired" or "too busy" to feast on those words.  :)