Songwriting is the act of baring one's soul to another in the form of words and music.
Today I want to share a song I worked on with a family friend. Korene reached out to me this summer with a few songs she had written and hired me to help her work on them and write a piano accompaniment for them so she could submit the songs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
I am hoping the song will speak for itself. But in writing it, I tried to inspire action on the topic that I was asked to write about…”How can we come to know Jesus Christ in the scriptures so that one day, when he comes again, we will actually know him and have a close relationship with him?”
This arrangement of “Baptism” is a beautiful adult/child duet with Marilee & Blake Roberts, recorded Jan 2023. This song is a suggested song for the Come Follow Me Lesson: June 23–29: “Worth … the Riches of the Whole Earth”
This is part 1 of an interview I did with Chad Cleverly for The Connecting Neighbors Podcast. It was really fun to speak with him and I am so glad he asked me! This is the first half of the interview in which he asked me about my childhood, music and about our family.
I am struck by the humility of Jesus Christ in condescending below all to suffer for our sins, pains and afflictions in the garden of gethsemane, then to continued to suffer on the cross, die and take up his own life again so that he might be the perfect Healer, Redeemer and Savior for each one of us.
This is an upbeat arrangement of the LDS Hymn “Praise to the Man” with a new refrain and second verse centered around Jehovah/Jesus Christ. This arrangement was created for a group of Primary children to sing for their Primary Program during sacrament meeting this coming fall. We wanted to share it with whoever else might enjoy it!
Over five years ago I wrote a hymn to submit to the new Church hymnbook (it didn’t get selected). A few months ago, I came back to this hymn to look over it and see if I should record it, but I found it needed a lot of improvement. With some time, perspective and more experience with all I have been working on since then, I could see that it needed more work. The message of the song is largely the same, but much clearer and more clarified.
I try to do something regularly that I call “Pray with Paper”. It is just simply praying with the intention of seeking to know God’s will for you in whatever parts of your life you need guidance, or who to reach out to that day or whatever might be going on…WITH a piece of paper (or a phone) nearby to write down whatever comes to your mind as you listen for an answer to your question(s). I have been doing this regularly for about three years now and still, every time, it takes faith and trust for me to listen and write down those thoughts. Just from this simple act, my love and connection with God has grown so much and I feel better able to receive guidance and revelation for my life. God is so generous!!
These videos took me way too long to make as I was figuring things out but I am happy with the end results. I came across a thread that was titled “Why Don’t Mormons like this song?” referring to
I put together a 22 minute Christmas Devotional Compilation with Quotes from Prophets and Apostles. There is something special about combining these uplifting quotes with sacred Christmas music!