My House Debra

I have had quite a full week. We practiced Tuesday night as well as Thursday night this week and then did our annual Pioneer Day Concert on Friday the 16th. I think Concerts are pretty fun. There is an adrenaline rush you get when you perform that is different than just practicing. These pictures feature some of my fellow 2nd violin partners, Marilyn, Jackie, Blair and Tiffany. To my left I quite often have a cameraman perched on the floor waiting to take a shot. Sometimes they get so close while I'm playing that I have hit them with my bow. This year's Concert celebrated 100 years of recording for the Choir. It was amazing to see how the history of the Choir pretty much parallels the history of the recording industry. It was fun to see the old pictures of the Choirs from the past and technology as it has advanced. Seth and I had a good time participating.

The words of our Prophet in commendation to the service of Choir and Orchestra members throughout the years.

“As I have listened to tonights performance one word has come to mind…wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
We are richly blessed by this magnificent Choir and Orchestra. In their dedicated service they stand shoulder to shoulder with the choirs above in singing the praises of a just God. These are men and women who say their prayers, who serve in their church, who sacrifice.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has inspired innumerable individuals throughout the world. They indeed have sent forth the message, “Hark all ye nations, hear heaven’s voice, Thru every land that all may rejoice.

I like that. I heard that hymn, “Hark All Ye Nations” first sung in Italy years ago. When I went to Germany, I told the Saints that the Italians had a good missionary hymn. They said, “Oh, yes, the Italians stole it from us!” The same hymn is also sung by the Maoris of New Zealand in a slower tempo.

When we were completing the new hymn book in 1985, I made sure that song was included. I was impressed with its missionary spirit and its call “To every land and people we’ll go.” That has been the work of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from its pioneering beginnings. As we have heard tonight, their recordings have taken the word of God into homes around the world.

There would be no way to measure all whose lives have been touched, whose hearts have been lifted by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. No missionary effort of the Church has brought greater spirit to the work of the Lord than the singing of theses saints behind me and the tens of thousands who filled the Choir seats before them. Tonight we praise our music pioneers.”