When I was in Poland during my Fulbright, one of the senior sister missionaries in our little branch in Warsaw really opened my mind about they hymns.
She took the First Presidency message in the preface seriously.
It says...
"Brothers and sisters, let us use the hymns to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our congregations, our homes, and our personal lives. Let us memorize and ponder them, recite and sing them, and partake of their spiritual nourishment. Know that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto our Father in Heaven, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon your heads."
The part she took seriously was, "memorize and poder them."
Over several years, on her drive to work each day, she worked on memorizing the text of each verse in every one of the 341 hymns in the 1985 English hymnal.
Amazing, right? This blew my mind!
But the result in her life was what amazed me even more.
She talked about how the hymns became like a Liahona to her.
With all those verses on call in her memory bank, when problems or difficulties came, words of help, comfort, peace, or whatever else she needed floated up into her mind at just the right moment.
What an amazing musical Liahona!
Of course, each of us can, and probably should, be more dutiful with our own study of the hymns as a source of doctrine.
But imagine doing that kind of deep study in addition to preparing your gestures and other important conductor hand-waving before leading the singing each week.
What extra insights will you receive with such dedicated focus? What extra insights can you bring to the actual singing of they hymns?
In my experience, in whatever type of conducting I'm doing (orchestra, choir, congregational), the deeper I've studied the music and the text, the more inspired my conducting is.
During the upcoming "Conducting the Hymns with Dr. Doug" virtual workshop, we will discuss how to study the music in preparation for conducting. And we will definitely talk about the study of the text.
I've not done nearly as much study and memorization as my sister missionary friend, but very often in time of trouble or stress or difficulty, a hymn text comes to mind and is just the dose of spiritual medicine I need.
To make sure you don't miss our discussion about deep study in preparation for conducting the hymns, click the link below to sign up for the virtual workshop waiting list.
https://douglaspew.ck.page/6c95a4c00d
Have a great day!
Doug